On back-to-back meets last week, the Bobcats created some magic on the mats, bringing home a handful of top four medals.

Their campaign started at the Sumner-Eddyville- Miller Mustang Invite on Jan. 16, where both Josiah Coleman and Paxton Bierman collected silver medals. Then the team traveled to Dunning for the Sandhills/Thedford Invite on Jan. 17, with Coleman and Bierman placing second and third, respectively, while Blake Robertson placed 5th and Ben Linden nabbed a 6th place finish.

South Loup has shown persistent growth and discipline across all weight brackets, and even though only two reached the medal stand, the SEM invite showed plenty of try. Six wrestlers made the trip last Friday.

At 120 pounds, Noah Hiatt dropped his first round to Dylan Wendall (Bertrand) by tech fall. In the consolation quarterfinals, he found some retribution and won over Koda Baird from Maxwell by tech fall in 4:58. Moving on to the cons. semis, he fell to Dylanger Schledewitz (SEM) to end his day just short of a medal.

Josiah Coleman also wrestled at 120 and spent his day on the front side of the bracket. He won his quarter and semi-final matches both by fall against Cooper Woollen (Wilcox-Hildreth) and Schledewitz (SEM). In the first-place match, he struggled to get a foothold against Jace Smith (Kearney Gold JV), dropping the match by fall to Smith at 2:19 to capture second.

At 132 pounds, Ben Linden had a loss by fall to Caleb Walters from Anselmo-Merna. After receiving a second- round bye, he then lost his final match by fall to Connor L’Heureux (Axtell).

Jacob King, 157 pounds, split his day on the mats. After a quarterfinal loss to #2 ranked Grady Drueke (Elgin-Pope John) by fall, he rallied back on the consolation side to defeat Ian Santos-Velasquez (Kearney Blue JV) by fall at 2:26 after running up a score of 12-3. However, his final match ended his bid for a medal when he fell by pin to Zachary Wiebelhaus (North Central) in 0:59.

The Bobcats also had two wrestlers representing them at 175 pounds, Blake Robertson and Paxton Bierman.

Robertson won his first match against Bertrand’s Blake Teel by fall at 1:19 to advance to the quarterfinals. There he faced Anthony Arredondo (Overton) and lost by fall to put him on the consolation side. After a bye, he challenged Jason Bobo (North Platte) and dropped the match by fall.

Bierman stayed on the front side of the bracket all day, winning against Damien Campbell (Wil-Hil) by fall at 1:31 after a first-round bye. In the semi-finals, he won by a 13-7 decision over Kearney’s Kaden Thornburg to advance to the first-place match. There, Jackson Christen (Anselmo-Merna) got Bierman in a tough spot and managed to pin him at 1:18 to take the win, leaving Bierman with the silver medal.

At the Sandhills-Thedford Invite, four Bobcats battled through some tough brackets to bring home hardware.

Coleman ended up in second place at 120 pounds, defeating Dakota Douglass (Med Valley) and Sam Citta (NP St. Pat’s) by fall. In the championship match, Tate Wood (Fullerton) bested Coleman, pinning him at 1:04 to take the win.

Hiatt had a challenging day on the mats, ending his day early with two losses. The first was a pin from Tate Wood, and the next was a loss by fall to Nathan Lowry of Twin Loup.

Linden, once again at 132 pounds, gained a lot of experience and valuable mat-time as his bracket was set up pool-style. He faced wrestlers from NP St. Pat’s, Mullen, Sandhills Valley, Twin Loup and Anselmo-Merna, and fell by pin.

At 157 pounds, King had a tough go as well, dropping his match to Danny Taylor (Hyannis) by fall. After a bye, he faced Drueke for the second time this week, and lost by pin in a quick match, ending his day.

Bierman and Robertson both competed in a poolstyle bracket at 175 pounds, with Bierman coming out in third and Robertson in fifth.

Bierman defeated opponents from North Central (Reed Ellermeier), Hemingford (Grayson Hunter) and NP St. Pat’s (Emilio Dimas), as well as Robertson, all by pin. His final match of the day was his only loss, a fall at 2:44 against Christen of Anselmo-Merna.

Robertson battled through four losses, in spite of his efforts, dropping the matches by fall against Hunter, Dimas, Christen and Bierman by fall. Robertson then challenged Ellermeier in his final match, and found success, pinning him 0:50 to end the day on a high note.

The Bobcats will host the South Loup Invite this Friday, Jan. 23 in Callaway, with matches set to get underway at 10 a.m.