Mauricio Arriaga and Gavyn Hlucny win section titles, advance to State Wrestling Tournament

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team hosted the Section 8A Individual Wrestling tournament at the Crookston High School gymnasium on Friday and had two champions, with Mauricio Arriaga and Gavyn Hlucny winning championships at their respective weights, and will advance to the Minnesota State Class A Wrestling Tournament next week at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

Crookston’s Gavyn Hlucny is looking to earn his fourth trip to the state wrestling tournament and will be competing at 152 pounds. The rest of the Pirates will be looking for their first trip to state.

CHAMPION – MAURICIO ARRIAGA
Mauricio Arriaga won the championship at 107 pounds and will make his first trip to state. In the first round, he won by a tech fall. He started the match with a takedown 30 seconds into the match and gave up an escape with 11 seconds left in the period, and took a 3-1 lead into the second period.  Arriaga chose down to start the second period and scored an escape seven seconds into the period, followed by a takedown 10 seconds later, and took a 7-1 lead into the third period.  In the final period, Arriaga scored four nearfall points and, a little over 30 seconds later, had four more nearfall points. After he gave up an escape, he countered with a takedown as the match ended, and he won by a tech fall (18-2) at the six-minute mark. 

In the semi-finals, Mauricio started slowly and was taken down over a minute into the first period, trailing 3-0. 18 seconds later, Arriaga countered with a reversal and then scored four nearfall points at the end of the period for a 6-3 lead. Arriaga chose bottom to start the second period and had an escape, followed by a takedown and two nearfall points for a 12-3 lead going into the third period. In the third period, Arriaga got a takedown 11 seconds into the final period and followed with four nearfall points to win the match by a tech fall (19-4) with 24 seconds left. With the win, Mauricio advanced to the championship match.

In the championship match, Arriaga took on Kaiden Dykhoff of United North Central. Mauricio scored the first points of the match with a takedown 39 seconds into the match. He followed up with four nearfall points for a 7-0 lead at the end of the first period. The only points scored in the second period came on an Arriaga takedown with 69 seconds left in the period for a 10-0 lead. In the third period, Arriaga got an escape five seconds into the period. After he was taken down, he responded with a reversal and added three nearfall points. After giving up a reverse, Mauricio countered with a reversal with six seconds left in the match and scored four nearfall points as the buzzer sounded, and Arriaga won the championship by a tech fall (22-5) to earn his first trip to the state tournament. 

CHAMPION – GAVYN HLUCNY
Gavyn Hlucny won the championship at 152 pounds for his fourth Section Championship and a fourth trip to the state wrestling tournament. Hlucny had the top seed and received a first-round bye. 

In the semi-finals, Gavyn took on Manny Johnson of Mahnomen/Waubun, who was ranked tenth in the state and came out determined to get a fourth section title. He scored a takedown 57 seconds into the match, and a short time later, he won by a pin with 33 seconds left in the first period to advance to the championship match. 

In the championship match, Hlucny faced off against Conrad Koll of United North Central for the second straight year. Gavyn started the match with a takedown 24 seconds in for a 3-0 lead. In the second period, there was no scoring to set up an exciting third period. In the final period, Hlucny was called for stalling twice, and his lead was down to 3-1. He scored one point with an escape before getting called for stalling again and had a 4-2 lead with 11 seconds left. Hlucny got a takedown with three seconds left in the match to get some insurance points and won the championship 7-2, and advances to state for the fourth time in his career.

THIRD PLACE – LUCAS PERALA
Lucas Peral finished in third place at 160 pounds after losing his true second match on a fantastic day for the senior. In the first round, Lucas set the tone for the day as he got a takedown 21 seconds into the match and dominated, winning by a pin 1:16 into the match to advance to the semi-finals. 

In the semi-finals, he had to take on the #1 seed Blake Sonnenberg of Frazee, who happens to be the sixth-ranked wrestler in the state. There was no scoring in the first period. In the second period, Sonnenberg scored two points on a reversal and added two nearfall points for a 4-0 lead after two periods. There was no scoring in the final period and Perala came up short 4-0.

In the consolation semi-finals, Perala took on Asher Dunham of Roseau and got a takedown six seconds into the match and won by a pin in 25 seconds to advance to the third-place match. 

In the third place match, Perala faced Michael Connelly of Barnesville and was taken down 41 seconds into the match and trailed 3-0. Lucas battled back and scored a reversal with 46 seconds left in the period and then stuck the pin at 1:25 to win the match.  

Perala needed Blake Sonnenberg to win the championship to get a true second match, and that is exactly what happened. 
In the true-second match, Perala took on Creed Koll of UNC, the eighth-ranked wrestler in the state. Unfortunately, Koll caught Perala and won by a pin at 1:19, and Perala finished in third place, wrapping up his Pirate wrestling career.

THIRD PLACE – JARON KNUTSON
Jaron Knutson went 3-1 on the day, and the sophomore placed third with an impressive day.
In the first round, Jaron took on Pacin Jager of Frazee and jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a takedown 17 seconds into the match. He gave up an escape before getting another takedown and two nearfall points for an 8-1 lead. After another escape, Jaron countered with another takedown for an 11-2 lead after the first period.  In the second period, he escaped and secured a takedown before winning by pin at 2:59. 

In the semi-final match, Knutson took on Cade Walz of Mahnomen/Waubun. Walz started with a takedown before Knutson countered with a reversal. Walz ended the period with an escape and a takedown for a 6-2 lead. In the second period, Walz got another takedown and won the match with a pin at 2:31, and Knutson went to the consolation round. 

In the consolation semi-finals, Jaron took on Eli Hendrickson of UNC and jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a takedown 29 seconds into the match. After giving up an escape, he got another takedown for a 6-1 lead. After giving up an escape, he had another takedown for a 9-2 lead going into the second period.  In the second period, Knutson got another takedown, and after giving up an escape, he scored another takedown for a 15-3 lead through two periods. In the third period, Jaron got another takedown to win the match by a tech fall 18-3 at 4:11. 

In the third-place match, Knutson took on Emmitt Isane of BGMR. Knutson started the match with a takedown 20 seconds in. Isane countered with an escape and takedown for a 5-3 lead. Knutson tied the match at 5-5 with a reversal and nine seconds later was awarded three nearfall points for an 8-5 lead after the first period. After being taken down early in the second period, Knutson got a reversal for a 10-8 lead. In the third period, Knutson started on the bottom and got a reversal and two nearfall points.  Eisane had an escape before Knutson had a takedown with 21 seconds left in the match and Jaron held on for a 17-9 victory.
Unfortunately, Jaron didn’t get a true second match and he finished his sophomore season with a third place finish at sections.

State Qualifiers from Section 8A
107 – 1st Mauricio Arriaga (Crookston) 2nd Kaiden Dykhoff (UNC)
114 – 1st Henry Mayer (UNC) 2nd Chase Hauck (Barnesville)
121 – 1st Ashton Reller (Frazee) 2nd – Kiptyn Thompson (Fos-Bag)
127 – 1st Eli Phrakonkham (Fos-Bag) 2nd – Keegan VonEnde (BGMR)
133 – 1st Ian Phrakonkham (Fos-Bag) 2nd Christian Peichel (Frazee)
139 – 1st Kamryn Thompson (Fos-Bag) 2nd Liam Hamm (Frazee)
145 – 1st Cash Osterman (Frazee) 2nd Carter Ahrendt (UNC)
152 – 1st Gavyn Hlucny (Crookston) 2nd Conrad Koll (UNC)
160 – 1st Blake Sonnenberg (Frazee) 2nd Creed Koll (UNC)
172 – 1st Cameron Halverson (Barnesville) 2nd Cade Walz (MW)
189 – 1st Dylan McMullen (MW) 2nd Reed Koll (UNC)
215 – 1st Blake McMullen (MW) 2nd Tanner Moe (Frazee)
285 – 1st Ryan Peterson (UNC) 2nd Toby Bryan (Roseau)

SECTION 8A AWARDS –
Coach of the Year – Jacob Oyster (UNC)
Asst. Coach of the Year – Kris Koll (UNC)

Sportsmanship Award – Barnesville

Academic All-Star Awards –
Crookston – Gavin Hlucny
Barnesville – Cam Halverson
Fertile-Beltrami – Jack Erickson, Max Ramberg
Fosston/Bagley – Shane Thompson, Ian Phrakonkhom
Frazee – Blake Sonnenberg, Jack Graham, Cash Osterman
Mahnomen/Waubun – Blake McMullen, Brandon Miller
Roseau – Owen Cummings
United North Central – Emmet Skoog, Cooper Rife, Anton Anderson, Fordis Johnson

Section 8A Academic Team Champion – Mahnomen/Waubun (Team GPA of 3.92!!!!!!)
Class A State Academic Champion – Mahnomen/Waubun

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