The Sabetha Bluejay wrestling squad journeyed to Marysville on Saturday, Jan. 14, to compete in the 2023 JayHusker Invitational Tournament. This year’s competition featured wrestlers from 14 area Kansas and Nebraska schools. The competition in this prestigious tournament has been compared to state tournament-level wrestling.

The Jays as a team finished in fourth place, placing six wrestlers in the top four of their respective brackets. Augusta captured the team title with 202 points, followed by Beatrice with 164.5 points, Clay Center with 133 points and Sabetha with 132.5 points. The Jays crowned one champion on the day, as junior 144-pound Cole Hinton went 4-0 and came home with the gold medal. Hinton pinned his first three opponents and then won a close-fought match 2-0 over Carter Trimble of Marysville to capture the title.

Junior 138-pound Colin Menold, 23-2 on the year, and senior 157-pound Jonathan Renyer, 17-1 on the year, both went 2-1 on the day, losing only in the finals to bring home silver medals for their second-place finishes. Junior 285-pound Josh Grimm, 18-5 on the year, rebounded from a semi-final loss to capture third place by defeating Rykan Carver of Shawnee Heights, 6-1. Senior 175-pound Josh Herrmann and junior 215-pound Dalton Rokey finished the tournament in fourth place, with Herrmann going 2-2 on the day and Rokey going 3-2.