Niles leads Doggers to ninth

Erick Starkey
Posted 12/13/17

Senior Gaven Niles snagged second at 126 pounds and racked up 18 team points, helping the Lingle-Fort Laramie Doggers take ninth at the Banner County Invite in Harrisburg on Saturday.

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Niles leads Doggers to ninth

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HARRISBURG, Neb. – Senior Gaven Niles snagged second at 126 pounds and racked up 18 team points, helping the Lingle-Fort Laramie Doggers take ninth at the Banner County Invite in Harrisburg on Saturday.

“I was really pleased with our guys and the way they wrestled,” coach Brandon Gifford said. “Our younger guys took some lumps this weekend, but they kept battling and made a ton of progress in a short amount of time.”

Niles posted a 4-1 record at 126 pounds. Two of his wins came by pin in less than a minute, beating Bridgeport’s Austin Wheeler (0:16) and Holyoke’s Remington Hielscher (0:36). Niles got another fall over Connor Cluff (Kimball) in the first period. His final win of the day was a pin at the 5:20 mark against Hemingford’s Carter Buchheit. Trevor Nelson beat Niles by major decision, 15-4.

Eli Asa had the second-best finish among the Doggers, taking fifth at 120 pounds. He lost his first two matches, losing by pin in the second against North Park’s Destry Schmidt and getting pinned by Jordan Cluff (Kimball) in the first period. To close pool play, Asa picked up a pin in 25 seconds over Zach Mason (Garden County).

Moving in to the consolation bracket, Asa picked up a quick win, pinning Jacob Keim (Bridgeport) in seven seconds to advance to the fifth-place match. To close out the day, the Dogger had his longest match of the weekend, pinning James Kriz (Crawford) at 5:10.

At 145 pounds, Zane Rising also reached the fifth-place match. His first match of the weekend went the distance, with Waylan Fletcher (North Park) winning the 8-2 decision. Rising was then pinned in the first period in the next two matches, putting him in the consolation bracket. Rising picked up a win in the bracket, securing a 7-4 decision over Bryce Seier (Morrill) to advance to the fifth-place match. Fletcher and Rising again went the distance, with Fletcher winning 6-0 to put Rising sixth.

Alex Pugsley posted a 3-2 record, finishing ninth at 132 pounds. In pool play to start the day, the Dogger was pinned in the second period against Gideon Heaton (Hyannis), followed by a loss via pin against Garden County’s Drake Yates. Pugsley’s 0-2 record put him in the consolation pool, where he ran the tables. He picked up three wins, all by pin, over Minatare’s Nia Lerma (2:40), Bridgeport’s Zeth Patterson (0:51) and Morrill’s Jose Verdugo (1:43).

At 145 pounds, Dustin Swartwood was the final Dogger to compete in Harrisburg. He was unable to pick up a win on the day. He had one match go the distance, losing 7-0 against Deven Sullivan (Banner County). Swartwood was pinned in the first period against Josh Warren (Bridgeport), Morrill’s Seier and North Park’s Fletcher. The seventh-place match was a rematch between Swartwood and Seier. The L-FL wrestler lasted to the second period before being pinned.

The Doggers amassed 20 points as a team, just ahead of Minatare’s 18 points. Bridgeport captured the team title with 171.5 points, with Morrill taking second (101) and Southeast filling the third slot (79.5).

Lusk Invitational

Niles started the season with a first-place finish at 126 pounds at the Lusk Invitational on Friday, leading the Doggers to an eighth-place finish.

In the round-robin 126 pound weight class, Niles went undefeated, posting a 5-0 record. He picked up two pins in the second period on the day, including wins over Garrett Winkler (Newell) and Robbie Marta (Hemingford). One of the senior’s wins came over Moorcroft’s Henry Ward by a 20-5 technical fall. His final two matches went the distance but resulted in a Dogger win, beating William Fish (Lusk) 9-5 and Dalton Butler (Hulett) 5-2.

“Gaven had a really nice weekend going 9-1 overall,” Gifford said. “He is continuing to get better and when he gets in his wrestling shape, he will be even better.”

Rising posted a 2-2 record at 145 pounds on his way to third. In his round robin pool, the Dogger pinned Glenrock’s Jonah Young at 3:39 and Sundance’s Brendan Diede at 5:43. He suffered a loss against Cole Cook (Moorcroft) via pin at the 2:48 mark. In the third-place match, Rising pinned North Park’s Waylan Fletcher at the 2:32 mark.

Also at 145 pounds, Swartwood was unable to pick up a win. He was in the other round robin pool, falling via pin to Parker Seeley (Moorcroft) and Syler Fleck (Glenrock). He was beaten via technical fall against Fletcher, 20-4, and went the distance against Taylor Dykes (Hulett), but lost 9-7.

Asa started his season at 120 pounds at the Lusk Invite, going 0-5 on the day. He lost via pin against Sundance’s Colton Tipton, Hulett’s Deonte Taylor and Moorcroft’s Tate Hullinger. Asa went the distance but lost to Lusk’s Alaryn Craggs (3-2) and North Park’s Destry Schmidt (6-3).

L-FL finished the day with 11.5 team points, putting them eighth in the team standings just behind Glenrock (12) and ahead of Noth Park (9). Moorcroft took home the team with with 92 points, followed by Southeast (50) and Lusk (26.5).

“We still have a lot to work on, but all the guys are embracing the progress and will continue to grow,” Gifford said. “That makes it really exciting as a coach.”

The Doggers return to the mats for the Hot Springs Invite in Hot Springs, S.D. Action is slated to start at 12 p.m. Friday.

We are looking forward to this weekend at Hot Springs as it is a tough tournament and will really help us find the areas where we need to highlight heading into the winter break,” Gifford said.