Wilkinson, Herley To Represent Neligh-Oakdale At State

After a hard-fought season, Cameron Wilkinson and Andrew Herley are on their way to state.

The two Neligh-Oakdale wrestlers took first place at the D1 district meet in Howells on Saturday. Wilkinson earned his way to the state tournament by starting the day with a pin victory over Niobrara/Verdigre's Toby Ives. In the championship match, he took down Creighton's Cody Hanvey by a pin as well to become the 106 district champion. In total, Wilkinson was only on the mat an incredible 69 seconds on Saturday.

Herley took a little more time on the mat to qualify for state. He started Saturday off with a pin over Jacob Johnson of Archbishop Bergan to advance to the championship round. There, he took down Plainview's Trenton Steinkraus by way of a 5-2 decision to earn the 132 conference championship.

Kaleb Pofahl also took to the mat for the Warriors on Saturday. In the consolations after taking a loss on Friday, he needed two wins to qualify for state. He started the day with one win, pinning Bryce Kopf of Tri County. However, he was unable to get his second win, falling in the heartbreak round to Creighton's Bryce Zimmerer by tech fall.

The state wrestling meet begins on Thursday with the first round for Class D kicking off at 9:30 a.m.

NSAA - Class D - District 1 Results for Neligh-Oakdale
106 - Cameron Wilkinson (41-3) placed 1st and scored 26.00 team points.
    Champ. Round 1 - Cameron Wilkinson (Neligh-Oakdale) 41-3 received a bye () (Bye)
    Quarterfinal - Cameron Wilkinson (Neligh-Oakdale) 41-3 won by fall over Joel Costello (Southwest) 11-19 (Fall 2:43)
    Semifinal - Cameron Wilkinson (Neligh-Oakdale) 41-3 won by fall over Toby Ives (Niobrara/Verdigre) 12-21 (Fall 0:33)
    1st Place Match - Cameron Wilkinson (Neligh-Oakdale) 41-3 won by fall over Cody Hanvey (Creighton) 15-8 (Fall 0:36)

132 - Andrew Herley (37-7) placed 1st and scored 24.00 team points.
    Champ. Round 1 - Andrew Herley (Neligh-Oakdale) 37-7 received a bye () (Bye)
    Quarterfinal - Andrew Herley (Neligh-Oakdale) 37-7 won by fall over Jadyn Smeal (Scribner-Snyder) 21-18 (Fall 1:54)
    Semifinal - Andrew Herley (Neligh-Oakdale) 37-7 won by fall over Jacob Johnson (Archbishop Bergan) 30-8 (Fall 3:00)
    1st Place Match - Andrew Herley (Neligh-Oakdale) 37-7 won by decision over Trenton Steinkraus (Plainview) 36-3 (Dec 5-2)

138 - Cade Wilkinson (14-24) place is unknown and scored 1.00 team points.
    Champ. Round 1 - James Polen (North Central) 15-9 won by fall over Cade Wilkinson (Neligh-Oakdale) 14-24 (Fall 3:17)
    Cons. Round 1 - Cade Wilkinson (Neligh-Oakdale) 14-24 won by decision over Wyatt Hegemann (Howells-Dodge) 7-26 (Dec 5-3)
    Cons. Round 2 - Ryan Van Pelt (Southwest) 28-18 won by major decision over Cade Wilkinson (Neligh-Oakdale) 14-24 (MD 15-3)

145 - Kaleb Pofahl (26-14) place is unknown and scored 10.00 team points.
    Champ. Round 1 - Kaleb Pofahl (Neligh-Oakdale) 26-14 won by fall over Garrett Lenners (Freeman) 15-22 (Fall 3:13)
    Quarterfinal - Spencer Wichmann (Palmer) 44-8 won by fall over Kaleb Pofahl (Neligh-Oakdale) 26-14 (Fall 1:02)
    Cons. Round 2 - Kaleb Pofahl (Neligh-Oakdale) 26-14 won by fall over Teague Stewart (Scribner-Snyder) 6-16 (Fall 1:44)
    Cons. Round 3 - Kaleb Pofahl (Neligh-Oakdale) 26-14 won by fall over Bryce Kopf (Tri County) 26-11 (Fall 1:55)
    Cons. Semi - Bryce Zimmerer (Creighton) 34-9 won by tech fall over Kaleb Pofahl (Neligh-Oakdale) 26-14 (TF-1.5 4:44 (15-0))

152 - Jose Luna (6-20) place is unknown and scored 3.00 team points.
    Champ. Round 1 - JD Kuhlman (Creighton) 5-3 won by fall over Jose Luna (Neligh-Oakdale) 6-20 (Fall 2:32)
    Cons. Round 1 - Jose Luna (Neligh-Oakdale) 6-20 won by fall over Charlie Stanley (Laurel-Concord-Coleridge) 4-23 (Fall 2:31)
    Cons. Round 2 - ALEXANDER DACK (Southwest) 28-20 won by fall over Jose Luna (Neligh-Oakdale) 6-20 (Fall 1:40)

160 - Jayden Arehart (31-20) place is unknown and scored 0.00 team points.
    Champ. Round 1 - Hunter Ashburn (Plainview) 11-16 won by decision over Jayden Arehart (Neligh-Oakdale) 31-20 (Dec 6-2)
    Cons. Round 1 - Jayden Arehart (Neligh-Oakdale) 31-20 received a bye () (Bye)
    Cons. Round 2 - Codey Snider (Clearwater-Orchard) 16-15 won by decision over Jayden Arehart (Neligh-Oakdale) 31-20 (Dec 9-4)