“Leading the WAY!” 2004:  Brute Nationals (Lincoln, NE)

Millard South Competitors and placers:

Frosh: Andrew Mitchell
Nick Meneely 8th
Greg Garcia 4th
Mitch Brown 4th
Zach Nielsen 5th
Trever Spudich 2nd

Sophs: Jon Bruner
Josh Muirheid 4th
Aaron Denson 2nd
Stephen Medina
Jason Magill 7th
Jeff Hamilton 5th

Juniors: Jake Muirheid 5th
Josh Magill
Jeremy Zink
Curtis Miller 4th

Millard South (club level) was represented by 17 wrestlers at the first Annual Brute Nationals for underclassmen. The wrestlers competed well as 11 of the 16 were crowned All-American. 40 states were represented at Brute Nationals. Most of the representatives were state qualifiers, state placers, state champions, and many were nationally ranked. These matches will go along way in preparing our wrestlers for next year.

District Results for the A-2 District:

Millard South 1st 247.5 points.

State Qualifiers:
Curtis Miller 103 2nd place
Greg Garcia 112 1st place
Jake Muirheid 119 2nd place
Josh Muirheid 125 2nd place
Mike Santone 130 1st place
Mitch Brown 135 2nd place
Aaron Denson 140 2nd place
Stephen Medina 145 1st place
Josh Heckendorn 152 3rd place
Josh Magill 160 2nd place
Trever Spudich 171 3rd place
Brandon Atkinson 189 1st place
Jared Erspamer 215 1st place
Pat Doyle 275 2nd place

Highlights:
The Patriots set a school and state record by sending all 14 to state. All three Seniors were crowned District Champs. 

State will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Devaney Sports Arena. The Patriots are currently ranked no.2 in the state.

Higgins Skyhawk Classic

Millard South 2nd 243.5 points.  With the addition of four teams, the Skutt tournament turned out to be one of the tougher tournaments we have been in this season. Class B, Boys Town was one of the teams to really add depth to the tournament. We placed 13 out of 14 wrestlers which shows our depth, and in doing so, came ever so close to defeating Skutt. With just a win or two here or there, we might have been able to pull off the win.

We were very happy to show a lot of positive improvement in just one week. We were a little flat at the Burke tournament a week ago; at Skutt, though, we looked a lot fresher and sharper. Crowning 5 champions was a very positive plus for our team. Jake Muirheid had his best tournament of the year in earning a major decision over returning state champion, Kellen McKim of Skutt. Another outstanding performance was turned in by Jared Erspamer who won a loaded bracket. All five champions turned in very inspired performances.

A couple other wrestlers who had really fine tournaments were Josh Muirheid and Mitch Brown who both took great strides this tournament. Both wrestlers defeated key district competition to earn 3rd place finishes.

Individual Results:
103 Curtis Miller 1st
112 Greg Garcia 3rd
119 Jake Muirheid 1st
125 Josh Muirheid 3rd
130 Mike Santone 1st
135 Mitch Brown 3rd
140 Aaron Denson 1st
145 Stephen Medina 4th
152 Josh Heckendorn 5th
160 Josh Magill 4th
171 Trever Spudich NP
189 Brandon Atkinson 4th
215 Jared Erspamer 1st
275 Pat Doyle 5th

The Metro:

Millard South 1st place, 227 points. 
 

Coach Denson's comments:  "Coming off a solid performance at a really tough Millard West Tournament and a very good week of practice, I felt like the team was ready to have a break-out performance at the Metro Tournament. However, being tabbed the favorite didn’t exactly help our cause. Friday evening the Patriots had their worst round of wrestling this season. We seemed to wrestle tentative the whole night long. Several matches that we should have won, we lost. My worst fear was that we were having a meltdown at the worst possible time. After a team meeting Saturday morning, the attitude of the team seemed to be pretty upbeat, and it showed throughout the day. From our worst round this year, we turned it around Saturday to having one of our best days this year. We managed to place 12 wrestlers in the top 5 en route to a 40+ point victory. Our medal round was by far the best of the year as we were able to win 10 of 12 matches. Any time you can win over half your medal round matches, you have had a good day."

"For the first time in school history, we were able to crown 5 Metro Champions. Previously, our record had been 2. Four of the Champions were favorites to win, but at 160, Josh Magill had an awesome finish to his tournament in winning the Metro title. All 12 place finishers wrestled aggressive hard-nosed matches throughout the day on Saturday to set the tone. We hope to continue this style as the season winds down."

Individual finishes:
103 Curtis Miller 5th
112 Greg Garcia Metro Champ
119 Jake Muirheid 4th
125 Josh Muirheid 5th
130 Mike Santone Metro Champ
135 Mitch Brown 5th
140 Aaron Denson Metro Champ
145 Stephen Medina 4th
152 Josh Heckendorn 5th
160 Josh Magill Metro Champ
171 Trever Spudich 3rd
189 Brandon Atkinson NP
215 Jared Erspamer 2X Metro Champ
275 Jeff Hamilton NP

Ralston Invite:

MS 258.5 (1st Place).  Coaches Comments:  The Ralston Invite wasn't the strongest tournament around, but we were able to see some key district competition. The team wrestled strong despite a tough week of practice. In the medal round, the team won 12 of 14 matches which is very good. All 14 wrestlers placed in the top 3 which shows the overall depth of the team. The team goes into the Christmas break on a good note having finished undefeated in all competitions. Similarly, the JV and Frosh finished the early season on high notes having won the Scribner-Snyder tournament and the Westside Frosh and Soph Invitational. 

Ralston Invite Individual finishers:

103  Kyle Conley  1st

112  Greg Garcia  1st

119  Jake Muirheid  1st

125  Josh Muirheid  3rd

130  Mike Santone  3rd

135  Mitch Brown  1st

140  Aaron Denson  1st

145  Stephen Medina  2nd

152  Josh Heckendorn  3rd

160  Josh Magill  1st

171  Tever Spudich  2nd

189  Brandon Atkinson  3rd

215  Jared Erspamer  1st

275  Pat Doyle  3rd

Omaha South Invite:

The MS varsity wrestling team scored a school record 355 total points in winning the 13 team South Invite. In this tournament, 16 wrestlers could compete for points on the varsity squad making the tournament a little more unusual than most. In the South Tournament, MS scored top 5 individual finishes from all 16 wrestlers which is a school record as well. With 10 in the finals and 7 overall champions, MS nearly doubled the points from the second place team. Outstanding performances came from Josh Magill and Stephen Medina who won their first varsity tournaments.

Omaha South Invite Results:

103  Curtis Miller 2nd place and Kyle Conley 3rd place
112  Mitchell Jennings  2nd place
119 Jake Muirheid  1st place
125  Josh Muirheid  3rd place
130  Mike Santone 1st place
135  Mitch Brown  3rd place
140  Aaron Denson  1st place
145  Stephen Medina  1st place
152  Josh Heckendorn  5th place
160  Josh Magill  1st place
171  Trever Spudich  2nd place
189  Brandon Atkinson  4th place
215  Jared Erspamer  1st place and Jeff Hamilton  3rd place
275  Pat Doyle  1st place

State Wrestling Tournament Results: Millard South – 2nd

Individual results:

Coach’s Comment:

The State Tournament was an amazing finish to the best season ever in Millard South History. All 14 state qualifiers managed to win at least one match in contributing to the State Runner-up effort. Along with the 7 state placers, another 4 came within 1 match of placing. It was also extra special to crown 3 state champions. For Jared Erspamer it was his second state title and he finished the season with a perfect record. Both are firsts for Millard South. 160 total points becomes the most productive in school history. Every varsity member finishes the year with over 25 wins. This quite possibly is something never done in the history of Nebraska wrestling.

Millard West Invite:

(Click to enlarge)

Millard South 2nd Place 219.5 points.  Millard West was by far the hardest competition of the year for the Patriots. Lincoln East won the tournament and is ranked #1 in the state this year. We followed at about 20.5 points back, but were in the hunt most of the day. We easily outdistanced no. 5 ranked Papio and no. 6 ranked Grand Island by over 50 points each. We will use this effort to prepare for Metro which is at the end of this week.

Individually, our three champions all wrestled very well. Greg Garcia easily handled the no. 1 wrestler in the state which should propel him to a high ranking this week. Aaron Denson and Jared Erspamer are both ranked no. 1 in the state, and both wrestled well on the day.

As a team, we placed 12 of 14 wrestlers which is really good, but we could have placed all 14 and we could have won several more matches. However, we will use this effort to propel us forward in our quest to win the Metro title.

Individual place finishers:
103 Kyle Conley 2nd
112 Greg Garcia 1st
119 Jake Muirheid 3rd
125 Josh Muirheid 4th
130 Mike Santone 2nd
135 Mitch Brown 6th
140 Aaron Denson 1st
145 Stephen Medina NP
152 Josh Heckendorn NP
160 Josh Magill 4th
171 Trevor Spudich 3rd
189 Brandon Atkinson 6th
215 Jared Erspamer 1st
275 Pat Doyle 3rd

Blair Invite 2003:

The coaches were real pleased with the team effort at the Blair Invite. All 14 wrestlers contributed points to the win; 13 wrestlers placed and one came a match short. Gretna had won the previous 9 Blair Invites, and it looked like they might be the favorite to win 10 as the team returned 8 state qualifiers as well as being ranked 2nd in class B preseason.

After the smoke cleared, the team had won the tournament in dominant fashion by well over 75 points. Every victory and finish was important, but a few victories merit some special mention.

At 103, Curtis Miller won a had fought ot victory over a returning state qualifier from Gretna. This was a significant win for Curtis.

At 119, Jake Muirheid dominated Gaines from Tekamah. Gaines has been a 2x state placer and pinned Jake a year ago.

At 135, frosh, Mitch Brown, won a deep weight class by beating a returning state placer from Gretna and also a very talented Tekamah wrestler. Mitch showed the poise of a Senior in his matches.

At 275, Pat Doyle won a star studded heavy division. He first beat a state placer from Plattsmouth before beating a state qualifier from Blair. Pat turned in a tremendous performance in each of his matches.

Overall, on the day, the team finished with 20 pins as well as a 33-10 record. In the finals, MS won 7 of 9 championship matches to pull away from the field.

First annual Nebraska Duals Invite:

Millard South 1st place with a 5-0 record Cozad 2nd place with a 4-1 record Lincoln NE 3rd place with a 3-2 record

Millard South dual results:

MS 63  Wahoo 9
MS 42 Cozad 26
MS 69 Neligh-Oakdale 6
MS 58 High Plains 3
MS 33 Lincoln NE 25

Outstanding Wrestler in the lightweight division:  Aaron Denson 140

Comments:  After two straight days of wrestling at the South Invite, the Patriots travelled to Hastings for the first annual Nebraska Duals. It was a hard fought day for the tired Patriots, but the team was able to battle effectively throughout the day to come home with a victory. The Cozad Dual and The LNE dual were duals against top 5 competition in class B and Class A respectively. Even though tired, the team rallied to show the type of character they have and the overall determination that they have. Key to the victories for MS was were the extra additional wrestlers MS brought along to help offset the load for the varsity. They were: Mike Bailey, Eric Heath, Greg Garcia, Jeff Hamilton, Kyle Conley and Jason Magill.

Omaha North Dual:

The MS Patriots traveled to Omaha North to battle with 8th ranked Omaha North in Metro Dual Competition. The Patriots came away with a 56-17 victory on the night. Highlight matches included Greg Garcia, Eric Heath, and Aaron Denson who came away with pins. Jared Erspamer also came away with a tech fall against a state ranked wrestler.

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