Reprinted from the York News-Times
Gage Friesen is the grandson of Henderson residents Mark and Veronica Friesen, and his father is Henderson graduate Jackson Friesen.
OMAHA — Gage Friesen didn’t step on the mats until he was in middle school.
Initially, the High Plains senior had his eyes set on the hardwood for his winter sport, but thanks to some persuasion from his dad — as well as Storm head coach Martin Phillips — Friesen changed his mind.
“I’m going to be honest — I never would have done it if it wasn’t for coach Phillips,” Friesen said Saturday night at the CHI Health Center. “I mean, I would have been doing basketball and been on the bench right now, but I’m glad I did wrestling even though it’s been hard.”
The moved paid dividends for Friesen, who capped his career with a flourish Friday night as he became High Plains’ seventh individual state champion with a 7-4 decision over Howells-Dodge senior Dylan Brichacek in the Class D finals at 150 pounds.
“It feels amazing. I lost to him in the semifinals last year, wrestled him a couple times,” he said. “He’s a great competitor, but we knew that’s what it would come down to. Last year I lost, it’s been a year and I have the exact same match for the championship. It feels good to come out on top after a lot of hard work.”
This weekend marked Friesen’s fourth trip to state in four years, and he landed on the podium for the third consecutive season after placing sixth in 2022 and claiming bronze as a junior.
Friesen didn’t spend the whole year at 150 pounds, but Phillips said Saturday the senior made the decision to bump up a class because he wanted another shot at Brichacek.
“(Gage) actually made the drop to 144, we made 46 and then we were at a meet — I think it was Neligh-Oakdale — and he said ‘I have to wrestle Bircachek. Regardless of win or lose, I’ve got to get this,’” Phillips said. “We made the decision to stay at 150 that day, and he knew for the game of life he had to conquer that last little thing for himself.”
Friesen’s gamble on himself paid off in a big way Saturday. After the two grapplers were scoreless through the first period, the senior drew first blood in the second with an escape and a takedown, though Brichacek got on the board late in the period with an escape of his own.
Early in the third, Brichacek cut it to 4-2; the scoreboard remained that way into the final minute before Friesen came up with the dagger in the form of a three-point takedown with 54 seconds left.
Brichacek added a pair of points in the final seconds, but it wasn’t enough as Friesen closed out the gold-medal match 7-4 to become the Storm’s first champion in Phillips’ seven years at the helm.
It was a needed breakthrough for High Plains, which had come agonizingly close in the past couple seasons. Lance Russell and Wyatt Urkoski were silver medalists last season, and Urkoski was also a runner-up in 2022.
“It feels great. I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t as nervous about losing for me,” Friesen said. “I was more nervous for (Phillips) because I knew he’d been through a lot with a lot of losses in the final. It feels good to finally get one for him.”
When asked what it was about Friesen that put the senior over the hump, his head coach pointed to his demeanor on and off the mats.
“Gage, he’s about as cool as they come,” Phillips said. “He’s over here playing stupid games on his phone; most of these kids down here are running sprints, going in there and warming up hard, but Gage is just rolling around on his back without a care in the world. I think that’s a huge advantage for him, always has been. There’s no stress and everything is going to be what it is.”
Friesen’s finish was far from the only highlight for High Plains this week, however. While other Class D schools may have sent larger contingents to Omaha, the Storm’s quantity over quality paid off with an eighth-place team finish as all three qualifiers landed on the podium.
Fellow senior Hudson Urkoski joined Friesen in the semifinals but came up a bit short Friday night. However, he rebounded to pick up a pair of wins in the morning session Saturday and cap his career with a bronze medal at 126 — an improvement from his fifth-place finish last season.
“I felt I wrestled pretty well overall this week in a tough bracket. Being in the championship would’ve been better, but getting third is a great feeling,” he said. “To end my career with a back-to-back medals was a great feeling knowing not everyone who attends the tournament gets one. It felt great to end my career with a win and a third place finish.”
Added Phillips: “We lost last night and he said, ‘I’ve just got to be better than last year.’ It’s just the next best thing, and he’s always been like that.”
Urkoski — who picked up his 150th career win in the first round Thursday morning, finishes his senior year with a 47-8 mark.
Also landing on the podium was senior heavyweight Caleb Sharman, who dropped a nailbiter in the first round, falling in ultimate tiebreak.
However, Sharman battled all the way back through the consolation bracket, racking up three wins in three matches to rally for a spot on the podium.
His final match of the day was particularly impressive, as he picked up a pin despite battling an injury that forced a medical forfeit in both of his Saturday matches.
“It sounded like there was no way he was even going to be able to walk out there, but he told me, ‘I’m going out there even if I have to crawl.’ We knew we had one shot to go big, and I said the second that underhook touches you better be going back; sure enough, he got it,” Phillips said. “He won one match his freshman year — I think he won the first match of his career and then lost the next 35 or 40, but he’s a kid who stuck with it, found the weight room, and turned into a unit.”
The trio’s efforts was enough for the Storm to eke out a top-10 finish despite a low overall number of qualifiers.
It’s further proof of the lasting impact of a senior class that has left their mark on the program in more ways than one.
“This whole senior class, none of them actually wrestled until about middle school — they played basketball. It all started with Hudson because he was 75 pounds, so it’s ‘Listen buddy, it’s not in the cards’ and then fortunately for Gage I saw him shoot a basketball and I said ‘It ain’t for you either,’ and then we were able to coerce Caleb and get Kaden (Rieken) in there too,” Phillips said. “Gage, at the first camp we went to he went 0-15 in the novice division and we were like maybe this isn’t for you either, but he’s just a sponge. The kid just learns, he loves to compete no matter what the sport and he works so hard every day.”
Friesen’s growth from novice into a bonafide star on the mats reached a fitting conclusion Saturday, as he hangs up the headgear with a gold medal around his neck.
The senior, who recorded his 150th career win on Feb. 6, finishes his final season with a 52-6 record and a state title.
“Obviously, I’ve been working for this for a long time and early in my career I never thought it would be possible,” he said. “To have it finally happen, it’s great. It means the world to me.”
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