Sports

Each week during the school year, the Polk County News will select a male and female Athlete of the Week.

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PCN Athletes of the Week for Jan. 15, 2026

News Staff

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Each week during the school year, the Polk County News will select a male and female Athlete of the Week. Athletes of the Week are brought to you by these fine sponsors.

High Plains senior Dakota Gress gets her hand raised after defeating Aurora’s Di Maria Leininger for her 100th career win on Thursday. Dakota finished second overall at 135 pounds. PCN photo by Ken Kush.

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56TH ANNUAL NORM MANSTEDT WRESTLING INVITATIONAL

Ken Kush

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

COLUMBUS- The Norm Manstedt Girls Invitational drew 67 teams from across Nebraska to the Columbus Fieldhouse located near Columbus High School on Thursday.Teams from both Class A and Class B competed on 10 mats and the Class A portion went to Norfolk who racked up 200.5 points with Millard South...

Top-Makayo Confer of High Plains is shown in action at the Norm Manstedt Invite. Confer scored four of the team’s six points.

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STORM GRAPPLERS ONLY LOCAL TEAM TO COMPETE AT MANSTEDT INVITE

Ken Kush

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

COLUMBUS- Some of the top wrestlers in the state were in action over the weekend at the two-day Norm Manstedt Invite held at the Columbus Fieldhouse.A total of 33 teams made the to Platte County and Columbus Discoverers won the team title with 253.5 points, followed by Lincoln East with 230.5,...

Huskies Get Comeback Win Over Meridian- Cold As Ice at Riverside

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Huskies Get Comeback Win Over Meridian- Cold As Ice at Riverside

Ken Kush

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

SHELBY- The Shelby-RC Huskies had a pair of weekend games as they traveled to Riverside on Friday night and returned home on Saturday afternoon to host the Meridian Mustangs.The Friday night trip to Riverside was a 58-25 loss to the 7-4 Chargers, while Meridian came into Shelby on Saturday and put...

SRC Tops Meridian/ Suffers Tough Loss at Riverside

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SRC Tops Meridian/ Suffers Tough Loss at Riverside

Ken Kush

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

SHELBY- A two-game weekend stint left the Shelby-RC Huskies a game above the .500 mark at 6-5 as they lost a close road battle with Riverside 42-38 and returned home less than 24-hours later and walloped Meridian in Crossroads Conference action 57-18.Shelby-RC 57 Meridian 18 After a first quarter...

The Shelby-RC Huskies dominated the Tri-County Duals as three wrestlers went undefeated over the two-days. The Huskies improved to 11-0-1 in duals this year. Photo provided.

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Huskies Dominate Tri-County Duals

News Staff

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

DEWITT- The Shelby-RC Huskies went 9-0 at the two-day Tri-County Duals Meet at Tri-County High School.Shelby-RC who has yet to have their entire team wrestle this season, did get a key component back as Owen Krafka returned to competition for the first time this year.Along with 9-0 record, the...

Cougar senior Edie Peterson drives around the Sutton defense in last Thursday night’s game. PCN photo by Beth Sparrow.

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Cougar’s Struggle In Losses to Sutton and Oakland-Craig

Beth Sparrow

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

SUTTON - Sutton is stacked with talent, and came away with a big win against the Cougars, 69-19.The Fillies got off to an early lead, hitting shots left and right and stealing the ball often. The Cougars had a trey from Kelsey Brehm, who had 5 of their 9 points in the first quarter.

Cross County Boys Basketball Climbs to No. 6 in Nebraska Prep Rankings

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Cross County Boys Basketball Climbs to No. 6 in Nebraska Prep Rankings

Beth Sparrow

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

SUTTON - Cross County got off to an early start, and came home with the win over the Mustangs 61-48.The early start was thanks in part to Benson Seim hitting three treys in the first quarter for nine of the Cougars’ 18 points. Sutton’s Myles Smith had five of Sutton’s 12 points in the first quarter.

Osceola’s Kyle Sterup (8) closes in defense as High Plains back Tanner Wood looks to make a cut. PCN file photo.

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Pick Six-ing the Last Six Years (II)

Trevor Blevins

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

There is no other way to put it, 8-man Football in Polk County over the last six years has been phenomenal. Osceola High-Plains in their two year Co-op in 2018 and 2019 went a combined 16-7 and won a D-1 State Championship.

Osceola sophomore Landan Drozd (3) mixes it up with a couple of David City players as he battles for the rebound. PCN photo by Blaine Winslow.

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Bulldog’s Losing Streak Reaches Six After Losses to Nebraska Lutheran and Scouts

Craig Pinley

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

OSCEOLA– Osceola’s boys basketball team has played its share of contests against squads from higher classifications this winter and has occasionally struggled against the size of those bigger schools.Last Friday, the Class D-1 Bulldogs hosted another one of those larger entries in David City, but...