Grand Island, Omaha Skutt, Pierce and Burwell earn top seeds for Nebraska state wrestling duals

Photo: Three-time Class B champion Tyler Harrill of Omaha Skutt wrestles Beatrice’s Maximilian Powers of Beatrice. (For Harvest Sports / Jose Lopez, NEWrestle)

By Dru Kastler – For the Nebraska School Activities Association

Class A: Creighton Prep Looking for First State Dual Title in School History

In 2025, Lincoln East brought home the NSAA State Dual Championship. The Spartans were the first new champion since 2018 (Kearney), as Millard South had won every state dual title between 2019 and 2024 (No Dual Championship held in 2021 due to COVID).

However, there was one team noticeably absent from the State Duals in 2025 when eventual 2025 NSAA Individual State Champion team Creighton Prep opted out of the dual tournament last year.

Fast forward to the 2025-26 season, and Creighton Prep (12-6) had made it known that they were not going to opt out. With a national ranking attached to their name and one of the toughest schedules imaginable, qualifying for the state duals came down to the final few weeks of the season.

That level of competition featured 12 out of state duals against multiple nationally ranked teams. The team had to battle through some injuries, but Prep ended their season on a four match win streak and were safely in as the 4th seed.

Creighton Prep head coach Andrew Fisher knew they had a tough road this season.

“Doing our schedule and dealing with these injuries has really built our depth, and our guys are excited to show what we look like as close to full strength as possible,” Fisher said. “Facing nationally ranked teams like St. Michael Albertville and Southeast Polk really pushed us and showed us things we needed to clean up.”

Prep opens up against an Omaha Bryan team who has some hammers in the lineup. This marks the third consecutive year that the Bears have made the state duals.

Grand Island Senior High (11-0) garnered the top seed. They have wins over No. 2 Kearney (twice) and No. 6 Columbus, but both teams are on the opposite side of the bracket.

The Islanders are ready for the road ahead against some unfamiliar teams. Starting off with eight-time state dual champs Millard South. Grand Island will be favored in that one, but it should be a fairly close dual when all is said and done.

On preparing for the unknown, Islander head coach Joey Morrison said the team “will prepare as we have all season, and keep our focus on the positions we need to win to win matches. Millard South is a tough team with several studs and should be a great matchup.”

Assuming Grand Island and Creighton Prep win their opening duals, that would set up a semifinal meeting between what most consider the top two dual teams in the state. But, Morrison is focused on the first round.

“Creighton Prep has a great lineup this year with several returning state medalists,” he said. “We are focused on our first round matchup and then will get ready for the next round when the time comes.”

Fisher echoed the one match at a time mantra.

“Our guys and staff are excited to see some new teams like GI, Kearney, and Lincoln East. There are going to be a lot of tough matches and we are ready,” Fisher said. “The guys are focused on what’s in front of them and that’s how they have done it all year, the tournament or dual in front of them is the most important one.”

The best match of the opening round could be third-seeded Lincoln East against Columbus. Although they were both at the Flatwater Fracas in December, the two teams did not meet up. Expect a close one here between two HAC rivals.

No. 2 Kearney will open up their state dual tournament against 7th-seeded Papillion-LaVista. Kearney won by a substantial amount over the Monarchs in a tournament just last weekend.

Class A: Previous Matchups

Creighton Prep over Columbus 66-8

Creighton Prep over Millard South 50-19

Grand Island over Columbus 36-30

Grand Island over Kearney 36-26

Grand Island over Kearney 40-29

Kearney over Lincoln East 48-22

Kearney over Columbus 44-32

Kearney over Lincoln East 51-18

Kearney over Columbus 47-26

Kearney over Columbus 46-24

Lincoln East over Millard South 39-33

Lincoln East over Omaha Bryan 49-24

Columbus over Millard South 36-29

Millard South over Columbus 39-32

Papillion-LaVista over Millard South 38-33

Class B: Skutt, Bennington Could Meet Again

Omaha Skutt (10-1) is gunning for their fourth title in a row at the state duals and has a single dual loss on the season to Creighton Prep. The Skyhawks open up against Waverly (18-5), who they have beaten the past three years at State Duals.

Skutt made some changes to their schedule this season to focus on duals.

“We added a couple duals this year in order to ensure that we had enough to qualify for state duals in case of cancellations,” said Skyhawk coach Chas DeVetter. “We also added Beatrice at the last minute because they had an opening and we knew they would have a very good team and great atmosphere.”

The other opening dual on the top half of the bracket is a rematch from an exciting contest in early January. In that dual Milford defeated Syracuse 32-29, but Syracuse was without returning state champ Brock Goebel, who is back in the lineup now. Seven of the fourteen matches in that dual were decided by decision, so you can expect another close dual in the opening round in Kearney.

No. 3 York (18-3) has only lost to No. 1 Skutt, No. 2 Bennington and Class C, No. 3 Pierce this season. They open up against Blair (19-4). York defeated the Bears 61-18 in December before the holiday break.

No. 2 Bennington (22-5) always wrestles an extremely difficult dual schedule. This season was no different, with four losses coming to Class A teams, and the fifth to Kansas power Manhattan. They don’t have an easy one out of the gate with an impressive Beatrice team that will have upset on their mind. Beatrice (6-2) pushed Skutt just a few weeks ago and they have the hammers in the lineup to challenge most teams.

Bennington head coach Alan Pokorny knows it won’t be easy.

“Beatrice is a tough draw to get in the first round. We are going to have to wrestle our best to win the dual.” The Badgers are focused on the road in front of them and not looking ahead to the finals. “I really have not thought much about Skutt yet. We have to get past Beatrice first.”

If the top-seeded Skyhawks bring home the title, they’ll tie Millard South for the most all-time with eight.

Coach DeVetter mentioned that they aren’t too worried about tying any records, but did have high praise for his team and their love for the sport. “We have a very exciting group of guys that work hard and love to wrestle. We really enjoy the State Duals.”

Class B: Previous Matchups

Omaha Skutt over Beatrice 46-33

Omaha Skutt over York 53-20

Bennington over Blair 64-18

Bennington over Waverly 67-12

Bennington over Syracuse 50-16

Bennington over York 55-13

York over Blair 61-18

York over Milford 55-18

York over Waverly 43-32

York over Waverly 47-20

Milford over Syracuse 32-29

Waverly over Beatrice 48-30

Class C: Separated by just 17 miles, Battle Creek and Pierce Frontrunners for Title

Battle Creek (11-1) won their first ever state dual title last season in their 10th year competing. This season they are in the mix to do so again.

Battle Creek head coach Cody Wintz remembers the title fondly.

“It was fun to finally win one. We had been in the finals three other times and ran into some really good teams,” he said. “Last year’s run was also tough, facing some solid teams in Pierce, Minden, and David City. I know our guys were super pumped to bring that title home.”

The primary contender on Battle Creek’s road to hoist the trophy this season, happens to be just 17 miles away, in the No. 1 Pierce Bluejays (18-2). It was nearly a year ago in Omaha that Pierce wrestler Brenden Bolling won his state finals match, which guaranteed Battle Creek the team title. Battle Creek and Pierce celebrated that one together, and also maintain a friendly and respectful rivalry.

“BC and Pierce obviously know each other well.” Wintz said. “We’ve had some great battles the past few years, and with last year’s state tournament finish, it tied us together even more. It’s a respected rivalry, where we both want to beat each other, but our guys and coaches are friends afterwards.”

Pierce handed Battle Creek their only loss of the season just a few short weeks ago 42-32. They validated that by winning the Mid State Conference tournament over Battle Creek just a few days later. Should they meet up in Kearney, it will be in the semifinal dual as they are on the same side of the bracket.

Both teams will have some tough opponents to kick things off.

Pierce has No. 8 Gibbon in the opening round and Battle Creek will open with West Holt (6-2), who are making their first ever trip to Kearney. Gibbon is making just their second state duals appearance in school history, but lost to Pierce 56-18 in early January.

Bluejay coach Tyler Legate isn’t looking ahead to the dual against Battle Creek.

“We respect Battle Creek and everyone we wrestle. If we don’t wrestle well against Gibbon, we won’t get the second dual with Battle Creek,” Legate said. “We dualed Gibbon earlier this year, and they have a great team. Their coaches have done a good job with them and they will be ready.”

In the other half of the bracket, expect two extremely competitive duals between No. 3 David City (8-4) and No. 6 Logan View (11-2) as well as No. 2 St. Paul (20-3) vs No. 7 Central City (15-8).

Logan View and David City haven’t dualed, but they did cross paths at the Norm Manstedt Invite in January. They met up at five different weights with Logan View having the 3-2 edge in those matches, three of which were within three points.

St. Paul and Central City are LouPlatte Conference foes, but haven’t dualed this season. St. Paul recently edged Central City by five points at the conference tournament.

Class C: Previous Matchups

Pierce over Battle Creek 42-32

Pierce over Central City 55-24

Pierce over David City 67-12

Pierce over Gibbon 56-18

St. Paul over Gibbon 45-33

St. Paul over Gibbon 42-36

Class D: Can Burwell Repeat, or will Aquinas reclaim the throne?

Burwell won their first state dual championship since 2018 last season, and ended Aquinas’s four season stretch of championships (two in C, two in D) in the process with a 37-33 semifinal win in 2025. Both teams should be firmly in the hunt once again in what promises to be an exciting Class D tournament.

Burwell co-head coach Evan Gideon loves that the whole team is able to be a part of this event.

“The state dual tournament is one of the first goals we always put up on the big board,” he said. “When you have the chance to take your entire program to that kind of atmosphere it enhances our level of competitiveness.”

For the second straight season, Burwell is a perfect 15-0 heading into the state duals. They hold wins over Class C qualifying teams, West Holt, Gibbon and St. Paul. The Longhorns’ opening round dual is against 7-1 Ravenna.

In order to punch their ticket to the state duals this season, Weeping Water (7-0) had to beat the team that beat them in the first round of last year’s state dual tournament. They knocked off Wilcox-Hildreth in a battle of unbeaten teams. Their reward in the first round is a dual against a powerful Plainview (11-1) team who is unbeaten against Class D competition and holds two wins over No. 7 Central Valley.

Shelby-Rising City (15-1) qualified for the second time in school history. They have a first round battle against Cambridge (10-2), who is making their third trip. No. 2 Aquinas (9-3) wrestles one of the tougher dual schedules, with only three of their matchups coming against Class D teams. They’ll have a tough first rounder against a scrappy Central Valley (13-3) team.

Aquinas head coach Roy Emory knows that it will be a tough road in Class D this season.

“The part I like about duals is it takes everyone on the team doing their job to win a dual,” Emory said. “We talk a lot about every point counts so if your team needs you to get a major or a pin that is your job. With the field being so deep this year, that is going to be very important, because whoever wins this thing is going to have to win three close duals.”

The semifinal matches in Class D this year should be some must watch wrestling. The likes of Burwell, Plainview, Shelby-Rising City and Aquinas are not just in contention for the duals championship, but also a team title in Omaha in a few weeks in what should be a close race.

Class D: Previous Matchups

Plainview over Central Valley 37-31

Plainview over Central Valley 42-27

First round matches in Class B and C will begin at 9:00 AM, with classes A and D following at 10:30. Semifinals will be at 1:30 PM and finals at 5:30 in all classes.