Kearney Matcats Wrestling

This summer we will be hosting once-a-week practices that will be run by 2x UNK All-American, Nick James! These practices are open to all current Matcats as well as members of other local clubs. You can resister online at https://www.kearneymatcats.com/summer

Kearney Girls Summer Wrestling Camp Kearney Girls Summer Wrestling Camp featuring Flavia Nagatani June 2nd-3rd - Entry fee: $40

We are excited to announce that this summer we will be hosting our first-ever "Summer Program" for those that are wanting to get a little wrestling in over the summer. These practices will be on Wednesday nights (see schedule) from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM. Former Matcat, Bearcat, and 2x NCAA All-American, Nick James will be leading these practices. He will be focusing on skill development, active drilling, and improving your wrestler's overall athletic ability. This is open to both current Matcats and those there are a part of another club during the season!

You can get registered at https://www.kearneymatcats.com/summer

What a great turn out for our end of season party and awards ceremony.

All 2023 Matcats should have received an email last week about our end of year party. If you missed it, please consider joining us TONIGHT at 6:30 in the High School Cafeteria for a meal and awards ceremony. We will also be sending off our 8th Graders and wish them well on their high school careers. If you are planning to attend, can you please fill out this RSVP form so we can plan food accordingly? https://forms.gle/jtr4J8cFs9zVK6C78 Thank you!

Matcat End of Season Celebration RSVP March 28th at 6:30pm in the Kearney High School Cafeteria

A great option to continue wrestling through the spring. We do recommend this program for any wrestler that is focused on getting better, especially for Middle School and High School level wrestlers. Your wrestler will not be successful in Golden Eagles if they themselves are not attentive, willing to work hard, and capable of staying on task and focused. If your wrestler is 5th grade and above and wants to become better, they NEED to be attending at least the Sunday sessions. This is high level instruction for experienced wrestlers.

Spring training is just around the corner! Consistency is the key to success!

Session D was... eventful. PreK-K and Girls division kept the coaches on their toes all afternoon. We can't thank the Dad's enough that stepped up to help us with this. It's absolute chaos on that floor and keeping 13 kids wrangled for several hours was a chore. Thank you. That said, 11 of our 13 in Session D took home hardware. Parents, please share the medal podium photos with us so we can post them.

Ally Buden - 3rd-5th grade 45lb Girls Champion
Theo Myers - PreK-K 47-49lbs - 5th place
Camrey Kalb Whitney - PreK-K 48-50lbs - 7th place
Caden Carlson - PreK-K 49-51lbs- 2nd Place
Matteo Valles- PreK-K 50-52- 2nd Place
Eli Long - PreK-K 52-54lbs - 3rd Place
Griffin Ryan - PreK-K 53-56lbs - 4th Place
Beau McNitt - PreK-K 55-57lbs - 4th Place
Antonio Valles - PreK-K 92-95lbs - Champion
Delilah Walker - Girls 7th-8th 89lbs - 6th Place
Athena Alvarez - Girls 7th-8th 165lbs - 6th Place

The future is bright for Kearney Wrestling. Congrats on a great season, Matcats!

Our lone session C medalist. Owen Launer. 7th-8th 85lb, 6th place. Owen wrestled his last 3 matches all in a matter of 20 minutes. He had to dig deep in the tank to finish strong today. Great season and Matcat career Owen! It's been our honor to have you as a Matcat. We are looking forward to watching you compete as a Bearcat next year.

Session D, please meet the coaches at mat 11 when session C is compete. Good luck ladies and gentlemen!

Session C, meet the coaches on Mat 11 this morning for warm-ups. Good luck guys!

Session B medalists. Henry Kuchera - 4th, Greason Swarm -6th, Mason Ebner - 3rd. Great work this afternoon Gentlemen!

Congrats to Ally Budden. She's our lone medalists from Session A as the 3rd/4th Grade 50lb 5th place finisher on the boys side. On the Girls side at 45lbs, she will be awarded the champion as no other wrestler in her bracket made weight.

A reminder that ALL age groups will be live streamed on our Rokfin Page for all sessions of the NEUSAW State Tournament on Saturday and Sunday. This is the only place that will have live streams of the tournament. https://rokfin.com/neusaw

Those attending NEUSA State, Please fill out this quick questionnaire so we can plan accordingly.

NEUSA State Questionnaire

Matcats are hosting a satellite weighin for NEUSA State on Friday from 4pm-6pm in the Kearney High School Wrestling room. Enter through the South West door labeled "Activities Entrance".

A reminder to ALL coaches that are not copper, bronze, silver or gold certified to get your coaches pass for the NEUSAW State Tournament. Click on the link down below!👇

https://www.trackwrestling.com/registration/TW_Register.jsp?tournamentGroupId=212135132

After a grueling 2 day Aau State/Huskerland Dual tournament weekend, we had several wrestlers get some significant mat time in. Lots of character and team building on the dual side this year. On the state side, we came away with 5 state placers!

Ally Budden 🥈
Owen Launer 🥉
Scott Bonham (4th)
Tru Kliment (4th)
Madden Lueking (5th)

Just a reminder to get those state tournament apparel orders in.

Kearney Matcats 2023 NEUSA State Qualifier Apparel Online ordering for Kearney Matcats 2023 NEUSA State Qualifier Apparel ends on Sun, Mar 12, 2023 (11:59 PM CDT)

Here is a link to order apparel for the State Tournament. There are some higher quality apparel items in here along with the basic T's and Sweats. This store is only open until Friday, 3/12/23. Please get those orders in ASAP so we have time to get the orders printed and processed before the state tournament. The goal is to have these done to hand out at practice on 3/16 or no later than weigh-ins on Friday 3/17.
https://kearneymatcats2023neusastatequalifiersapparel.itemorder.com

Thank you

Kearney Matcats 2023 NEUSA State Qualifier Apparel Online ordering for Kearney Matcats 2023 NEUSA State Qualifier Apparel ends on Sun, Mar 12, 2023 (11:59 PM CDT)

Huskerland Duals are this coming weekend. With KPS beginning spring break this week, it's been a bit difficult to field these teams out. If you are interested in wrestling on one of these matcat dual teams and can fill one of the "open" spots, please reach out to us, we'd love to have you. Thank you

3rd - 5th Grade Team will wrestle on Saturday, March 11th
6th - 8th Grade team will wrestle on Sunday, March 12th

3rd-5th Grade Team (1 pound allowance)
55 - OPEN
60 - Mason Ebner
65 - Aiden Christensen
70 - AnnaBeth Alvarez
75 - Lane Long
80 - OPEN
85 - Parker Smith
90 - OPEN
95 - Jordan DeLeon
100 - OPEN
112 - Isaac Eidem
130 - OPEN
Max. 175 - OPEN

6th - 8th Grade Team (2 Pound Allowance)
75 - Jaren Small
80 - OPEN
85 - Owen Launer
90 - Jaxon Ebner
95 - Keiley Mills
100 - Noah Schmidt
110 - Logan Reagan
120 - Angello Luna
130 - Max Vanhorn
140 - Carter Geist
160 - Kaden Thornburg
180 - OPEN
Max. 260 - OPEN

40. 4.0. State qualifiers for Matcats! Unbelievable District Tournament for our club. We are so proud of each and every one of you that laced them up and stepped inside that circle today. Each one of you contributed to making Kearney Matcats the 2023 NEUSA DISTRICT 2 TEAM CHAMPS! Congrats Matcats!!!

We are looking for 4 more Matcat parents to help out at the front gate on Saturday at Districts. Please consider helping us make this a successful and enjoyable event for our guests.

NEUSA District 2 Front Gate Please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up. Thank you!

Tonight is always one of our favorite nights of the year. We had our State Medalists at practice helping out! Jack Sponenburg placed 5th at the High School State Championships and Perry Swarm placed 4th! Both were former Matcats!

For those of you wrestling Friday night at Kearney Catholic: We will be hosting a weigh in session for districts at KCHS for you from 4:30-6:00pm. If you are not wrestling at Kearney Catholic, please weigh in at the Fairgrounds from 5-7

District Tournament is this weekend. Please note that weigh ins are held FRIDAY NIGHT from 5-7!

Practice is still on for this evening.

Please help send Kearney wrestling to Omaha today at 6:00 p.m. Our 3rd-5th grade wrestlers will help make a tunnel for our Bearcat wrestlers right before practice. Any, and all, Matcats that would like to join in are encouraged to attend!

The MatCats will be competing in the Huskerland duals in Kearney on March 11th (3rd-5th Grade Team) and 12th (6th-8th Grade Team). Wrestling will start at 8am both days with Weigh ins at 7am.

This sign-up will provide us the opportunity to hold wrestle-off for those teams. At this time we anticipate having at least one team of each age group, a 3rd-5th grade team and a 6th-8th grade team. If there is enough interest, we may see about adding additional teams. We will be holding wrestle-offs Monday (2/20/23) at 6pm in the High School wrestling room. Any athlete that wants to earn a spot on one of these dual teams will need to be present at that time.

**Must be a paid member of the Matcat Wrestling club to wrestle off for a spot.

Sign up here:

Huskerland State Dual Team The MatCats will be competing in the Huskerland duals in Kearney on March 11th (3rd-5th Grade Team) and 12th (6th-8th Grade Team). Wrestling will start at 8am both days with Weigh ins at 7am. This sign-up will provide us the opportunity to hold wrestle-off for those teams. At this time we anticipate...

What a day! 734 Wrestlers took to the mats at the Matcat Tournament. 121 Matcats (our largest attendance as a team, ever). Overall numbers are a record turn out. We couldn't do this without the help of you parents, our coaches and everyone else behind the scenes. Thank you to the referees, all the competitors and their families that came out. We hope you enjoyed your time in Kearney.

We are ready to go at the 2023 Kearney Matcat Tournament! Be sure to stop by RUDIS booth today!!

Matcats tonight UNK is wrestling Ft. Hays State and tomorrow they will be taking on Central Missouri. This is the last chance to catch them at home this season! We are pleased to let you know that ALL MATCATS WILL GET IN FREE!! Come out and support the Lopers! There will be a few former Matcats in the lineups!!

3rd - 8th graders!. Pictures at practice TONIGHT (Thursday). Each wrestler will have an individual picture taken during their respective practice time. Matcat shirts will be handed out. The entire group will have a group picture done in between practice sessions. Baer Photography will be sending a link out to order pictures online after the session is uploaded.

Matcat Tournament is THIS SUNDAY! Get registered now. Exciting things happening this year. Not only is this year's tournament sponsored by RUDIS, they will be on hand with gear for you to purchase. The biggest excitement though is that 2023 will have the first ever GIRLS ONLY division in our tournament history. We are looking forward to girls from across the state showcasing all they have been preparing for! Also new for this year... The Matcat board made the decision that it's time to award placement out to 6th place!

Prek - 2nd graders!. Pictures at practice (Tuesday). Each wrestler will have an individual picture taken during their respective practice time. Matcat shirts will be handed out. The entire group will have a group picture done in between practice sessions. Baer Photography will be sending a link out to order pictures online after the session is uploaded.

The 2023 Kearney Matcat Tournament is this Sunday! We are looking for help at the front door. Please sign up for a slot. For all our new Matcat families, we assure you that those you are working with will allow you to break away and make sure you don't miss any of your child's matches. preK - 4th grade will be wrestling in the first session 11am to 1 pm, older kids in the 2nd session 1pm to finish. We would greatly appreciate the help as board members and coaches are focused on running the tournament and coaching. Sign up here:

2023 Matcats Tournament Help Please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up. Thank you!

A big thanks to Columbus High School and Coaches Kieswetter and Brownlow for allowing our wrestlers to dual next to the high school tonight. Outstanding atmosphere and always great to travel and compete as a group.

Midwest Duals 2023 in the books. If wrestling is about building character, this team made huge strides today. Even after a tough outing, we found kids grinding to the very end. Super proud of all our wrestlers, from both the Gold and Blue teams, stepping up to the challenge.

Shout out to Mason Ebner who went 5-0 on the day at 55 lbs!

Dual Team Information:

-Tickets should be purchased in advance per UNK.
Find those here: https://lopers.com/sports/2021/7/14/hometown-ticket-website.aspx

-Event is held at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds Expo Building this Saturday January 21st and will run in conjunction with a college dual tournament as well. Remember that BCFG does have a clear bag policy. Wrestlers are allowed to have gear bags but no purses, backpacks, or diaper bags will be allowed in the grandstand area.
- We need all wrestlers to show up on time. We must weigh in as a team. We would like all the wrestlers to report to Mat #6 no later than 7:15am Saturday Morning. All wrestlers need to be ON WEIGHT. There is no allowance at this event. If you are .1 lb over the posted weight, you will not be allowed to wrestle and the team will forfeit that weight class the rest of the day.
- Wrestling starts at 9am. Each dual should last about an hour, we will have at least 5 duals.
- We will provide lunch to the wrestlers and coaches (sandwich, chips, gatorade) during one of our breaks or in between duals.
- Please bring your own water bottle.
- 1st Team (Matcat Gold) Wrestlers should wear the singlet we handed out at practice. I believe there are 3 of you that weren't at practice. We will get those to you or have them with us on Saturday morning. 2nd Team (Matcat Blue) Wrestlers should wear any Matcat Singlet you have.
- Wrestlers are expected to stay with the team all day, encouraging and cheering on their teammates. Electronics should only be used for music to prepare for your upcoming match, communication to parents or during breaks, please refrain from watching videos or playing games while your team is competing.
- Parents, we encourage you to stay in the grandstands, we will have coaches for both teams and it gets crowded around the mats. If you need to come down and speak with a coach or your wrestler, by all means do, but please try to stay in the grandstands as much as possible. Please try to sit as close to each other as a group as possible and cheer for both of our Matcat teams as they compete.
-All our duals will happen on Mats 6,7&8 throughout the day