By Terry Douglass
terry.douglass@theindependent.com

After winning nine of 14 first-round matches, the Islanders came through to take six quarterfinal bouts at the Qwest Center, winning several of them late. As a result, Grand Island is already guaranteed at least six state medalists and finished opening day third in the team standings with 57.5 points.

Superior conditioning was an edge the Islanders appeared to exploit in five of their six quarterfinal victories. Matt Rice (130 pounds), Riley Allen (140) both pulled out one-point victories, while Jason Brisbin (160), Alan Taylor (171) and Jesse Janulewicz (215) all prevailed late in their matches to gain entry into Friday night's semifinals.

"We had really tight matches at 130, 140, 160, 171 and 215 about all of them were last-second wins with one of them in overtime and another that about went to overtime," Grand Island coach Mike Schadwinkel said. "It's really a great credit to our kids for how tough they are, how great of shape they are in and how they're going to keep battling until the very end.

"For them to keep battling and get those close, tight wins is huge."

There was perhaps no better example than Brisbin (31-11) in the quarterfinals. Trailing 6-4 late in the third period, the Grand Island senior came through with a takedown to force overtime and then produced another takedown with seven seconds left in the extra period for an 8-6 victory over Matthew Graeve of Lincoln Pius X.

"I believe our coach when he says that we're probably the best-conditioned team in the state," said Brisbin, who next faces Daniel Nye (27-6) of Bellevue East. "This is the second year in a row that I've had to win a match in overtime to be a state placer, so that's pretty exciting for me."

Even down two points late in the third period against Graeve, Brisbin said he felt like the match was his to win.

"You could tell he was tired," Brisbin said. "When a guy looks tired, that gives you extra confidence. That's kind of where I get my advantage from.

"I started out the match slow, he started out great, but wasn't able to finish."

That's exactly the edge the Islanders work so hard for, Schadwinkel said.

"Our kids are in great shape, no doubt," Schadwinkel said. "They've trained hard, they've followed the path and we've got them peaking at the right time.

"That's what you do this for, to be able to wrestle your absolute best at the right time."

Grand Island's Isaiah Aguilar (33-5) at 112 was the only Islander to breeze into the semifinals. The senior clinched his second career state medal with a pin of Millard South's Mike Mumaugh in 1:28 and will now face 36-3 Tim Crocker of Kearney in the semifinals.

Rice (26-17) has put together a bit of a Cinderella story, upending Jordan Brooks of Lincoln Southwest 14-9 in the first round and then edging Blake Cantrell of Omaha Central 4-3 in the quarterfinals. He advances to face 35-9 Brandon Miklas of Millard South.

"What a great story," Schadwinkel said of Rice. "The kid has just kind of come along and battled and gotten better and better throughout the year. Now, he's a state medalist, so we're just tickled for him."

Allen (34-8) opened with a 6-3 win over Millard North's Scott Quandahl and then nipped Jason Susnjar of Omaha Bryan 7-6. The victory earned him a semifinal meeting with Justin Ferguson (40-3) of Lincoln Southwest.

Taylor (28-9) gave the Islanders a pair of pins, winning by fall over Kyle Tobin of Bellevue West in 2:22 and Ben Samani of Lincoln Southwest in 5:57. The GISH sophomore will battle Nicholas Mizaur (34-9) of Omaha Creighton Prep next.

Janulewicz (23-10) used a closing burst in the final seconds to break a 4-4 tie and beat Joe Kayl of Millard South 8-4 in the quarterfinals and will next face Nicholas Ciurej (28-18) of Omaha Bryan. Janulewicz opened with a 6-5 win over Sam Almazan of Omaha Central.

Grand Island's Ty Chanthapatheth (17-12 at 103), Michael Bolan (29-10 at 119), Tyler Glover (16-8 at 135), Beau Jepson (22-22 at 152) and Tyler Swanson (12-19 at 285) all suffered first-round defeats and dropped into Friday's first round of consolation matches.

Islanders Alec Chanthapatheth (33-12 at 125), Billy Smith-Leetch (21-13 at 145) and Nate Westerby and (31-7 at 189) all went 1-1, losing in the quarterfinals to fall into Friday's second round of consolation matches.

With a good performance Friday, the Islanders will look to stay in hot pursuit of Class A leader Millard South (80 points) and second-place Kearney (65 points).

"We just have to try to keep every kid focused on what they need to do and that's perform at the highest level that they're capable of and controlling the things in their mind that they can control," Schadwinkel said. "They can't let all the distractions and external stuff get to them.

"We want to make sure that they're zeroed in on their own performance because that's the main thing that they can control."