At Columbus’ Pep Assembly on Wednesday, February 19th, Columbus honored the eleven out of the possible fourteen wrestlers heading onto state; each man stood before the entire high school wearing the robes that have represented Columbus’ presence at the Nebraska State Wrestling Tournament for the past fifty-one years. It was the hopes of these eleven to live up to the legacy of these robes at this year’s event.

Making his State debut at 106 pounds, was Freshman Adrain Bice. Bice took on Francsio Becerra from Creighton Prep and was victorious. In his quarterfinal round, Bice went against opponent Ein Obermiller from Grand Island. Bice defeated Obermiller at the Norfolk Invite and was able to repeat history as Bice pinned Obermiller at the end of the first period. For the semifinals, Bice wrestled Darrelle Bonam from Omaha Central. Bice was able to pin Bonam at one minute and twenty-two seconds into the match. Looking to become the second in school history to be a gold medal Freshman, Bice faced opponent Keith Smith from Lincoln East in the championship round. Bice was at a disadvantage for the first round, only having one takedown against Smith’s two. Sadly, the second period would end Bice’s season as Bice was pinned by Smith with one minute and thirteen seconds left in the period giving Bice the second-place medal for the 106-pound weight class. 

Next was Sophomore Blake Cerny at 113 pounds. Cerny was also making his State debut this year’s tournament. For his first round, Cerny faced Solomon Allerheiligan from Millard North. Cerny and Allerheilgan competed against each other at the Norfolk Invite and Allerheilgan won in a 4-2 decision. In this close rematch, Cerny was able to turn the tides and pick up a victory over Allerheilgan in a sudden-death overtime. For his quarterfinals, Cerny matched up against eventual state champion Caleb Colye from Millard South. Cerny lost the match in a major decision of 18-4 sending him to the loser’s bracket. There, he was able to win one match but, was eliminated by Juan Pedro from Grand Island in a major decision of 10-1. Cerny had an overall match score of 2-2 at the State competition. 

Making his final State appearance was Senior Clay Cerny wrestling for Columbus at 120 pounds. Cerny was able to win his opening round over opponent Rogelio Ruiz from Grand Island. Cerny was able to advance to the semifinals by defeating Hunter Nagatani by a major decision of 11-3. Cerny’s semifinal ended in a loss via technical fall, as Bellevue East’s Garrett Grice ran up an 18-3 lead. Cerny was able to win in the loser’s bracket to earn his place into the medal showdown for fifth and sixth place. In Cerny’s final match he had to take on Wyatt May from Millard West. In a close 8-6 decision, Cerny was able to win his last high school match and earn himself the fifth-place medal for the 120-pound weight class. All in all, Cerny will end his career with 129 wins and three state medals.

Also making his State debut was Freshman Caydn Kucera wrestling for Columbus in at 132 pounds. Kucera lost his opening round to Millard South’s Conor Knopick, who would win the State title. Kucera also lost his next match, putting Kucera in a 0-2 overall State Tournament finish.

The next wrestler representing Columbus at the 138-pound weight class is Junior Alex Korte. For Korte’s opening round, Korte had to face off against Angel Rodriguez from Lincoln North Star. The two faced off at a Columbus home dual when Rodriquiez was victorious in a close 3-2 score. However, that was not the case at the State tournament. Korte won the match against Rodriquiez and moved onto the quarterfinals. Korte’s first loss was at the quarterfinals, where Korte lost in a 7-2 decision to Kearney’s Brayden Smith. In his first losers bracket round, Korte lost giving him a 1-2 State match score. 

Next, was Sophomore Levi Bloomquist wrestling at 145 pounds. Bloomquist lost his opening round to Antrell Taylor from Millard South. Bloomquist was able to stay alive in his first round in the loser’s bracket but, lossed in his second round giving Columbus another 1-2 State finish. 

To wrestle for Columbus at 152 pounds is Sophomore Rylee Iburg. Iburg lost in his opening round to Gauge McBride from Kearny. Like Bloomquist, he was able to win his first loser bracket match but, lose his second match, adding on another Columbus wrestler that finished State at 1-2. 

The next wrestler that will make their last appearance at State is Senior Mac Shevlin wrestling in at 160 pounds. Shelvin was able to win his opening match against opponent Blake Smith from Millard South. However, in the quarterfinals, Shevlin was pinned at a minute and eight seconds into the match by the undefeated Maxx Mayfield from Lincoln East. Shevlin lost his first loser bracket round being the fourth wrestler from Columbus to have a 1-2 overall State record.

Wrestling to add another medal to his collection is Junior Blayze Standly wrestling in at 170 pounds. Standley has only medaled as a fourth-place finalist. Standley won his opening match against Izaiah Deras from Grand Island. For the quarterfinals, Standley was able to defeat opponent Joshua Pierson from Kearny in a technical fall of 17-2 in the second period of the match. At the semifinals, Standley won in a close decision of 8-6 over opponent Jack Larchick from Gretna. Standley’s final match was against opponent Grant Lyman from Lincoln East, an opponent which he faced twice but, Lyman won both times. At the start of the match, Lyman was able to take down Standley giving Lyman the early lead of 0-2. Standley was able to score in the second period, by escaping on two separate occasions however, Lyman was able to take Standley down following Standley’s escapes increasing Lyman’s lead to 2-6. For the third period, Lyman was able to perform a reversal maneuver. Standley was able to escape but was taken down by Lyman. Lyman won the match 3-10 making Standly the runner up for the 170-pound weight class. 

Another wrestler also looking for one last medal was Senior Anthony DeAnda. In DeAnda’s opening round, DeAnda was victorious over opponent Joey Glogowski from Creighton Prep. For DeAnda’s quarterfinals, DeAnda won by a 7-3 decision in a match against Sheldon Isom from Lincoln North Star, repeating history as DeAnda won over Isom at the home Lincoln North Star duel in a 9-3 score. DeAnda had a close semifinal round beating Grenta’s Tj Huber in a 3-2 decision. In DeAnda’s final round, he and opponent Gavyn Brauer from North Platte had a scoreless first round. However, for the second round, DeAnda was able to score with an escape and a takedown. Brauer escaped DeAnda but, DeAnda still held the upper hand 3-1. In the third round, Brauer was able to escape and takedown DeAnda giving Brauer the lead. DeAnda was able to tie the score to four points apiece by escaping Brauer. Brauer was able to takedown DeAnda again followed by an escape from DeAnda. Brauer was able to take down DeAnda once more making Brauer victorious in a 5-8 score making DeAnda the silver place winner for the 182-pound weight class. DeAnda ended his career with being a three-time state medalist with placing silver twice and one at fourth place. DeAnda also is fourth in all-time career wins in school history with 173 career wins. 

Last but certainly not least, the one wrestler making his fourth and final appearance, looking to become a two-time state champion, is the one who holds the legendary mullet, Senior Kasten Grape. Grape won in his opening round by defeating opponent Aidan Ingwersen from Lincoln East. For the quarterfinals, Grape was victorious in a 4-3 match with opponent Chris Wortman from Millard South. In his semifinal round, Grape was able to pin Jon Keller from Millard North in the early third period. Grape had one more opponent to face to defend his state title, Tony Pray from Creighton Prep; Pray being the very same man Grape defeated to earn his 220-pound weight class state title last year. Grape and Pray had a scoreless first round but, the second round Pray was able to escape and take Grape down. Grape was able to escape but, Pray had the lead of 1-3. On the last round, Grape escaped Pray but, Pray was able to take Grape down again. Grape escaped but, couldn’t score for the rest of the match, making Pray the winner in a 3-5 decision leaving Grape and his iconic mullet on the second-place part of the 195-pound weight class podium. Overall, Grape ended his career as a three-time state medalist placing in the metal category all three times and will hold two school records of most career wins at 192 and most career pins at 142.

Columbus as a whole at State placed fifth in Class A with 111.5 points, only three points below Grand Island and also had the most finalists (Bice, Standley, DeAnda, and Grape) since 1982. 

As Discoverer Nation now transitions into the spring season, the CHS Anchor News team will be updating on spring sports. In order to be updated on spring activities and other school events, be sure to follow CHS Anchor News on Twitter and Instagram along with checking out our Fusfoo page. I’m Libby Wurdeman, CHS Anchor News.

Featured Above: Columbus’ state qualifiers stand in the CHS Wrestling Room. Pictured from left to right: Freshman Cadyn Kucera, Junior Blayze Standley, Sophomore Blake Cerny, Senior Clay Cerny, Senior Anthony DeAnda, Senior Kasten Grape, Senior Mac Shelvin, Junior Alex Korte, Sophomore Rylee Iburg, Sophomore Levi Bloomquist, and Freshman Adrian Bice. (Photo courtesy of CWO Twitter.)