LEXINGTON- Since 1986, the Lexington Invitational has been named after former Lexington wrestling coach John Higgins. The meet itself is one of the longest running meets in the entire country, as it has been going for almost a half century.

 The 2010 John Higgins Invitational featured wrestlers from three different states: Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. The meet consisted of 14 teams from the three states.

 Lexington and Cozad both fared well at this year’s Higgins, with Lex coming away with three medalists and Cozad taking home six medals, along with one champion.

 At 103 pounds, Lexington’s Henry Espinoza lost his first round match-up to Clayton Korus of McCook by pin, but Espinoza advanced through consolation bracket to take on Blake Peterson of Millard West. Peterson got the best of Espinoza, as Espinoza took home sixth place. Clay Mulligan of Scott City, Kan. took home the gold.

 Lexington and Cozad both had wrestlers at 112 pounds, as Mauricio Calmo and Logan Hunke fought through a tough bracket. Hunke reached the semi-finals before being defeated by decision to Kearney High’s Asa Stansbury 10-6. Hunke lost a close 1-0 decision to Connor Carstens of Lincoln Southwest before defeating McCook’s Jesus Gauna 1-0 to take home fifth place. Calmo went 0-2 for the tournament.

 Mark Edmonds of Holyoke, Colo., took home the 112-pound gold.

 Seth Kopf of Lexington had quite a story to tell people before taking part in his first Higgins Invite. Kopf, before the weigh-in, was in a rollover accident on his way to the high school. Kopf walked away from the wreck with only minor scrapes as he weighed in and took part in the tournament. Kopf’s won his first match ever at the Higgins, pinning Misel Garcia of Chase County at 1:51. Kopf advanced, where then we ran into Class B top-ranked Nate Morgan of McCook. Morgan made quick work of Kopf, pinning him in :58 seconds. Kopf took on Esgardo Acosta of Schuyler in the consolation bracket, where Acosta got the best of Kopf, pinning him in 4:04. Even though Kopf didn’t medal at his first Higgins, he definitely has a story to tell all his friends.

 Danny Ibarra of Lexington and Caleb Lucero of Cozad saw themselves on opposite sides of the bracket. They met up for a spot in the final. Ibarra defeated Lucero previously during their dual a couple of weeks ago when Ibarra got back points to take the lead as time expired. Lucero didn’t see that happening on Saturday. Lucero took it to the Minuteman, defeating Ibarra and advancing to his first Higgins championship match at 125 pounds. Lucero however was defeated by Kearney High’s Zach Rees by pin in the first period. Ibarra defeated Josh Wells of Lincoln Southwest for third place.

 Another Minuteman-Haymaker match-up began in the first round at 130 pounds, with Colton Derr of Cozad squaring off with Reece Ureste of Lexington. Derr got the best of the struggling Ureste, pinning him in the second period. Derr fell one win shy of the championship match, but was able to defeat Jacob Oertle of Kearney High to take the bronze medal. Ureste finished 0-2 on the day.

 The 135-pound match proved to be one of the toughest brackets in the Higgins this year. Manuel Dominguez of Lexington saw his Higgins Invite end early as he went 0-2 on the day, including a loss to Noah Gable of Kearney at :43 seconds. Kyle Carlson has proved to be a formidable force to anyone in all classes this season. Carlson upset Gable in the first round with a 7-5 overtime decision. Gable is currently ranked fifth in Class A. Carlson met up with familiar foe Ryan Roach of Sidney, where Roach got the best of Carlson 6-3. Carlson lost again in the consolation semis to face off for fifth. Carlson lost to Justin Kelch of Beatrice 4-2 to take sixth overall.

 Sixth ranked Rolando Gonzalez of Lexington looked for a signature tournament win this season. The senior started his tournament by defeating Brandon Clark of Beatrice by pin. Gonzalez however fell to Klayton Kasik of Schuyler, who is currently ranked third in class B at 140 pounds. Gonzalez reached the consolation semis, before defeated and moving to the fifth-place match. Gonzalez defeated Brian Strong of Holyoke, CO., by major decision to take fifth place. 

 Haymaker Derrick Kvasnicka had a tough trip to this year’s Higgins, losing to fourth-place finisher Trent Fleming of Millard West and to third-place finisher Matt Barker of Hastings. Kvasnicka did not medal in the tournament.

 No one wrestled at 145, but one Minuteman was in the 152-pound bracket. Senior Jesus Guerrero fought through a tough bracket to go 1-2 on the day, with the lone win coming over Eric Engler of Beatrice, defeating him by major decision at 15-2.

 Lucas Burch was in the 160-pound bracket, where he was looking to get some big team points for the Minutemen. Burch unfortunately stumbled, losing in his first match to Alex Jacobsen of Sidney by pin, then losing to Dalton Thomlison of North Platte by pin. Burch falls to 3-8 on the year.

 At 171 pounds, Joe Walker of Lex looked to continue his winning season, by stirring up his bracket at the Higgins. Walker lost the first round match to third-place finisher David Matthes of Sidney, then won over Derek Klaus 7-2, before losing to sixth-place finisher Juan Cordova of Lincoln Southwest. Walker is an even 6-6 on the season.

 One of the feature brackets of the tournament was at 189 pounds, where three wrestlers came in with 20-plus wins on the year. Tanner Sturgeon, who is No.1 at 189 pounds in Class B looked to be the odds-on favorite. Sturgeon won his first match in a rematch with Andrew Eshleman of North Platte at 1:32. Tanner advanced to the final with a default win after Phillip Colling of Millard West withdrew due to injury. Sturgeon met up with Luke Hayes of Scott City, KS., where they had met earlier in the year at the Norton Invite.

 Sturgeon wasn’t going to keep this match close, making it look easy, making an example of Hayes all three periods, defeating him 16-6. Sturgeon remains perfect on the season at 27-0. Sturgeon is creeping up on the all-time school record for wins.

 Jose Muniz of Lexington went 0-2 as the Minuteman fell to 1-10 on the season.

 Finally, at heavyweight, Haymaker Pedro Garcia and Minutemen Alex Munoz faced one of the toughest climbs all tournament long. Garcia faced off in a classic rematch with Bo Myers of North Platte. Myers held a slim lead before Garcia squeaked out a pin in the second period. Alex Munoz had to start off by facing highly-ranked Joe Allen of Kearney. Allen got the best of Munoz, pinning him at 3:06. Garcia had to face off with the top heavyweight in the state, in Jesse Hinz of Beatrice. He proved his top ranking with a :44 second pin of Garcia. Munoz got a shot at Myers of North Platte, where Munoz got a pin on the Bulldog at 1:45. Garcia made it to the consolation finals, where he fell to Brandon Yost of Millard West by pin in the third period. Munoz did not medal overall.

 “All of the Haymaker boys represented Cozad well this weekend by wrestling extremely hard at a traditionally tough Lexington tournament,” Cozad head wrestling coach Derek Hammerlun said.  “Tanner Sturgeon’s efforts led to one of his most dominating matches of the season in his finals win as well.”

 Kearney won its fifth-straight Higgins Invite, scoring 246 team points. Cozad finished seventh overall with 98 points, while Lexington finished 13^th with 41 points.

 Lexington travels to Boone Central on Jan. 30, while Cozad travels to Arapahoe.

• Community Sports News
• Cozad Haymakers
• Cozad Wrestling
• Lexington Minutemen
• Lexington Wrestling

Support your favorite teams and athletes by leaving a comment below