7 JV AND 1 VARSITY CROOKSTON WRESTLER ADVANCE AT RUMBLE ON THE RED

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team advanced eight wrestlers between their varsity and JV entrants to Championship Saturday of the 61-team Rumble on the Red Wrestling Tournament hosted at the Fargo Dome in Fargo, North Dakota.

Crookston entered four wrestlers in the varsity tournament with over 61-teams competing including many of the top-ranked wrestlers in both Minnesota and North Dakota. Carter Coauette lost his opening match at 106-pounds against Elijah Wald from Wayzata by pin in 0:59. In Coauette’s first consolation bracket match, Lincoln Vick of Waconia won by a 7-4 decision. “When you’re wrestling at the Rumble it’s a big field and a tough field,” said Crookston head coach Wes Hanson. “I thought in Carter’s second match of the day he really wrestled a great third period. He was able to score a takedown and close the lead. He kind of won that third period, but it came down to 20-seconds left and needing a ride out to force overtime and he wasn’t able to ride the guy out. It was a tough tournament for him but he also got some good mat time.” Ethan Bowman represented the Pirates at 113-pounds. Bowman dropped his first match to Jake Thompson from Byron by pin at 4:00. Bowman was unable to advance in the consolation bracket after he was defeated by Sartell’s Spencer Johnson by pin at 3:25. “In Ethan’s first match of the day he was trailing by quite a bit early but started to come back,” noted Hanson. “With a little time left to close the gap, he came up a little bit short. In his second match, he had to go for the big move to get back in it, but he wasn’t able to work it in our favor.” Zach Brown was the Pirates lone varsity entrant to advance to Saturday’s finals. Brown won his first match over Andy Heckman from Sartell 13-4. “In Zach’s opening match his performance was solid,” said Hanson. “He had a bunch of takedowns to get a good feel for the day.” Brown topped New Prague’s Colby Dunkel in his next match 7-3 advancing to the semifinals where he faced Byron’s Maxwell Petersen. “His quarterfinal match-up was a big win for us,” added Hanson. “He was trailing in that match but had a nice takedown at the end of the second period and added another nice takedown late to solidify the match.” In the semifinal bout, Petersen pinned Brown 2:30 into the match. “Zach ran into a really solid wrestler at the end, as you’d expect,” said Hanson. “I think he was a defending Rumble champ. He was just relentless with his attacks and very strong.” At 182-pounds, freshman Ethan Boll faced a talented and experienced group of wrestlers throughout the day. Boll won his first match of the day over Trent Rasmusen 7-2. After Boll lost his second-round match 5-2 against Wayzata’s Cayden Homme, Boll bounced back earning a major-decision victory over Billy Trees of Prior Lake 16-1. Boll advanced again in the consolation bracket after defeating Max Henne of Foley 8-4. Boll’s tournament came to a close following a 12-1 loss against St. Cloud Tech’s Taylor Hugg. “Ethan just continues to improve,” explained Hanson. “As the day went on he wrestled some really good opponents. By the time he got to his fifth match he was very tired, but still competed hard. The two guys he did lose to were both ranked in the state and two very solid wrestlers.”

Coach Wes Hanson was pleased with the experience gained by both Crookston’s JV and varsity wrestlers heading into day two, “we elected to put a lot of guys in the JV side, but that’s what a lot of teams ended up doing. All of a sudden you get some really big brackets on the JV side. There were a lot of matches gained and the guys had a lot of fun. I feel good about where we’re at and we’re looking forward to getting back after it tomorrow.”

Crookston returns to the mats on Saturday beginning at 9 A.M. to conclude the first half of the season.

Varsity

Junior Varsity