One wrestling champ for Vikings
LITCHFIELD TEAM TEAM RESULTS
1. Hutchinson 210
2. Dassel-Cokato-Litchfield 192
3. Minneota 144
4. Totino-Grace 129.5
5. Eden Valley-Watkins 119
6. Milaca 104
7. Monticello 83
8. Rockford 10
Humble beginnings.
Minneota finished third and Jonah Gruenes (145 pounds) was the only Viking to won a championship at Litchfield on Saturday.
Taking second were Eric Carrasco, Blake Reiss and Cole Sanow.
It was Coach Matt Myrvik’s first time out as the varsity coach, and he knew all along this wasn’t a matter of taking the wrestling world by storm.
“We have a few injuries we’re dealing with,” he said adding, “We may have a few open weights for awhile,” he said, adding, “We we’ll figure it out.
There were three open weights in the Minneota lineup and two young wrestlers at 106 — both trying to show how will take the lowest weight category.
There was a nice finish by Gruenes, who had a pair of pins and major decision to claim the title. As expected, Eric Carrasco and Blake Reiss were in the finals — but both lost the championship match.
Then there’s the one who got away, but came back. Senior Cole Sanow, who hasn’t wrestled since he was a freshman, got a bye, a pin and was pinned in the finals.
“He’s done nice things in practice,” said Coach Myrvik about Sanow. “He’s kinda taking a big leap of faith,” said the coach. “He has the tools to be a good wrestler, but we expect he’ll have his ups and downs,” said the coach.
One of the Vikings biggest worries is what may happen to Austin Kloos. The senior captain, who missed all of last year after surgery on a football-injured knee, is hurting again, in the same knee, and is out while the knee is being checked by doctors.
His loss in the lineup will be felt by the Vikings as they struggle to fill all the weights.
Also out on Saturday was heavyweight Jayden Gamrak, who was unable to wrestle but may be back in the near future. His absence forced Minneota to put Jackson Esping in the heavyweight slot.
He got caught in the first round by Austin Schlangen of Eden-Valley/Watkins and was pinned.
Coach Myrvik talked to Esping, indicating, “We talk about what he’s doing right and what went wrong.” Esping came back with a pin to get into the third place match, then faced Schlangen again — and this time won, 3-1 to take third.
Also missing was Kaden Lozinski. “His family has been on vacation and he wasn’t ready to wrestle,”
said Coach Myrvik.
As for the 1-6-pounders, Troy VanKeulen and Peyton Gillund — they both got a chance to wrestle. VanKeulen placed fifth and ran into a shoulder problem and had to default. Gillund had a pair of pins over Parker Lang of Totino-Grace and took third. His pins were in 27 and 30 seconds.
Zack Fier also got a first-round pin, lost, then came back with a major decision to take third place.
“We’ve got good-looking young guys,” said Coach Myrvik. He added, “Our leaders will figure it all out.”
Minneota will be at the Jackson County Central Invitational next Saturday.
Minneota Results:
106-Troy VanKeulen (0-2) placed fifth.
Bye; lost to Ethan Sylvester (Hutchinson) on injury default, 1-1; Lost by injury default to Parker Lang (Totino-Grace), 2-1. FIFTH: Bye.
106-Peyton Gillund (2-1) placed third.
Pinned Parker Lang (TG), :27; lost major decision to Andrew Joedeman (D-C/L), 15-4; bye: THIRD-Pinned Lang (TG), :30.
120-Eric Carrasco (2-1) placed second.
Pinned Alex Temple (TG), :27; major decison over Grant Pierce (Hutch), 10-2; CHAMPIONSHIP-Lost tech fall to Joey Thompson (TG), 20-5.
126-None.
132-Zack Fier (3-1) placed third.
Pinned Izaiah Allen (Milaca), 129; decisioned by Tristian Lang (Hutch), 6-2; maj. decisioned Carson Amundson (D-C/L), 14-6; THIRD: Maj. decisioned Gavin Caron (Eden Valley-Watkins), 13-2.
138-Alex Depestel (0-3) placed sixth.
Pinned by Triston Zuniga (TG), 1:42; bye; pinned by Taylor Ludwig (EV-W), 2:49; FIFTH-Decisioned by Tyler Hawker (MilaCa), 7-6.
145-Jonah Gruenes (3-0) placed first.
Pinned Camden Kron (Hutch), 1:06; pinned Alex Fearing (Monticello), 2:36; Championship: Maj. dec. over Sam Marx,(D-C/L), 8-0.
152-Blake Reiss (1-1) placed second.
Bye; pinned Axel Stenberg (D-C/L), 3:18; CHAMPIONSHIP: Decisioned by Jude Link (DC/L), 9-2.
160-None
171-None
182-Cole Sanow (1-1) placed second
Bye; Pinned Carter Mathies (EV-W), :36; CHAMPIONSHIP: Pinned by Hayden VanderVoort (Hutch), 6:21.
195-Hudson Scholten (2-2) placed fifth.
Pinned Charles Baker (TG), :52; pinned by Beau Nelson (D-C/L) :18; Sudden Death loss to Armando Walker (EV/W), 10-8; FIFTH-Pinned John Humphreys (Monticello), 1:16.
220-None.
285-Jackson Esping (2-1) placed third.
Pinned by Austin Schlangen (EV/W), :2:27; bye; pinned Jace Butcher (DC/L), 2:31; THIRD-Decisioned Austin Schlangen (EW-V), 3-1.