The lead wrestling story of the 2007 State Games was the Ferguson family
total participation. Steve Ferguson and all five of his sons all pulled
up their singlets and stepped out on the mat at Waverly High. The
father, Steve, has a silver medal to show for his efforts. Steve last
wrestled for Lincoln Northeast back in 1972. James earned an Iron Man
shirt bringing home three golds and a bronze medal. James was Seward
High’s first state champion. Jeremy, Joshua, and Justin earned bronze
medals while Joel just missed getting medal with a fourth place finish
in Greco. All the boys except Justin wrestled for Seward High. Justin
will graduate from Lincoln Southwest next June. The Ferguson’s were not
the only family that showed up in numbers. Another Seward clan, the
Hayeks, took home ten medals and two Iron Man Shirts. John, Joe, and
Josh brought home four gold, four silver, and a pair of bronze medals
between them. Their ten medals were the most for one family in this
year’s State Games. The Adams family made the long trip from Scottsbluff
for the fourth straight year. Colton, Trevor, and Zach combined to win
three golds and six silvers.
A huge hit with the refs, wrestlers, and coaches was the newly installed
AC system. The gym was somewhere between very cool and cold depending
who you talked with. Please spread the word about this. Hopefully we get
many of those back that didn’t want to participate in the warm to hot
conditions that have happened in the past. The schedule change brought
Greco numbers up enough to conduct round robin pairings for almost all
wrestlers that entered this style. Keeping this a four style event we
feel is very important. We certainly need more wrestlers in the state
giving both Freestyle and Greco a try and this is clearly the most
economical way available to do that.
The revamped School Pride Matmasters Plaques went to Franklin, Sutton,
Bellevue East, Lincoln Southwest, and Beatrice. Both Franklin and Sutton
have made the State Games an annual trip for quite sometime now. The new
format awarded the top five schools that entered the most events with
wrestlers who will be in grades 7 to 12 this coming school year. The new
format hopefully will get more high school coaches to bring their junior
high and high school wrestlers to the State Games. The School Pride
Matmasters plaques were provided by Denise Korinek and Kim Smith owners
of the Subway Sandwiches & Salads located at 29th & Cornhusker.
Dante’ Rodriguez was named the Outstanding Wrestler for Ages 11 to 14
and was wrestling’s nomination for the CSG Male Athlete of the Year. The
other three Outstanding Wrestlers were Adam Kinnaman of Lincoln for Age
10 & Under, Austin Wilson of Juniata for Ages 15-18, and Joel Torpy of
Omaha for Ages 19 & Over. The Outstanding Wrestler plaques were provided
by Denise Korinek and Kim Smith owners of the Subway Sandwiches & Salads
located at 29th & Cornhusker.
It appears that Beach Wrestling will happen at the State Games next
year. The competition will be held on the second weekend of the State
Games using the sand volleyball courts at Spike’s Beach Bar & Grill
located in north Lincoln. Basically Beach Wrestling is a takedown
tournament held on a sand surface. The new sport has been a big hit on
the east coast and we are very excited about adding it to the State
Games.
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