SIDNEY- The Lexington and Cozad wrestling teams would make the long trip to the panhandle over the weekend, as they would take part in the Sidney Invitational.

 The Minutemen wrestlers would have a stellar day, placing five wrestlers, four of them in the top two, to finish fourth on the day.

 At 103 pounds, David Becerra would move onto the championship match, where he would be pinned by Ernie Solorio of Holdrege in the second period.

 At 125 pounds, Danny Ibarra is starting to separate himself from the pack as he would advance all the way to the championship match for the second invite in a row.

 Ibarra would take on Tyler Nation of Scottsbluff, where Nation would take it to Ibarra, winning by major decision 13-2.

 At 140 pounds, Rolando Gonzalez would be the closest of the Minutemen to take home a gold medal.

 Gonzalez would pin his way to the championship match, where he would run into Jeremiah Lueth of Chase County.

 The match would end up going into sudden death overtime, where Lueth would get the takedown and defeat Gonzalez 6-4.

 At 145, Bill Reynoso would cruise through the consolation bracket, taking third place overall, after defeating Chris Brening of Scottsbluff by major decision 10-2.

 Jesus Guerrero would also place second for the Minutemen as he would make it to the championship final against Kohlton Price of Sidney. Price would make quick work of Guerrero, pinning one minute into the championship match.

 Lexington would finish fourth with 82 total points, just two points ahead of Holdrege and six points ahead of Ogallala.

 “The kids keep getting closer to turning the corner for our program,” head coach Ken VerMaas Jr. said. “They are understanding more every day what the team concept is all about. The young kids keep winning matches and helping out the cause.”

 For Cozad, it was a strong showing for them, despite not having top-ranked Tanner Sturgeon at 189 lbs.

 At 112 pounds, Logan Hunke would take home the gold medal, defeating Kelby Nelson of Alliance 4-0.

 Caleb Lucero would finish in third after losing early in the bracket to Ibarra of Lexington by pin. Lucero would defeat Tyson Dolwer in the third place match by pin in the third period.

 Kyle Carlson would come up short once again as he would finish second, losing to Ryan Roach of Sidney by decision at 10-3.

 At 285, dark horse Pedro Garcia continues his successful season, finishing in third place.

 Garcia would make quick work of his first two opponents in the consolation bracket, then would squeak out a big win over Nathan Hinojosa of Chase County to take home the bronze.

 Cozad finished overall with 68 points, which was good enough for eighth place. Cozad finished right in the middle in which only 19 points separated ninth-place Alliance (63) from fourth-place Lexington (82)

 Lexington will wrestle again on Dec. 22, as they travel to Grand Island for the Northwest Quad.

 Cozad is done wrestling for 2009, as they take a long break before traveling to Aurora on Jan. 9.

• Cozad Haymakers
• Cozad Wrestling
• Lexington Minutemen
• Lexington Wrestling

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