The first day of the Nebraska State Wrestling Tournament went pretty well for the Panhandle in Class B, not so well in Class C, and not well at all in Class D.

Only 4 of the region’s 35 qualifiers in Class D reached the semifinals, while 2 of the 10 in Class C made it. Class B, though, has 11 of 29 competitors unbeaten through two rounds.

In consolation action this morning, 8 Class D Panhandle wrestlers won at least 1 match and 6 of them guarenteed themselves medals by advancing to tomorrow morning’s consolation semifinals.

They are CJ Sidrow of Morrill at 106, Joey Johnson of Hay Springs 132, Garden County’s Makay Beck 152, Bayard’s Tristan Hunter 170, and at 285 both Matthew Hessler of Morrill and Chris Wurm of Bayard.

Scottsbluff has 5 wrestlers in the semifinals late this afternoon…Juan Delacruz at 106, Keegan Hessler 113, Joseph Flores-Ybarra 120, 2-time defending state champ Colton Adams at 132, and Andrew Aratani at 285

Alliance has 4 semifinalists Devin Ushio 120, Walker Johnson 126, undefeated and now 27-0 Tyson Dowler at152, and Dawson Johnson at 160.

Chadron has two wrestlers in the semifinals: Colby Riesen…a 2-time medalist…at 160 and undefeated at 36-0 Chance Bila at 170.

The 2 Panhandle wrestlers in the Class C semifinals are 170-pound Brendan Swanson of Mitchell and Bridgeport’s Brandon Nichols at 138. The 4 Class D Panhandle wrestlers are Allen Denton of Bayard at 160, his 195-pound teammate Tanner Willey, and at 220 both Steve Horrocks of Hay Springs and Banner County’s David Gifford.

Three Panhandle teams sat in the Top 10 after the first day. Scottsbluff is 3rd with 45 points, just a point and a half behind Plattsmouth and 7-1/2 behind leader Omaha Skutt, Alliance is tied for 4th with 35.5 points, and Chadron is tied for 10th with 29 points.

Bayard was 6th in Class D after the first day with 28-points, but moved up to 5th after this morning’s consolation rounds with 36.5…2.5 points behind Butler. Pender cut Amherst’s lead from 23 to 11.5.

The Class A team race after this morning has the same 2-point margin as last night, but with Grand Island moving past Omaha Burke 83 to 81. It’s very close in Class C as well…with O`Neill at 49.5 and Central City at 47.5 at the start of consolation action.

Wrestlers in B&C start consolation action at 11:30 MT…with the semifinals for all classes getting underway at 4:00 MT.

Tomorrow’ schedule begins with the consolation semifinals for all classes at 8:30 MT, followed by the 3rd and 5th place matches. The finals…with all 4 classes going at the same time and broadcast statewide on NET…begin at 2:00 MT.