Spartan Wrestling Wrap-Up
This year’s wrestling season the Ansley-Litchfield Spartans saw their wrestlers have great success in many ways.
From placing at meets to great progress and improvement. Throughout January and February Ansley-Litchfield Wres-
tlers did very well, including placing 3rd at the MNAC conference tournament and qualifying three wrestlers for the
state tournament. At the MNAC tournament in Dunning, the team was short three of the wrestlers that would have
helped the team score more points but, they had many great individual efforts including Conference Champions:
Cooper Slingsby (160) and Raymond Divine (285); Runner-ups, Kolby Larson (195) and Collin Arehart, and Third place
finishers, Chase Racicky (132), Tyson Brott (138), Zyruss Fauss (182), and Terry Cash (285).
The next week following Conference the wrestlers had to get ready for the trip to Amherst for the D-2 District Wres-
tling meet. Each and every wrestler fought hard and wrestled well at the district meet. At the end of the weekend,
the Ansley-Litchfield Spartans had 3 wrestlers qualify for the state meet. Blake Racicky 2nd place at 152lbs, Cooper
Slingsby 4th place at 170lbs, Kolby Larson 4th place at 195lbs. At the state tournament, both Freshmen Kolby and
Cooper went 0-2 having wrestled eventually state placers. Junior Blake Racicky won a Fifth place medal, racking up 4
wins and 2 losses. Blake is now a three-time state qualifier and has placed twice, having won a 6th place medal last
year. All of the coaches are pleased with the effort of all of the wrestlers, and with only 1 Senior moving on and the
high spirits of the wrestlers on the team they are looking for another great year.
FFA News February 2019
State Degree
On February 13, Christopher Paitz traveled to Amherst for State Degree Interviews. The interviews are the final step a student
must pass in order to receive their State FFA degree. During the interview process they must describe the three circle model con-
sisting of Classroom Instruction, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) and FFA. They describe how these things are connected
and why all three parts are important in an Agricultural Education program. The students must also talk about their SAE which
they have been required to keep records on. The students must also talk about their Agricultural Education courses they have
taken as well as the FFA activities they have attended and participated in.
The SAE is a real world experience that students participate in outside of school on their own. For many students this will consist
of working at home on their farm/ranch or even having their own livestock or farming. Students may also work for an Agribusi-
ness as well. These experiences may be paid or unpaid. While working on their SAE’s students must keep records in a computer
program called AET. This record keeping program allows students to keep track of the time they spend with their SAE, income
and expenses. They can also keep track of classroom activities, community service, FFA activities and competitions along with any
awards received. The records must span a time frame of a minimum of two consecutive years.
On April 5 th all of the students that passed their interviews will receive their State Degree at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.
Christopher Paitz will be the first Litchfield FFA student to receive the state degree since the chapter was chartered in 2014.
District Career Development Event (CDE) Competition
On February 18, twelve members of Litchfield FFA traveled to Grand Island to participate in the District 8 CDE competition. The
students competed in three competitions including two teams in Ag Mechanics and one team in Veterinary Science. Litchfield 2
comprised of Nathan Wardyn, Gavin Cole, Derik Linden and Ethan Sohrweid brought home the District 8 Championship in Agricul-
tural Technology & Mechanics. Litchfield 1 comprised of Christopher Paitz, John Zimmer, Dallas Rohde & Kyle Betke placed 4th.
Individual placings in the category were as follows: White - Kyle Betke, Christopher Paitz, Derik Linden; Blue - Ethan Sohrweid;
Purple - District individual champion Nathan Wardyn. Both teams had state qualifying marks, but state rules only allow one team
per school to participate at the state competition. The Veterinary Science team did not place but Kayden Lucas received a white
ribbon for her efforts placing in the top one-half of the competition.