2005 CSG WRESTLING RECAP

Rob Pilcher of Omaha was selected as the 2005 CSG Wrestling Athlete of the Year and was named the CSG Male Athlete of the Year. Rob is the fourth wrestler to win this award since it was created in 1994. Rob was dominating on his way to winning 5 gold medals and went 13-0 over the two days. On a special note Rob is now serving in Iraq with the Nebraska National Guard.  He timed his two-week leave request so he could participate in the Games.
Rob also won a record seventh Iron Man shirt. Three others have six Iron Man shirts. They are Marcus Hellwege, Riley Tonkin, and Ryan Tonkin. All three of them are also Lincoln East graduates. Marcus is home after a year of duty in Iraq but was unable to participate because he had to attend monthly drill with his unit up in South Dakota. Ryan earned his 6th Iron Man shirt this year.

The Outstanding Wrestler for 10 and under will be shared by Hunter Bamford of Kearney and Colton Adams of Scottsbluff. Hunter and Colton each won 4 gold medals and one silver medal. Zachery Cottle of Arlington was named the Outstanding Wrestler for 11-14 for winning 4 gold medals and one silver medal. The Outstanding Wrestler for 15-18 will be shared by Quinton Cottle of Arlington and Jacob McManigal of Center. Quinton won 3 gold medals plus two silver medals while Jacob went unfeated on the way to 4 gold medals. Note the father of the Cottle brothers, Larry, has been called up for active duty and will be serving in Iraq.

Plaques for the Bank of the West School Pride Awards were awarded for the second straight year.  There are two divisions, Middle School (Grades 6-8) & High School (Grades 9-12) and four classes, A, B, C, & D based on last year's NSAA Classification. Points were awarded 3 for a gold medal, 2 for a silver medal, and 1 for a bronze medal. Omaha Burke took home the Class A plaque and its feeder school Beverage took home the Class A Middle School plaque.

In Class B Seward and Sidney shared the Middle School plaque while Plattsmouth won the High School plaque again. In Class C Raymond earned the Middle School plaque and Sutton brought home the High School plaque. In Class D Franklin won both the Middle School High School plaques. A special thanks to Tim Neumann of Valentine for having Bank of the West donate the plaques. It is the hope that this recognition will encourage more coaches
to bring their wrestlers to the Games. Three schools did bring a high number of wrestlers to the Games. They were Burke, Sutton, and Franklin. All three coaches feel the summer experience leads to more success in the winter.

A heads up on a possible date change for the 2006 CSG Wrestling because of a schedule conflict at Waverly High. We are looking at going a week sooner on July 8-9. It has not been finalized yet but appears to have a good chance of happening. The second weekend in July is being used by a few of the sports now with the third weekend in July being used by most sports. Note I participated in the Games for the first time this year doing the 50 Mile Cycle Tour that second weekend. Going this weekend allows us to stay at Waverly High, allows wrestlers the opportunity to participate in another CSG sport, and allows wrestlers who choose to participate in a different CSG sport now the opportunity to participate in wrestling also.

Sorry for being so late getting this information posted this year. The day after the Games I flew out to Portland, Oregon for a two-week vacation.  Part of the trip was for the Hellwege Reunion which was the reason for having to go so soon after the Games. All my siblings made the trip from Nebraska to Oregon for the reunion and we had a very good time.