Wayne High senior Juan Vergara locked up the Blue Devils’ first medal since 2010 Friday night with a dominating win in the third-round consolation at 128 pounds at the 2019 Nebraska State Wrestling Championships in Omaha.
Vergara started the day with a technical fall over Treven Melroy of Holdrege, then took care of business with a 14-4 major decision over John Kaprov of Raymond Central to secure Wayne’s first medal since Jorge Dunklau won a fourth-place medal at heavyweight in 2010.
Wayne nearly had three medals by night’s end, but Reece Jaqua and Cameron Muhs both came up short in valiant efforts in the heartbreak round. Jaqua lost a close 7-3 decision to Brock Little of North Platte at 120 pounds, while Muhs lost a heartbreaking 5-3 decision to Collin Quandt of Grand Island Northwest.
Winside will have two medalists, as seniors Koby Ellis and Michael Jensen both earned trips to the medal stand.
Ellis lost in the quarterfinals Thursday, but came back with a pair of second-period pins in the consolations to reach the consolation semifinals at 120 pounds in Class D.
Jensen, wrestling in the semifinals at 195 pounds, was dominating his match with Clay Thiele of Clearwater/Orchard when Thiele flipped Jensen at the edge of the mat and pinned him early in the third period to crush the Winside senior’s hopes for reaching the finals. He will wrestle in Saturday’s consolation semifinals.
Wakefield/Allen and LCC both came up short in their medal pursuits. The Trojans’ Isaac Verzani lost an overtime 3-1 decision in the heartbreak round to finish the season 39-5. Ethan Williams lost in the second round of consolations after winning his 100th match on Thursday.
Consolation semifinals start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, with third-place and fifth-place matches to follow. Saturday’s championship finals start at 2 p.m.
Here are Friday's results:
CLASS B
Wayne
120: Reece Jaqua -- maj. dec. Caden Corcoran, Ralston, 16-3; dec. by Brock Little, North Platte, 7-3. (Jaqua eliminated)
126: Cameron Muhs -- dec. Talyn Campbell, McCook, 13-7; dec. Kevin Price, Scottsbluff, 6-4; dec. by Collin Quandt, Northwest, 503. (Muhs eliminated)
138: Juan Vergara -- tech. fall Treven Melroy, Holdrege, 17-2; maj. dec. John Karpov, Raymond Central, 14-4.
160: Reid Korth -- dec. by Dylan White, 2-1. (Korth eliminated)
CLASS C
Wakefield/Allen
132: Charlie Lopez -- pinned Max Palomo, Mitchell, 4:25; dec. by Christopher Nicolite, Aquinas, 7-3 (SV). (Lopez eliminated)
152: Isaac Verzani -- pinned Austin Smith, St. Paul, :51; dec. by Ethan Koch, Hartington CC, 3-1 (SV). (Verzani eliminated)
CLASS D
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge
220: Ethan Williams -- dec. by Cole Rosenkrans, St. Mary's, 3-1. (Williams eliminated)
Winside
106: Jacoby Mann -- dec. Brayden Brecka, East Butler, 2-0; pinned by Dalton Hansen, Harvard, :33. (Mann eliminated)
113: Cayden Ellis -- dec. Jon Peterka, Sutherland, 6-3; dec. by Brenner McLaughlin, Thayer Central, 3-1. (Ellis eliminated)
120: Koby Ellis -- pinned Tate Phillips, Burwell, 2:30; pinned Cyrus Wells, Anselmo-Merna, 2:25.
126: Gabe Escalante -- pinned Jacob Gholson, Maxwell, 4:04; pinned by Nolan Blevins, Weeping Water, 3:52. (Escalante eliminated)
138: Art Escalante -- dec. by Elijah Green, Nebraska Christian, 11-5. (Escalante eliminated)
195: Michael Jensen -- pinned by Clay Thiele, Clearwater/Orchard, 4:36.
