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LINCOLN He's ranked fifth at his weight class, but until Saturday, Grand Island senior Jason Brisbin had never won a tournament title.
"That's a big win right there," said Grand Island coach Mike Schadwinkel of Brisbin's second-period pin in the 160-pound final.
As it turned out, every win was big for Grand Island, which claimed its second Heartland Athletic Conference wrestling championship in four years by a narrow 193.5-187 margin.
The Islanders' title wasn't secure until sophomore Nate Westerby claimed a 3-0 decision against Matt Sharkey of Lincoln Southwest in the 189-pound final.
Southwest, which saw 11 of its wrestlers take first-, second- or third-place finishes, settled for second in the team standings.
Lincoln East, which had won the conference title seven of the last nine years, was third, finishing 23.5 points back of the Islanders.
"It took everybody doing their part," said Schadwinkel, whose others champions were state-ranked wrestlers Isaiah Aguilar, Alec Chanthapatheth and Jesse Janulewicz.
Of Grand Island's 12 healthy wrestlers, 10 finished in the top three.
"Today, we wrestled a whole lot better in the medal round," Schadwinkel added.
Like sixth-ranked Grand Island, No. 8 East's lineup was depleted a bit due to illness. Even head coach Marty McCurdy was forced to skip the meet.
Still, the Spartans produced a trio of champions in Cody Moreno, Drew Etherton and Dylon Larsen.
It was the fourth conference title for Etherton, who extended his state record for career victories with three more wins on Saturday.
Lincoln High's Whit Dawkins and Southwest's Justin Ferguson also defended their Heartland titles from a year ago.
Dawkins, ranked sixth at 119, posted a 3-2 upset of fifth-ranked Mike Bolan of Grand Island in the finals.
The only other championship matches to pair two state-ranked foes were at 112, where Aguilar pinned Southwest's Blair Brown in 47 seconds, and at 125, where Chanthapatheth outlasted Porter Groves of Northeast 1-0.
Top-ranked Alex Masilko of Southwest cruised to the 145-pound title. Other champions included freshman Chase White of Lincoln High and Northeast teammates Bryan May and Cole Pensick.
Heartland Athletic Conference
At Lincoln North Star
Team Standings
Grand Island 193.5, Lincoln Southwest 187, Lincoln East 170, Lincoln Northeast 117.5, Lincoln High 71.5, Lincoln North Star 71, Lincoln Southeast 37.5, Fremont 12.
Championship Matches
103Moreno, East, won by forfeit over Weils, Southwest.
112Aguilar, G.I., pinned Brown, Southwest, :47.
119Dawkins, Lincoln High, dec. Bolan, G.I., 3-2.
125Chanthapatheth, G.I., dec. Groves, Northeast, 1-0.
130White, Lincoln High, dec. Brooks, Southwest, 8-4.
135Etherton, East, won by tech. fall over Fitzsimmons, Southwest, 18-3.
140Ferguson, Southwest, dec. Allen, G.I., 5-4.
145Masilko, Southwest, pinned Palmer, East, 1:14.
152May, Northeast, won by tech. fall over Tromblee, Lincoln High, 20-5.
160Brisbin, G.I., pinned Schmohr, East, 3:05.
171Larsen, East, dec. Lacher, North Star, 7-2.
189Westerby, G.I., dec. Sharkey, Southwest, 3-0.
215Janulewicz, G.I., pinned Steiger, Northeast, 1:44.
275Pensick, Northeast, dec. Killingsworth, Southeast, 6-4.
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