CROOKSTON HAS FIVE WRESTLERS IN CHAMPIONSHIPS AT SECTION 8A INDIVIDUAL WRESTLING TOURNAMENT

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team has five wrestlers in championship matches and the other seven wrestlers are still alive in the wrestlebacks after the first day of the Section 8A Individual Wrestling Tournament held at the Crookston High School Gymnasium.  The Pirate results, recap, and pictures are below – 

Pirate Wrestlers in the Championship –
106 pounds – Carter Coauette received a first-round bye before beating Aaron Lake of United North Central in the semi-finals by a 5-1 decision. “He wrestled solid.  He stayed in a good position,” said Coach Wes Hanson. “He is the top seed and put himself in a good position and this should boost his confidence.”  Carter will wrestle #10 ranked Daunte Yost of Fertile-Beltrami in the championship. “They have wrestled twice during the regular season and they split,” said Coach Hanson. “We won in the last matchup and Carter should be confident and it will be a great way to start the championship matches.”

113 pounds – Ethan Bowman won his first-round match by a pin in 45 seconds before he won the semi-final match 11-1 to advance to the championship. “Ethan looked slick and was able to pick up the win in first round,” said Coach Hanson. “Being the three seed, he had a familiar opponent in the semi-finals and I thought Ethan went to another level today and he rose up to the occasion and got the first takedown and some near fall points to start the match and he was able to keep building the lead in a great performance.”  Ethan will wrestle #4 ranked Ethan Hendrickson of United North Central in the championship match.

120 pounds – #6 ranked Zach Brown received a first-round bye and won his semi-final match 14-4 to advance to the championship. “Zach really took care of business and showed a lot of offense and was dominate,” said Coach Hanson. “He is one of our leaders and came out strong and was ready to go and that was nice to see.”  Zach will wrestle Christian Carlson of Frazee in the championship.

145 pounds – Hunter Knutson won his first-round match by a pin in the second period and won the semi-final match by a pin in the first period to advance to the championship. “I am really happy for Hunter because he has done what is best for the team all season long and has bounced around weight classes at times and now getting him down to 145 pounds where he is comfortable showed today,” said Coach Hanson. “He had two great matches and won his first match and in the semi-finals, he locked up a nice upper body move and picked up the fall and to have him advance to the finals is awesome.”

182 pounds – Ethan Boll received a first-round bye and won his semi-final match by pin in the first period to become the fifth Pirate to advance to the championship.  “He looked good and was working for a pin and advance to the finals,” said Coach Hanson. “We are excited for the matchup in the finals with Brett Graham who is ranked third in the state.  It would be huge for Ethan if he could win tomorrow for his confidence and for state seeding.  It will be a tough opponent, but it should be a great match.”

Pirate Wrestlers still alive in wrestlebacks – 
126 pounds – Nolan Dans won his first-round match 17-11 before losing in the semi-finals by a pin in the third period and will be in the wrestlebacks on Saturday.  “He was seeded third and won by a pretty good margin over the sixth seed in his first match,” said Coach Hanson. “In the semi-final match, he scored some points and he should be proud of himself and wrestle hard on Saturday and try to get to the third-place match on Saturday.”

132 pounds – Cam Weiland received a first-round bye before losing in the semi-finals by a pin with one second left in the second period.  “It was 2-2 after the first period and he ran into a tough opponent who is a senior,” said Coach Hanson. “It was back and forth and in the end, it didn’t go Cam’s way and he is hoping to get a crack at a third-place match tomorrow.  He has had 27 pins this year and hopefully a few more tomorrow and he gets a chance at a true second match.”

138 pounds – Braxton Volker won by a pin in 22 seconds in his first-round match before losing 16-8 in the semi-finals. “Braxton wrestled solid in the first match,” said Coach Hanson. “In his second match, he was a three seed wrestling a two seed and took on a returning state entrant who was very good. Braxton looked to be in a great position to score early and wasn’t able to get the points and all of a sudden was trailing 5-0 and was close to a pin and couldn’t get it.  He is hoping for a true second match tomorrow.”

152 pounds – Cade Coauette received a bye in his first round and lost by a pin to #4 ranked Andy Dostal (BGMR) in the quarter-finals and will be in the wrestlebacks on Saturday. “Cade ran into a very good wrestler in the quarterfinals,” said Coach Hanson. “Cade wrestled tough but faced a great wrestler while giving up a little bit of weight.  He showed some good things and he will be the first Pirate to wrestle on Saturday.”

160 pounds – Josiah Wagner lost his first match to one of the top wrestlers in the state by a pin in the second period and will be in wrestlebacks on Saturday. “He competed hard and it was 2-0 after the first period,” said Coach Hanson. “Good for him in his first section tournament.”

170 pounds – Hunter Kresl lost by a pin in 18 seconds in his first-round match and will be in wrestlebacks on Saturday. “Hunter had a tough one,” said Coach Hanson. “He will have a new day on Saturday and hopefully he will get some valuable experience tomorrow.”

195 pounds – Leytan Fuentes took on the #2 ranked wrestler in the state and the state runner-up at 220 pounds last year and lost by a pin in 28 seconds and will be in wrestlebacks on Saturday. “Leyton had a tough matchup and he will be ready in wrestlebacks,” said Coach Hanson.

The wrestlebacks will start at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday and the schedule with approximate times is listed below. 

9:00 AM         Doors open for fans
10:00 AM       Wrestlebacks
*11:30 AM     Semi-finals wrestlebacks
*12:45 PM      Cheer squads
*1:00 PM        5th place matches
*1:45 PM        Section Awards
*2:00 PM        Parade of Champions
*2:15 PM        Championship/3rd place
*Note: Times are approximate