By Alan Carman
The Imperial Republican
With only five healthy varsity wrestlers left, Chase County wrestling Coach Matt Vlasin knew a team championship was probably not in sight at the St. Pat’s Invite Saturday.
However, the Chase County team brought home an eighth place finish out of the 13 teams participating.
Coach Vlasin was happy with the way his team wrestled.
“We need to work on finishing the periods and not losing focus,” Vlasin said.
The Longhorns brought home two firsts, a third and a fourth. Keithan Cochran and Nathan Hinojosa brought home championships, while Tyler Roenfeldt was third and Michael May picked up fourth.
Cochran seemed to have no problem breezing through his bracket. None of his matches even made it past the first period, with pins coming in 1:26, 1:13 and 1:43.
Hinojosa pinned his way into the championship match where he ran into Charles Kramer of Mullen. Kramer had also pinned all of his opponents on the day and supported a record with only five losses on the year.
But, Hinojosa dominated the match with a 14-4 victory for the championship.
Roenfeldt showed good improvement in bringing home a third place finish. Roenfeldt nearly pulled off a major upset when he got Catlin Rice of Cambridge on his back and nearly secured the pin.
Rice, with only two losses on the season, was able to escape and pulled out a win to knock Roenfeldt into the consolation bracket. After winning his next match, Roenfeldt avenged an earlier loss in the season by defeating Juan Martinez of St. Pat’s for third place.
May rounded out the medalists with his fourth place finish. After upsetting Henery Henderson of Sutherland in his first match, May turned around and had to wrestle him again in the consolation finals.
Henderson was ready for May this time and secured a pin with 24 seconds left in the match.
In the 145 pound division, there were 11 wrestlers to fill the eight- man bracket. Steven Way ended up in the bunny bracket wrestling Kyle Huhman of Anselma-Merna.
Way got caught out of position and was pinned in the second period, bringing his day to an end.
Results are as follows.
112 Keithan Cochran pinned Kenneth Millard (NPjv) 1:26, pinned Adam Pasquinelly (St. Pat’s) 1:13, pinned Chandler Tyan (Suth) 1:43 for first place.
130 Michael May decisioned Henery Henderson (Suth) 7-5, pinned by Jared Simonson (Mul) 1:14, decisioned Tyler Heerten (McP) 8-0, pinned by Henderson (Suth) 4:38 for fourth place.
145 Steven Way pinned by Kyle Huhman (AM) 2:49.
215 Tyler Roenfeldt decisioned Tyler Nielson (Hy) 9-3, decisioned by Catlin Rice (Cam) 5-16, pinned J.J. Johnson (DCS) 4:02, decisioned Juan Martinez (St. Pat’s) 6-2 for third place.
285 Nathan Hinojosa pinned Bryan Shurigar (SPjv) 2:38, pinned Tanner Jenkins (St. Pat’s) 3:42, decisioned Charles Kramer (Mul) 14-4 for first place.
Team scoring was: 1st Sutherland 149, 2nd Cambridge 134, North Platte St. Pat’s  129, Garden County 114.5, Mullen 112, Anselma-Merna 96, Hershey 88.5, Chase County 76, Sedgwick County 74, Dundy County-Stratton 60, North Platte St. Pat’s JV 39, Hyannis 39, McPherson County 18.5.
Coach Vlasin is hoping to get at least two of his wrestlers back from injury for the upcoming SPVA tournament. One wrestler  will not compete due to academic ineligibility.   
Sutherland looks to be the team to beat for the SPVA title. With a nearly full roster and a number of quality wrestlers, Coach Vlasin thinks they are the favorites for the championship.
Next action SPVA in Grant
The Longhorn wrestlers will hit the mats in Grant at noon today (Thursday) for the SPVA tournament. On Saturday, some of the wrestlers who have missed out on some matches will travel to the Southwest junior varsity meet to get a few more matches in before districts the following weekend.