HOLDREGE Grand Island Northwest finished in fourth place in the team standings with 137.5 and seven medalists, including two individual champions, at Saturday's Central Conference meet.

Nick Helmer captured gold at 103 pounds, while Class B No. 1-rated (NSWCA) Hadley Cooksley remained undefeated with a first-place finish at 285.

Grand Island Northwest coach Brian Sybrandts was extremely happy of his team's performance.

"We're really coming on at the right time of the year." Sybrandts said. "Getting five kids into the finals is a real shot in the arm for the program."

Helmer defeated David Diaz of Schuyler 15-0 for a technical fall in his championship match, while Cooksley took just 1:04 to pin York's Brett Sorenson.

"I was really happy to see Nick back on the winning track," Sybrandts said. "This should be a big confidence builder for him."

Cooksley is now just one win away from the Northwest career record in victories.

"What can you say about Hadley?" Sybrandts said. "He works so hard. He really deserves all his accolades."

Additional Viking medalists included runner-up finishes for Alex Earll (140), Jeff Mills (160) and Dana Haines (189), a third-place finish for Calvin Fye (130) and a fourth place finish for Ben Paige (145).

Sybrandts said he's looking forward to next weekend's district meet at York.

"These kids have worked really hard all season," Sybrandts said. "I wouldn't trade them for any other team in the state."

Central City captured the team title with 210 points and four individual champions. Bison winning gold were Logan Williams (119), Noland Broekemeier (135), Travis Maresh (145) and Myles Butt (160).

Central Conference

At Holdrege

Team Standings

Central City 210, Crete 144.5, Schuyler 144, Grand Island Northwest 137.5, Aurora 126, Fairbury 82, York 71, Columbus Lakeview 53, Seward 36, Holdrege 21.

Championship Matches

103Nick Helmer, GINW, tech. fall David Diaz, Schuyler, 15-0.

112Dusty Stodola, Schuyler, dec. Dylan Denny, Aurora, 8-4.

119Logan Williams, Central City, injury def. Jake Oswalt, Aurora.

125Klay Kasik, Schuyler, dec. Stewart Bohrer, Lakeview, 5-3.

130John Svodboda, Schuyler, dec. Kam Lenhart, Central City, 6-1.

135Noland Broekemeier, Central City, major dec. Ethan Shunkwiler, Fairbury, 12-1.

140-Merritt Rodehorst, Lakeview, dec. Alex Earll, GINW, 3-1.

145Travis Maresh, Central City, pinned Adam Buchli, Fairbury, 5:14.

152Mark Fiala, Seward, dec. Clay Brokemeier, Central City, 5-1.

160Myles Butt, Central City, dec. Jeff Mills, GINW, 5-3 (OT).

171Dakota Theim, Crete, dec. Enrique Torres, Schuyler, 14-5.

189Marcus Smith, Crete, dec. Dana Haines, GINW, 6-2.

215Dex Schwieger, Aurora, pinned Ty Branz, York, :37.

285Hadley Cooksley, GINW, pinned Brett Sorenson, York, 1:04.

* GIRLS BASKETBALL

Red Hornets fall to Palmer, 59-46

PALMER Kayla Meyer tossed in 20 points to lead Palmer (5-12) to a 59-46 win over Heartland Lutheran Saturday night.

Claire Mackey led the Red Hornets (3-14) with 14 points and Sarah Scholz added 11.

HLHS (3-14) 7 11 16 1246

Palmer (5-12) 17 15 12 1559

HEARTLAND LUTHERANBartels 8, Mackey 14, Winsterman 3, Norman 3, Rollen 7, Scholz 11.

PALMERMamot 2, Estrela 5, Wells 7, K. Meyer 20, Hake 4, M. Meyer 2, Roepker 2, Wardyn 6, Wichmann 6, Ramold 5.