News

Dec 30, 2009

After experiencing a couple of setbacks, the Chadron State College wrestling team will return to action on Saturday at the Jamestown College Tournament in North Dakota.

One of the setbacks was a terrible tragedy. The longtime girlfriend of sophomore Brian Easterling died Dec. 18 as a result of a traffic accident in their hometown of Omaha. The death of Lindsay McCoy, 25, left Easterling as the only caregiver for their daughter, Nevaeh, 5, a passenger in the car during the accident that took her mother’s life. Nevaeh was buckled in the vehicle and was not injured.

The other misfortune is a back ailment to Jimmy Savala that will knock him out of action for the season. Savala spent a week in the surgical center in Rapid City, where his problem was diagnosed, and he will be on antibiotics for the next six weeks.

“Our news has been pretty bad recently,” coach Scott Ritzen said. “We realized again that there are a lot of things more important than wins and losses. We’ll just have to keep plugging away and help each other overcome our problems.”

The accident that took Lindsay McCoy’s life occurred when she lost control of her car on slippery pavement on West Dodge Street, crossed the center line and collided head-on into a vehicle going in the opposite direction. She was thrown from the vehicle and was unconscious in the Creighton University hospital for about a week before she died.

Ritzen said Easterling and McCoy were members of the Class of 2002 at Boys Town High School. Their daughter frequently came to Chadron and stayed with Easterling a few days at a time. Nevaeh, who is a kindergartner, will now live in Chadron full-time, Ritzen said. Both of McCoy’s parents died in a traffic accident when she was 10 years old, he noted.

“This is a real tragedy,” the coach said. “We’ll hope and pray for the best. We’re all looking for ways to help Brian and Nevaeh. She’s a great little kid.”

Easterling is the Eagles’ varsity 157-pounder. He has a 2-2 record this season. He set a Class B state record for most takedowns during his senior year at Boys Town.

Savala has been slowed by injuries previously at CSC, but the latest is the worst.

A junior from Clovis, Calif., he was the Eagles’ 141-pounder and is considered an elite wrestler. He was sixth in the NCAA Division II preseason rankings, but has twice defeated the wrestler who was ranked No. 1 in the weight class.

This season, Savala placed second at the Cowboy Open Tournament at the University of Wyoming in mid-November and finished fourth at the Nebraska-Omaha Open the next week, compiling a 7-3 record.

Following the second tournament, Savala began experiencing back pain and missed the dual with Northern State and the tournament at Nebraska-Kearney in early December. The pain became so intense that he eventually could not walk without assistance.

An orthopedic specialist finally diagnosed the ailment as a bacterial infection that settled in an area that may have been weakened by an injury, Ritzen said.

Although shorthanded at a few weights, the Eagles had some bright spots in November and December.

Two freshmen in the lighter weights did particularly well.

Dustin Stodola, a three-time Nebraska state champion while wrestling for Schuyler High, rang up a 5-2 record at 125 pounds at the Nebraska-Omaha Open Tournament, losing only to a pair of Nebraska-Lincoln wrestlers.  He has a 9-4 mark at the holiday break.  

Ryan Fillingame of Hesperia, Calif., has a 13-4 record at 133 pounds. He won all five of his matches at the Cowboy Open to win his weight class and was fifth at the UNK Open.

Heavyweight Sam Udell also has done well for the Eagles. He has a 7-6 record. Three of the losses have been to Division I entries and two more have been to No. 2 ranked Elijah Madison of UNO by scores of 4-2 and 3-2.

Ritzen believes several other freshmen on the roster have the capacity to become quality wrestlers after they gain experience this season.

“We’ve been struggling, but we’re trying our best to keep on top of things,” he said. “We’ve had some bad things happen and also had some good things happen. If we can stay healthy, I think we’ll be on our way to being a pretty good team down the road.”