The 2026 Gator Varsity Invite on January 9th was full of surprises. Our boys finished with 6 medal winners and 3 runner-ups, those being seniors Carter Geschke (144Lbs), JC Seivers (175Lbs), and Marcus Wynne (190Lbs). One thing no one in the 175 pound bracket expected was the former #4 in the state JC Seivers being back in action and on the mat. The dual=sport athlete had a 6-0 record at the start of the season consisting of 3 wins over ranked wrestlers before he got hurt. When asked about being back on the mat after a month off, he stated,” I love it, being injured made me realize how much I actually love wrestling and I’m very blessed to be back.” The presence of JC back in the wrestling room really changes things for the Varsity squad, while he was injured, the Varsity team lost a dual to #10 North Platte by 5 points whilst not wrestling with a 165 pounder or Seivers. Big losses like that really show how important one wrestler can be to a team, from losing your wrestling partner to losing key important duals, all the team can do is be grateful he’s back on the mat so soon.

While the Boy’s Wrestling team did not yield a champion last Friday, the three finalists learned a lot from their matches. Seivers ended up with the UNL Wrestling Committee Niko Rotella from Omaha Skutt Catholic in the finals, and this proved to be a great learning experience for him, especially because he has to wrestle him again in two weeks. Seivers brought up many different tactics to try and wrestle a better match at the Jesse Greise Invite, he stated,”I’m gonna practice with Marcus and just focus on getting one percent better everyday.”

While losses can be very detrimental to your confidence, record, and physical health, this loss felt different. He just got back from a taxing injury and he was able to tote the line with a D1 wrestling commit, and still give him a great fight! You could ask everyone in the wrestling room, there’s a different vibe when he’s there. From running the “Ninja Training Warm-up” to being the team leader, the Lincoln North Star Varsity Wrestling Team is lifted to a higher standard when he’s on the mat alongside them.