The North Platte Bulldogs wrestling squad was one of the few Telegraph area teams that were active on Saturday. The Bulldogs left North Platte on Friday to compete in the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference championships held in Norfolk.

Although not having four of their regular starters compete, the Bulldogs finished second behind rival Kearney.

Kearney won with 207.5 points, and the Bulldogs finished second with 163.5, 19 points ahead of Scottsbluff in third with 144.5.

"Even though we didn't have enough guys in the line-up today, I thought our kids battled all day long," said North Platte head coach Dale Hall. "Four of the five guys we had in the finals were able to get wins."

The Bulldogs had five individuals reach the finals of their weight class, and four are returning home with gold medals.

Paul Kraye captured the 132-pound weight class and Zack Denney won at 145 pounds. Grant Holscher garnered his 100th career win in the finals by winning at 160 pounds and Bobby Cahill was champion at 170 pounds.

Holscher defeated Norfolk's Cody Merchant in the championship match, in what Hall said was one of the better matches of the day.

Tied at 5-5 going into overtime, neither wrestler could score from the up position in the first overtime. In overtime No. 2, each wrestler obtained an escape in their respective 30-second down position, forcing a third overtime.

Holcher chose the down position in the third overtime, since he had won the first point of the match, escaping with 5-seconds to go in the third for the win.

"Merchant finished sixth at 160-pounds at state last year," said Hall. "He is one of the higher ranked kids in the state this year. We were happy for Grant, as he picked up his 100th career win."

Zack Denney defeated his arch nemesis, Kalen Mazankowski of Kearney 7-2 in the finals.

"It wasn't pretty in the finals," Hall said. "But they have wrestled three times now and Kalen knows and defends him pretty well.

"Zack had some nice leg attacks today and does a good job of getting out on bottom. There aren't many that can hold him down. It was close, but [Zack] controlled the entire match."

Paul Kraye defeated Lexington's Danny Ibarra in the finals 10-5.

"Paul worked his tail off the entire day," said Hall. "Ibarra had beaten him a couple times this year, but in the second period Paul was able to get eight points off of just one headlock which was really good."

At 170 pounds, Bobby Cahill pined Scottsbluff's Jed Weis at 3:27 in the finals. After receiving a bye in round one, Cahill also pinned Jon Avilez of Lexington in the semifinals, to gain the finals.

"Bobby had an awesome tournament," said Hall. "He dominated the field and did some great things on his feet. He was able to turn some kids and work some pin combinations. It was a great tune-up for districts.

North Platte's other finalist, Jason Lienamann, lost to Ryan Kubr of Columbus, 15-0 in a technical fall in the finals. Liena-mann had defeated Scottsbluff's Cameron Prescher 9-1 and Norfolk's Kyle Temple 7-6 to reach the finals.

Hall also complemented North Platte's Jesse Henne and Lane Carpenter for their tournament efforts. Henne won his con-solation match at 195 pounds to place third, pinning Colton Bernhardt of Norfolk at 3:20. Carpenter had two pins on the day in capturing a fourth place finish at 126 pounds.

"We wrestled well throughout," said Hall. "And we competed hard in both the championship and consolation brackets.

"We seem to be peaking at the right time and look to be ready for districts this coming week."

Team results: 1. Kearney, 207.5; 2. North Platte, 163.5; 3. Scottsbluff, 144.5; 4. Columbus, 143.5; 5. Lexington, 127.5; 6. Nor-folk, 123; 7. Hastings, 109; 8. McCook, 69.

Area individual results:

106 lbs - 6. Andres Chiguil, Lex.

113 lbs - 3. Kasey Taylor, Mc; 4. Mauricio Calmo, Lex.

120 lbs - 2. Giovanny Rodriquez, Lex.

126 lbs - 3. Dakota Hernandez, Lex; 4. Lane Carpenter, NP.

132 lbs - 1. Kraye, NP; 2. Ibarra, Lex; 3. Jake Fahrenbruch, Mc.

138 lbs - 6. Levi Thomlison, NP.

145 lbs - 1. Denney, NP; 5. Jose Cohetero, Lex.

152 lbs - 1. Skyler Kalinski, Mc; 6. Keegan Knott, NP.

160 lbs - 1. Holscher, NP; 5. Mario Barraza, Lex.

170 lbs - 1. Cahill, NP; 3. Jon Avilez, Lex.

182 lbs - 2. Lienamann, NP; 4. Kolton Stone, Mc; Oswaldo Laguna, Lex.

195 lbs - 3. Henne, NP; 6. Armando Pinedo, Lex.

220 lbs - 3. Jose Muniz, Lex; 5. Martin Sellars, NP.

285 lbs - 2. Edwin Perdomo, Lex; 5. Bradan Erdman, NP; 6. Mitch Collicott, Mc.