The Bobcat wrestlers traveled east this past weekend - to Sargent for the Twin Loup Invite on Friday, and to Merna for the Anselmo-Merna Coyote Invite on Saturday - and brought home a handful of hardware.

On Friday at Sargent, freshman Josiah Coleman finished third at 106 pounds. He barely lost by decision 17-15 to Dylan Hernandez of Minden; pinned Brett Olson of Anselmo-Merna in 2:44 in the first round of consolations; went on to pin Korbin Druery of Anselmo-Merna in 1:27 in the consolation semifinals; and beat Colten Patrick of Burwell by a decision of 6-0 to win third place.

Bo Brennan placed third at 126 pounds with pins over Wyatt Kyle of Overton in 0:33 and over Sidon Brock of North Central in 1:05. In the semifinal match, he was pinned by Dierks Sayer of Cambridge in 1:41 (Sayer was a state qualifier last year at D126); and won his third place match by major decision 9-1 over Hector Estrada of Twin Loup.

Sophomore Dawson Mason at 132 pounds placed third on Friday. He pinned Atwood Albrecht of North Central in 3:17; was pinned late in the third by Corbin Hoefer of Neligh- Oakdale in the semifinals; then turned around and stuck Braxton Hatch of Minden in 3:40 in the consolation semifinals. In his third-place match, he won by decision over Josiah Koenigsberg of Burwell by 7-4 Fellow freshman Paxton Bierman finished fourth place at 113 pounds. In the quarterfinals, Bierman stuck Zachary Wiebelhaus of North Central in 5:14; was pinned early by Micah Gerlach of Cambridge in 0:43 in the semifinals; won by decision 11-5 over Kaden Evans of Ainsworth in the consolation semifinals; and lost by decision 9-4 to Ora Chaffin of Burwell to finish fourth.

Others wrestling on Friday included Zane Ellison at 113 pounds; CJ Quandt at 138 pounds; Kyle Bloomer at 182 pounds; and Dawson Doggett at 195 pounds.

On the JV team, Dylan Handley placed first at 145 pounds by pinning Austin Woods of Cambridge in 0:28 and pinning Kade Wiiest of North Central in 0:18.

On Saturday, Coleman (7-3) brought home the gold at 106 pounds after pinning all three of his opponents. In the quarterfinals, he pinned Wyatt Fowler of North Central in 0:41;pinned Clayton Scoville of SEM in 3:05; and in the finals, he pinned Christopher Allen of Arcadia Loup City in 5:13 Bierman (7-5) finished third at 113 pounds with wins over Caleb Walters of Anselmo- Merna in 1:11; in the semifinals, Wiebelhaus of North Central avenged his loss from Friday by pinning Bierman in 0:18. Bierman went on to pin Emanuel Zuniga of Lexington JV in 0:38 and earned a second win in as many days over Evans of Ainsworth, with a major decision 12-3.

Brennan (9-4) had another third place finish at 132 pounds on Saturday by pinning Jaxon Cozad of North Central in 1:12; getting pinned by Jason Smith of Elm Creek 

(a state qualifier last year at D113) in the semifinals in 1:33; and quickly pinned Walter Aguilar of Lexington JV in 0:39 to advance to the third place match. There he pinned Hector Estrada of Twin Loup in 2:07.

Mason (7-3) finished fourth on Saturday. He was pinned by Dylan Logue of Grand Island JV in 4:46; then pinned Wyatt Olson of Twin Loup in 0:57 in the consolation semifinals; but was pinned by Alex Meier of Elm Creek in 2:21.

Down at 138 pounds, Quandt (8-5) finished fourth with pins of Lane Stewart of Anselmo-Merna in 0:17 and Daniel Taylor of Hyannis in 1:04. He was pinned by Ty Greenland of Arcadia Loup City in 3:23 in the semifinals, but won by decision over Beckham Lewis of Elm Creek 10-6 in the consolation semifinals. He held on for three periods in the third-place match, but lost to Emmett Grint of Twin Loup by decision of 5-2.

Doggett (4-3) finished third with a win over Robbie Reynolds of North Central in 2:21; lost to Sid Miller of Anselmo-Merna (who finished second last year at state in D195) by decision of 7-0 in the semifinal; a pin of Allan Filla of Lexington JV in 1:49; and a pin over Robbie Reynolds of North Central in 1:00.

Others wrestling on Saturday was Ellison (3-6) at 113 pounds; Handley (2-4) at 145 pounds; Bloomer (0-4) at 182 pounds.

The team finished eighth as a whole on Friday and fourth on Saturday.

The Bobcats will be back in action on Friday at Burwell for a dual at 1 pm, then they will have a break until Jan. 3 when they head to Dunning for a triangular with Sandhills Thedford and Anselmo-Merna.