RAYMOND — Not only did the Beatrice wrestling team beat its competition Saturday, but the Orangemen beat themselves, too. In a good way.Â
The Beatrice wrestling program tallied two school records en route to claiming the team title at the Raymond Central Invitational on Saturday at Raymond Central High School.
Fresh off claiming the Trailblazer Conference Championship on Friday, Beatrice picked up where it left off Saturday. The win marked the team's sixth invitational title this season, a program best. Also, Drew Arnold set the program's all-time wins record — his semifinal win marking No. 152, besting Jarrod Wiens' mark. Arnold, a Nebraska-Kearney commit, claimed the 132-pound weight class with a 19-3 technical fall over Cozad's Dreu White in the finals for his 153rd victory.
The Orangeman also set a school record earlier this season with 15 dual victories.
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"That's awesome," Arnold said of his record mark. "Jarrod and Andrew Wiens used to coach us, and (Jarrod) always said those records were meant to be broken. He always wanted us to be the best we could and it's just awesome to be on the list with a lot of elite people.
"It starts in our youth programs. Coach (Jordan) Johnson has been here since my class was in seventh grade. He works with us on fundamental things and just small things you need to do to be good. We have a great coaching staff and our younger kids have great coaches to look up to. I think it all starts down there. We are growing into the program as we go on."
The goal is short for Arnold: win the state tournament. Arnold (34-1) is closing in on 100 career victories by pin. He placed fifth at state his freshman year, fourth his sophomore year and third last year as a junior. Now, he eyes the top spot to close out an impressive season.
"State title. That's the endgame for everybody," Arnold said. "I want that real bad. Even if I don't get that, a state team title, our team has been talking about that the whole year."
Gavon Vanover (106 pounds), Trevor Reinke (138) and Deegan Nelson (182) added three more individual titles Saturday for a Beatrice squad that totaled 28 victories by pin. Jarrett Koch added a second-place finish and the Orangemen added four third-place finishers.
"It starts with everybody," Johnson said. "It starts with parents getting them to go to big camps. A ton of these kids have put in a ton of time, especially over the last two years. ... It's just fun watching them have success and hard work pay off."
Beatrice had two snow days this week and minimal practice time, but Johnson was still going to throw all he could at his team.
"I wasn't going to let up," Johnson said. "We have to get ready for February. We just keep on pressing that you're going to have to wrestle tired at state. You are going to have to wrestle tough matches at state. My message has been consistent all year — 'Be tough and get done what needs to be done.'"
Though Arnold eased through his weight class again in a short turnaround, he and Beatrice took Johnson's message to heart.
"This week was kind of harder with the snow days and one day of practice," Arnold said. "Tough conference (Friday) and a pretty good-sized tournament (Saturday), but coach Johnson just told us to push through and do what we can.
"We all know what we are capable of and he just wants us to do our hardest, do what we can, and place as high as we can."
Raymond Central finished second with 177½ points with Mitch Albrecht (126) and Conner Kreikemier (152) claiming their weight-class titles.