Minden loses opener to #3 Grand Island

The lady whippets dropped their opening dual of the season to Grand Island 69-11. There were notable improvements from last season as well as some things to work on. Grand Island starts the season ranked #3 in the NEWrestle rankings, with 9 girls all ranked inside of the top 12. Grand Island also has excellent numbers with 45 girls on the roster. Minden came into the season with two girls ranked in Aliena Osterbuhr at #6 and Myia Hofaker at #9.

It was a fantastic atmosphere at Grand Island Senior High, with the spotlight hovering over the mat and a full house on hand. The first match at 235 offered plenty of excitement as Cheyenne Vahl took #2 Brythany Espino deep into the third period winning 4-2 before losing by fall. After Minden was open at 100 and Grand Island was open at 105, Minden lost back to back matches and was open again at 120. Aliena Osterbuhr got Minden back into the win column with a quick pin at 125, notching the 45th pin of her career and 96th takedown. After that it was all Grand Island as they scored seven straight pins to close the dual. There was also one junior varsity match, where Autumn Johnson of Minden lost by fall.

The girls will regroup quickly and be in action right away, with JV traveling to Southwest Friday and Varsity to Kearney on Saturday.