United South Central wrestling coach Eric Wegner is not a teacher, but he was doing some math at the conclusion of the state tournament.

If it was scored on an individual basis, Wegner concluded, the Rebels would have finished ninth as a team &045; not bad by anyone’s calculation.

&uot;We were just one wrestler away from getting up there as a team,&uot; said Wegner, a former Rebel who has helped turn the program around.

The 2002-03 Rebels finished 15-5, breaking by four the school record for dual-meet wins. And, according to Wegner, they would have won the section meet if it were scored individually.

The Rebels advanced a school-record seven individuals to state and, on Saturday night, three remained in the spotlight while earning medals at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Senior John Niebuhr finished his record-breaking career with a second place finish at 140 pounds, falling 3-1 to Shawn Plumley of BOLD in the final. It was a rematch of last year’s final, which Plumley won 4-3. Niebuhr finished with 181 wins, most in school history, and wrestled in five state tournaments.

&uot;John was an awesome leader for us the last four years,&uot; said Wegner. &uot;It’s been a pleasure to coach him. He’s going to be missed.&uot;

Steven Wood placed third at 189, defeating Ben O’Reilly of Goodhue in his final match. A senior, Wood had 135 career wins, though all but 39 of them were at Wabasso.

&uot;Steven was a little sick on Friday and wasn’t himself,&uot; said Wegner. &uot;Not to make excuses, but even on Saturday he was a little slow. He wrestled two real tough matches to get third.&uot;

Also earning a medal was sophomore Kenny Sandt at 119. He avenged a 3-2 opening-round loss to Hank Becker of Rushford-Peterson, defeating Becker 8-3 in the fifth-place bout.

&uot;Kenny had a real nice tournament for us,&uot; said Wegner.

The three medalists is the most ever for USC and is the most for a Wells school since the 1990-91 Wells-Easton Wildcats had three.

Though the Rebels graduate six seniors who combined for 160 wins this season, Wegner hopes they helped inspire USC’s younger wrestlers.

&uot;These seniors instilled a work ethic,&uot; said Wegner. &uot;We’ll still have some quality kids around and, hopefully, what we did this year opened some people’s eyes about what we can do in the future.&uot;