Vikings take two of three at Tracy

Little by little, Minneota has been working their younger wrestlers into the lineup.

Saturday, two more got their chance — and they responded. Minneota won two of three matches at the 36th Annual Plum Creek Wrestling Duals at Tracy.

They beat Sioux Falls Roosevelt 57-15 and Adrian, 67-12 — but lost Class AA's No. 9-ranked Fairmont/Martin County West, 49-12.

Last week it was Tate Walerius who went onto the mat and record his first pin and his first varsity win. "That was my first one," he proudly stated.

Now, on Saturday, with 106- and 113-pounders Eric Carrasco and Jonah Gruenes home sick, Coach Joel Skillings inserted B squaders Zack Fier into the 106-pound slot and Truman Wambeke went at 113.

"It was nice to see those two little guys do so well," said Coach Joel Skillings. "I get to see these young guys start their careers," the coach said.

Fier, son of Kevin Fier, a former Minneota wrestler, got a pin in his first career match against Roosevelt. Although he lost against Fairmont, he took No. 1 state-ranked  Jaxson Rohman to the end before losing, 12-5. Fier was pinned against Adrian.

Wambeke lost all three matches, but gave his opponents a tussle before going down.

While the Vikings easily disposed of Roosevelt and Adrian, it was not so against Fairmont. "They are loaded," said Coach Skillings. In fact, Fairmont/MCW has six state-ranked wrestlers in Class AA.

No. 2-ranked Lucas Jagodzinske pinned Wambeke at 113 pounds in 1:23.

At 120-pounds, Connor Simmonds is ranked No. 9 and he beat Kade Lozinski on a pin in 1:59 and the Red Bulls were rolling over the Vikings.

In fact, Minneota's only wins were a pin by Cole VanOverbeke over Parker Anderson at 160 in 1:36 and a forfeit to heavyweight T.J. Esping.

Coach Skillings was not dismayed by the loss. "We want to see the best in competition. They asked us who we wanted to wrestle and I said Fairmont and New Ulm. We didn't get New Ulm, but I wanted to wrestle Fairmont.  We want to see the best competition," the coach said.

"We're very young, but we're growing to maturity," the coach said.

VanOverbeke, unfortunately, only got to wrestle once. The other two times he took forfeits.

Kade Lozinski, one of the youngsters who is steadily growing with experience, got two pins against Roosevelt and Adrian.

Brant Buysse also had a pair of pins on the day but lost to Cale Steuber of Fairmont in a close 5-3 decision. Stueber used a reversal in the final period to turn a 3-2 lead into a 5-2 win at 126 pounds.

Teddy Pesch won 8-2 against Roosevelt; lost to Fairmont's Jordan Wolter 8-2 and bounced back to pin Adrian's Axel Martinez in 4:26.

Minneota's Blake Reiss also had a good day. He got a pin over Roosevelt; lost 4-0 to Fairmont and got a pin against Adrian.

Austin Kloos wrestled twice and got a pair of wins, one by a 12-0 margin at 145 pounds.

Shawn Buysse picked up a 44-second pin, a forfeit and lost to Fairmont, 3-2 when he was taken beaten by Tristan Lange.

Josh Laleman took home a pin and a forfeit. His pin came in 1:01 over Adrian's Willie White-McEliece.

Jackson Esping at 220 pounds got a pin over Roosevelt in 44 seconds and also won on a forfeit and his brother T.J. Esping at heavyweight had a 31-second pin, forfeit and a 3-2 win when he took down Adrian's Scot Edwards as time was running out, 3-2.

Minneota 57, Sioux Falls Roosevelt 15

106-Zack Fier (M) pin Connor Callahan.

113-Riley Hollingshead (R) pin Truman Wambeke.

120-Kade Lozinski (M) pin Eli Leonhardt.

126-Brant Buysse (M) pinned Daniel Momotic.

132-Teddy Pesch (M) dec. Eli Kadoun, 8-2.

138-Blake Reiss (M) pin DeShawn Jackson, 3:45.

145-Austin Kloos (M) dec. Logan Halsma, 5-3.

152-Tanner Swab (R) dec. Kyle Banks, 10-9.

160-Cole VanOverbeke (M) won on forfeit.

170-Shawn Buysse (M) won on forfeit.

182-Josh Laleman (M) won on forfeit.

195-Joey Otta (R) maj. dec. Layne Lozinski, 10-0.

220-Jackson Esping (M) pin Tylor Hix. :44.

HWT-T.J. Espining (M) pin Caleb Dagel, :31.

Fairmont/MCW 49, Minneota 12

106-Jaxson Rohman (F) dec. Zack Fier, 12-5.

113-Lucas Jagodzinske (F) pin Truman Wambeke, 1:23.

120-Connor Simmonds (F) pin Kade Lozinski, 1:59.

126-Cale Stueber (F) dec. Brant Buysse, 5-3.

132-James Joyner (F) dec. Teddy Pesch (OT), 4-3.

138-Jordan Wolter (F) dec. Blake Reiss, 4-0.

145-Zach Rignell (F) dec. Justin Johnson.

152-Miles Fitgerald (F) maj. dec. Kyle Banks, 12-1.

160-Cole VanOverbeke (M) pin Parker Anderson , 1:36.

170-Tristan Lange (F) dec. Shawn Buysse, 3-2.

182-Collin Stueber (F) pin Josh Laleman, 3:35.

190-Jacob Rahn (F) dec. Layne Lozinski,, 4-0.

220-Connor Torsden (F) pin Jackson Esping, 3:12.

HWT-T.J. Esping (M) won on forfeit.

Minneota 67, Adrian 12

106-Jesus Anaya (A) pin Zack Fier, 1:12.

113-Logan Taylor (A) pin Truman Wambeke, 2:47.

120-Kade Lozinski (M) pin Isaac Bullerman, 1:09.

126-Brant Buysse, pin Dominiq Canales, 1:14.

132-Blake Reiss (M) pin Brent Hokeness, 3:55.

138-Teddy Pesch (M) pin Axel Martinez, 4:26.

145-Austin Kloos tech fall Jamie Castanda, 12-0.

152-Cole VanOverbeke (M) won on forfeit.

160-Kyle Banks (M) won on forfeit.

170-Shawn Buysse (M) pin Max Lehmann, :44.

182-Josh Laleman (M) pin Willie White-McEliece, 1:01.

195-Layne Lozinski (M) won on forfeit.

220-Jackson Esping (M) on on forfeit.

HWT-T.J. Esping dec. Scot Edwards, 3-2.