ST.

Monday, March 04, 2002

ST. PAUL – Not many people expected John Niebuhr to lose. Especially Niebuhr.

The United South Central junior had his season end on a heartbreaking note Saturday night, with a 4-3 loss in the Class A championship match of the state wrestling tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Understandably, Niebuhr wasn’t talking after falling to Shawn Plumley, a junior from BOLD who scored a third-period reversal for the winning points. Niebuhr, who finished 38-3, was rated No. 1 in the state at his weight.

A disappointed Rebels coach Eric Wegner said it was a tough match and an equally tough loss.

&uot;That kid had real good position on us on our feet,&uot; said Wegner. &uot;We couldn’t set up for our shots. That kid’s real tough, and wrestled a heck of a match. I’m not saying we wrestled a bad match; he wrestled a good match.&uot;

And Niebuhr, according to Wegner, had a great season as a junior.

&uot;I know his work ethic will take over in the summer,&uot; said Wegner. &uot;I look for another big season out of him. It just wasn’t meant to be today.&uot;

Niebuhr was the only area wrestler to place in the state tournament. The other qualifiers were his United South Central teammate, Kenny Sandt, Alden-Conger’s Alex Drescher and David Schmidt, and Bill Root of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva.