MITCHELL, Neb. – The Southeast Cyclones had four wrestlers place, including Bryan Baker and Chase Lovercheck, who each finished second, at the Mitchell, Neb., Invite on Saturday.
“The tournament down in Mitchell is always a good tournament,” coach Matt Bullington said. “We see some really good competition. Overall, it was a good weekend.”
At 182 pounds, Baker started his day with a pin over Mitchell’s Cody Chambers in the first period. In the semi-finals, Baker pinned Daniel Hutchins (Wheatland) with less than a minute remaining in the third period, advancing him to the first-place match. Baker was pinned in the first period of the championship match by Jerrod Fedorchik (Bridgeport).
Chase Lovercheck (145) also started his day with two pins. He pinned Marcus Carrillo (Mitchell) in the first period and Dylan Schnell (Bridgeport) in the third. In the first-place match against Torrington’s Matthew Garcia, Lovercheck suffered an injury in the first period that ended the match.
Tate Carson also reached the podium, finishing third at 160 pounds. He started the day with a loss by fall in the first period to Burns’ Ruger Lewis. Carson bounced back with a win by decision, 4-3, over Chase Dominguez (Torrington). Nathaniel Cooper (Bridgeport) beat Carson by decision, 9-7. Carson ended the day with a pin over Destin Standley (Minatare) in the third period.

“Tate Carson came into a tough weight class and did really good for being a freshman,” Bullington said.
At 152 pounds, Tanner Hort was the last Cyclone to place. He won his first match on Saturday by major decision over Torrington’s Nathan Davis, 17-4. Hort lost his next match by major decision, before winning his consolation semi-final match by major decision over Kyle Thurin (Burns). In the third-place match, Hort lost by pin in the third period to Dylan Ernesti (Hemingford).
“You look at those four and all four of those did an outstanding job,” Bullington said of his four placers.
Brady Tosh (170) was the final Cyclone to pick up a win in Mitchell. He lost his first match by pin, dropping him to the consolation bracket. In the lower bracket, Tosh pinned Isaak Glanz (Kimball) in the first period. Tosh lost by a 10-3 decision in the consolation semi-finals.
Elijah Boyd (132), Connor Smith (220) and Hunter Woodruff (285) all competed for Southeast at the varsity level. The three were unable to pick up a win on Saturday. Kaden Brothwell (106) wrestled for the Cyclones at 106 pounds in the JV division, but could not record a win.
“Our biggest focus is just fine tuning some things,” Bullington said. “We need to hit our conditioning hard now so we can back off so the guys can rest and be ready for regionals and states.”
As a team, the Cyclones racked up 49 team points to finish eighth. Torrington took the top spot with 160.5 points.
The next action for the Cyclones is at the Southeast Duals in Yoder on Saturday. There will be 42 duals between 21 teams at the Southeast Duals.
“It’s one of the few chances to get a ton of wrestling done in a short amount of time,” Bullington said. “Top to bottom, it’s a great tournament. It’s a big event and we enjoy hosting it.”