Wrestling Feature Story

Senior Kael Lauridsen has made history, being the 37th wrestler in Nebraska high school history to win a state title in all four years of his high school career.

Lauridsen started off his career wrestling at 106 pounds. He went undefeated in his first season and comfortably won his first state title, pinning or winning by major decision in each match, including a 16-5 win in the final round.

Lauridsen’s sophomore year he entered the state tournament with just one loss on his record and was even more dominant than the year before, this time wrestling at 113. Lauridsen won by fall in every one of his state tournament matches to make it back-to-back titles.

Lauridsen’s junior year was just as successful individually as the previous two, but on the team side, Lauridsen led the Badgers to both the State Dual and State tournament team championships. Wrestling again at 113 Lauridsen pinned all of his opponents on his way to the three-peat.

Going into his senior year the pressure was on for Lauridsen to earn the coveted four-state titles. Lauridsen was in largely unfamiliar territory as he made the jump to 126-pound weight class, but that didn’t seem to slow him down as he entered the tournament with just 3 losses throughout the whole season and pinned his way to the final match of his high school career. 

The final match wasn’t quite as easy as the previous three rounds, however. Junior John Alden from O'Neill also had just three losses to his name going into the match. Hailed as one of the greatest matches in Nebraska Wrestling history, the two competitors couldn’t be separated in normal time, so overtime was needed to settle the score.

“When it was going into overtime all I told myself was that I needed to dig deep and that God gives his toughest battles to his strongest warriors,” Lauridsen said.

There was a frantic scramble in the early moments of overtime in which Lauridsen was nearly handed his first state loss, but he was able to persevere and get the two points needed for victory.

“It was amazing. I was flooded with emotions and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget,” Lauridsen said.

Despite the historic run Lauridsen has had in his high school career, the Team USA member isn’t finished and has high hopes for what the future holds. 

“I hope to win NCAA championships and win world/Olympic titles,” Lauridsen said.

Even though his high school wrestling days are now over, the Husker commit will always be grateful for the opportunities and friendships found at Bennington.

“My favorite part of Bennington wrestling was the friendships and brothers that I made throughout my time here and that there is no team like us,” Lauridsen said.

Despite being the most successful wrestler for Bennington in recent years Lauridsen is confident that the team will continue to be successful in his absence.

“I think that if we have the right work ethic and set big goals we can win a team championship.”

Sophomore Maycee Peacher has been utterly dominant during her two years wrestling for the Bennington Girls Wrestling team, winning two individual state champions and going undefeated in her sophomore year.

Peacher’s freshman year was the inaugural season for girls wrestling in Nebraska and expectations were high for her to perform and make a run at a state title due to her success in club competitions leading up to high school.

Peacher lived up to the expectations and entered the state tournament with a 31-1 record, her only loss coming via a minor decision very early on in the season. Peacher didn’t let the loss get to her and left no doubts as to her abilities as she won all of her state matches by pin or major decision and was crowned the first-ever Nebraska girls 100-pound state champion. 

The expectations going into Peacher’s second season were arguably higher than her first, she had been near-perfect her freshman year, but the undefeated season had just eluded her. 

Peacher knew the opportunity was there but wanted to focus more clearly on defending her title.

“[Going undefeated] is always one of my goals, but the main goal this year was to repeat,” Peacher said.

Peacher also wasn’t just going to sit around and expect to achieve the repeat because of the impressive success she had in her freshman season.

“I just keep practicing and stay humble,” Peacher said, “keep working during the offseason, and don’t get lazy.”

Peacher once again had a season to remember, this time achieving an undefeated season by going 46-0 and winning yet another state title, this year at 110 pounds. Just to add some extra points to her seemingly perfect season, she defeated every opponent she faced by fall or technical fall, including at the state championships.

Peacher has been one of the pioneers of girls wrestling, in Nebraska as a whole and especially at Bennington High School. Peacher hopes that the popularity of the sport for girls continues to grow and that those involved stay committed.

“I hope that we have girls that are more motivated and that if they come out and try it that they stick with it,” Peacher said.

Peacher still has two years left of her high school career and has the opportunity to be the first girl in Nebraska history to win four state championships. Only time will tell what more incredible things await Peacher as she continues her illustrious career.