The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team’s Gavyn Hlucny won the championship at 152 pounds in the Section 8A Individual Wrestling tournament at the Crookston High School gymnasium on Saturday. It is the third trip to the state tournament for Hlucny and he will be the only Pirate making it to state.
CHAMPION –
Crookston’s Gavyn Hlucny received the top seed and first-round bye. In the semi-finals, he beat Noa Halberg of Fosston/Bagley 8-0. Gavyn battled for the first minute and got a takedown for a 3-0 lead. There wasn’t any more scoring, and Hlucny took a 3-0 lead into the second period. Gavyn started the second period down and scored two points on a reversal, and that was the only scoring of the period for a 5-0 lead. The start of the third period had both wrestlers up, and Hlucny scored a takedown nine seconds into the period for an 8-0 lead. He tried to turn Halberg but couldn’t and won the match 8-0.
Gavyn took on Conrad Koll of United North Central in the championship match. Gavyn scored a takedown six seconds into the match for a 3-0 lead. Koll tweaked his knee and couldn’t finish the match, but Hlucny won the championship by medical forfeit to advance to his third state tournament after missing last year because of an injury.
4TH PLACE –
Paul Thornhill lost his first match at 172 pounds by pin and received a bye in the consolation round. In the Consolation semi-finals, Paul had an impressive 10-7 victory over Jaekub Larson of Fosston/Bagley. Paul started the scoring with a takedown with six seconds left in the first period and got four near fall points for a 7-0 lead going into the second period. Paul got another takedown for a 10-0 lead with 1:14 left in the second period. Larson scored a reversal, and Thornhill took a 10-2 lead in the final period. Larson got an escape and a takedown to get within a 10-6 deficit. Thornhill was called for stalling a second time, and a point was awarded to Larson with 32 seconds left. Thornhill held on and won the match 10-7 to advance to the third-place match.
Thornhill ran into Jackson Jirava of Mahnomen/Waubun and lost the third-place match 9-0 to finish fourth place.
Riley Helgeson finished fourth place at heavyweight. Riley had a first round bye and advanced to the semi-finals. Helgeson took on Jonathan Rose of Fosston/Bagley and nobody scored in the first period. Helgeson started the second period down and got an escape for a 1-0 lead and that would be the only scoring of the period. Rose started the third period with a reversal for a 2-1 lead. Helgeson tied the match at 2-2 with an escape with 37 seconds left in the match. 14 seconds later, Rose countered with a takedown for a 5-2 lead. Helgeson got an escape to get within a 5-3 deficit, but he couldn’t get any more points, and Rose won 6-3.
Helgeson bounced back with a 5-0 victory in the consolation semi-finals. There was no scoring in the first period. Helgeson scored an escape for a 1-0 lead 16 seconds into the period, and that was the only scoring. In the third period, Helgeson scored an escape and didn’t score again until a takedown with nine seconds left for a 5-0 lead, and that is how the match would end.
In the third-place match, nobody scored in the first period. Helgeson started the second period down and scored an escape before being taken down. Eight seconds later, Helgeson had another escape and trailed 3-2 after two periods. In the third period, Leiser started down and scored an escape halfway through the period for a 4-2 lead, and Helgeson wasn’t able to score the rest of the way and finished fourth place to wrap up his Pirate Wrestling career.
| Weight | Crookston | Opponent | Place |
| 107 | OPEN | ||
| 114 | Jose Contreras | L Chase Hauck (Barn) Pin :37 L Gregory Ramberg (Fer-B) Pin 1:21 | DNP |
| 121 | Gabe Perala | L Keegan VonEnde (BGMR) Pin 1:39 L Max Ramberg (Fer-B) Pin :43 | DNP |
| 127 | OPEN | ||
| 133 | OPEN | ||
| 139 | Chris Goodrich | L Creed Kroll (UNC) Pin :40 L Tate Pauna (Barn) Pin 1:59 | DNP |
| 145 | Jose Arriaga | L Gage Vold-Vedbraaten (Fer-B) Pin 3:23 Bye L Emitt Isane (BGMR) Pin :45 L Connor Lacy (MW) by Pin 3:01 | 6th Place |
| 152 | Gavyn Hlucny | Bye W Noa Halberg IFos-B) 8-0 W Conrad Koll (UNC) by Injury Default | CHAMPION Advances to state |
| 160 | Lucas Perala | L Isaac Olson (BGMR) Pin 5:29 Bye L Dylan McMullen (MW) Pin 3:29 L Gunner Nolan (Fos-B) Pin 4:29 | 6th Place |
| 172 | Paul Thornhill | L Jack Erickson (Fer-B) Pin 1:39 Bye W Jaekub Larson (Fos/B) 10-7 L Jackson Jirava (MW) 9-0 | 4th place |
| 189 | OPEN | ||
| 215 | OPEN | ||
| HWT | Riley Helgeson | Bye L Jonathon Rose (Fos-B) 6-3 W Kaden Bartnes (MW) 5-0 L Jack Leiser (Fer-B) 4-2 | 4th place |
State Qualifiers from Section 8A
107 1st: Ashton Reller of Frazee 2nd: Kiptyn Thompson of Fosston-Bagley
114 1st: Chase Hauck of Barnesville 2nd: Christian Peichel of Frazee
121 1st: Keegan VonEnde of Badger-GB-MR 2nd: Cleighton Hoban of Mahnomen-Waubun
127 1st: Sam Roiko of United North Central 2nd: Kamryn Thompson of Fosston-Bagley
133 1st: Ian Phrakonkham of Fosston-Bagley 2nd: Liam Hamm of Frazee
139 1st: Cash Osterman of Frazee 2nd: Shane Thompson of Fosston-Bagley
145 1st: Bailey Peichel of Frazee 2nd: Zach Thompson of Fosston-Bagley
152 1st: Gavyn Hlucny of Crookston 2nd: Conrad Koll of United North Central
160 1st: Zach Davidson of United North Central 2nd: Blake Sonnenberg of Frazee
172 1st: Cameron Halverson of Barnesville 2nd: Jack Erickson of Fertile-Beltrami
189 1st: Blake McMullen of Mahnomen-Waubun 2nd: Riley Livingston of United North Central
215 1st: Eli Roiko of United North Central 2nd: Cade Nagel of Frazee
285 1st: Kevin Dailey of United North Central 2nd: Jack Leiser of Fertile-Beltrami
