Carrasco wins section; four Vikings in state

His second season hadn’t been particularly kind to Eric Carrasco.
The 106-pounder “thrown to the wolves” last year struggled to a 16-14 record heading into the Section 3A Tournament.
Near the end of the season he hurt his arm in a match with United.
Then came the dawn.
Carrasco “cranked it up a notch,” surprised both Ayden Horner of Tracy-MB-WWG and Payton Handevidt of Jackson County Central and won the 106-pound championship.
“I was thrilled,” said Coach Joel Skillings, who has carefully watched the materinization of the freshman Carrasco.
“It’s been a process and you’ve got to believe in yourself,” said the coach.
In the finals Carrasco battled Handevidt into overtime before getting the win, 5-3.
Handevidt had to wrestle again for “true second” and lost to Horner.
“Eric had a tremendous tournament. He’s such a good worker and coachable kid. He’s had his highs and lows but he processed it all and didn’t let anything affect him,” the coach added.
Carrasco goes to the state tournament with a 19-14 record.
Cole VanOverbeke at 152 pounds, “wrestled a fantastic day,” said the coach.
In the finals, he took a tough Jacob Tvinnerim of Jackson County Central into four overtimes but lost the sudden victory overtime on an escape by Tvinnermin.
“Cole left it all out there,” the coach said.
What he got for his effort in the championship was a “true second” match with Tallin Johnson of St. James. But VanOverbeke pinned Johnson in 2:25 and was headed for state.
“What you get is a huge benefit,” from wrestling so well in the championship, said Coach Skillings. Getting so close to beating Tvinnerim  will go along way toward helping VanOverbeke, the coach said.
“I felt we were here to battle, and Teddy Pesch did his part,” said Coach Skillings.
The junior got into the finals against two-time state champ Hunter Burnett of Pipestone.
“He wrestled him real well,” said the coach. Pesch lost the final at 132, 15-6, but his second place got him into state.
As for Shawn Buysse, he got into the semifinals and had to face Jake Paplow of Tracy-MB/WWG — a wrestler he lost to earlier.
“He figured him out,” said the coach, and Buysse won 10-7 to get into the finals.
He’s always had trouble with Garrett Ploeger of Pipestone and this time he lost the finals, 12-5. But he’d earned his spot in the state tournament.
“All our kids in the tournament benefited from it. I felt we were where we needed to be,” said Coach Skillings.
Kyle Banks, who finished third, “Put himself into a position to give himself a chance (for second),” said the coach. He bounced back to get a pin and capture third place in the tournament.
“Blake Reiss and Austin Kloos came a long way (both took fifth), and they have room to grow,” the coach said.
Although the season ended for Josh Laleman (fifth) and Layne Lozinski (sixth), the coach said, “I appreciate everything they did for us.”

106-Eric Carrasco, First Place (19-14).
CHAMPIONSHIP-Dec. Payton Handevidt (JCC), 5-3 (ot).
True Second-Ayden Horner (TMB) dec. Handevidt, 5-1.
Bye; Major Decisioned Jake Wagner (Canby), 10-1; Decisioned Ayden Horner (TM-WWG), 6-2.

113-Jonah Gruenes, Fourth Place, (21-15).
THIRD PLACE: Matthew Mohning (JCC) dec. Gruenes, 5-3.
Bye; Major Decision over Tanner Drietz (Canby), 13-3; Pinned by  Brett Willaby (Windom-ML), 5:01; Pinned Caden Johnson (Tracy-MB-WWG), :54; Decisioned by Matt Mohning (JCC), 5-3.

120-Kade Lozinski, Fifth Place (24-16).
FIFTH PLACE: Pin Parker Viessman, Canby, 4:31.
Bye; Decisioned by Levi Ellingson (Tracy-MB-WWG), 8-4; Bye; Bye; Pinned Caleb Vancura (JCC), 4:35; Major Deicsioned by Kade Sammons (Windom-ML), 13-0.

126-James Gednalske, 1-0.
He pinned his opponent Friday night for his first varsity win. But he pulled out the tournament and didn’t wrestle on Saturday.

132-Teddy Pesch, Second Place (27-9).
Championship-Lost major decision to Hunter Burnett (Pipestone), 15-6.
Bye; Pinned Gach Mar (Madelia-T-ML), :50; Major Deciosioned Payton Viessman, 10-2.

138-Blake Reiss, Fifth Place, (26-16).
FIFTH PLACE-Pinned Tyler Vandendriessche (TMB-WWG), 2:12.
Bye; Decisioned Tyler Vanderschiessche (Tracy-MB-WWG), 4-0; Decisioned  by Alex Borsgard (Windom-ML), 7-0; Decisioned Zach Poelaert (JCC), 4:44.

145-Austin Kloos, Fifth Place (18-18).
FIFTH PLACE: Decisioned Cole Kapplinger (JCC), 7-6.
Bye; Decisioned  Carson Wipf (Pipestone), 8-3; Decisioned by Zach Spinks (Windom-ML), 5-0; Decisioned by Alex Full (Canby), 3-2.

152-Cole VanOverbeke, Second Place, (35-10).
Decisioned by Jacob Tvinnerim (JCC), 6-4 (SV4).
True Second: VanOverbeke pin Tallin Johnson (SJ), 2:25.
Bye; forfeit; Pinned Jesse Fenton (Pipestone), :41.

160-Kyle Banks. Third Place, (19-20).
THIRD PLACE: Banks pinned Jordan Baatz (Pipestone Area), 4:46.
Bye; Dec. Jordan Baatz (Pipestone), 5-2; Pinned by Jared Schroepfer (Wabasso-RRC), 1:30; Pinne Josh Samdal (Windom-ML), 1:25.

170-Josh Laleman, Fifth Place (18-20).
FIFTH PLACE: Decisioned Eli Edlin (JCC), 12-5.
Bye; pinned by Jesse Jepsen, (Windom-ML), 4:26; Bye; Bye; Decisioned byTrevor Eisfeld (TMB-WWB), 7-0.

182-Shawn Buysse, Second Place (30-11).
CHAMPIONSHIP-Decisioned by Garrett Ploeger (TMB-WWG), 12-5.
Bye; Pinned William White-McEliece (Adrian), :38; Dec. Jake Paplow (TMB-WWG) 10-7.

195-Layne Lozinski, Sixth Place, (14-20).
FIFTH PLACE-Pinned by Jabari Carlton (Windom/Mt. Lake), 3:23.
Bye; Pinned by Austin Buckhold (TMB-WWG), 4:56; Be; Bye; Pinned Tyler DeGroot (Pipestone), 3:31; Pinned by Derek Werner (Wabasso-RRC), 3:43.

220-Jackson Esping, Fifth Place, (13-21).
FIFTH PLACE: Pinned Alex Altman (Windom-ML) 1:51.
Bye; Pinned by Jamison VanderWal, (Pipestone Area), :43; Bye; Pinned by Isaac Schmiesing (Wabasso-RRC), 1:44.

HWT-Trey Gronke, Eighth Place.
Bye; Pinned by Scot Edwards (Adrian), :51; Bye; Pinned by Eli Mutz, Windom-ML, 3:33.