The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team has four wrestlers in the semi-finals and the rest of the team will be in wrestlebacks on Saturday after the first day of the season-opening Wahpeton Dan Unruh tournament in Wahpeton, North Dakota.
Zach Brown (113 lbs), Cameron Weiland (132 lbs), Lukas Meier (160 lbs) and Damian Hodgson (186 lbs) were the four Pirate wrestlers to advance to the semi-finals. “They are four of our leaders on this team,” said Pirate Coach Wes Hanson. “Lukas and Damian are captains and Zach and Cameron are coming off a great season last year and they took care of business today.”
Zach Brown received a bye in his first-round match and won his second match by a pin in 42 seconds to advance to the semi-finals. “He got after it and with some hand fighting and he was aggressive,” said Coach Hanson. “It was a short night for Zach.”
Cameron Weiland won his first match with a pin in 3:56 and he won his second match by a pin in 2:48. “Cameron really wrestled well today,” said Coach Hanson. “He came in with a higher seed and was probably the highlight of the night for us.”
Lukas Meier received a bye in his first-round match and won his second match by a pin at 56 seconds and when his second-round opponent came off the match we heard him say “he is as solid as a rock!” “He was in there in on a shot and worked on an upper body situation,” said Coach Hanson. “He was able to get his opponent to his back and turned him and pinned him. It was pretty quick work.”
Damian Hodgson received a bye in the first round and won his second-round match by a pin in 93 seconds to advance to the semi-finals. “He went out there and took care of business,” said Coach Hanson. “He is strong and his opponents find that out quickly and he took care of business.”
The other eight Pirates are still alive in wrestlebacks and will look to place on Saturday. “Ethan Bowman had a good match and got a win early for us and the rest of the guys wrestled hard and we learned some things and overall it was a good effort for the boys,” said Coach Hanson. “We are in fifth place right now and hopefully we can have a strong day tomorrow and move up a few spots.”
All the Pirate results are listed below –
Lukas Meier (left) goes for a takedown and Damian Hodgson close to a pin in his second round match
| PIRATES | Opponent/Results | Place | |
| 106 lbs | Ethan Bowman | Beat Patrick Forcier- Border West by Pin 1:23 Lost to Tyson Gass – Grand Forks Central by pin at 1:17 ———————– Will wrestle Cole Sykora – Border West in wrestlebacks |
|
| 106 lbs | Carter Coauette | Lost to Connor Manske – West Fargo Sheyenne by Pin at 1:49 Bye ——————————- Will wrestle Preston Meyer – Wahpeton in wrestlebacks |
|
| 113 lbs | Zach Brown | Bye Beat Tristin LaRocque – West Fargo Sheyenne by pin at :42 —————————- Will wrestle Eli Larson – Border West in semi-finals |
|
| 120 lbs | Nolan Dans | Bye Lost to Isiah Grimm- Sisseton by pin at 2:54 ——————– Bye Will wrestle an opponent TBD on Saturday in wrestlebacks |
|
| 126 lbs | Braxton Volker | Beat Devan Diemert – Wahpeton by pin :54 Lost to Josh Isassi – Grand Forks Central by pin at 3:46 —————————- Wrestles Keyara LaRocque – WF Sheyenne in wrestlebacks |
|
| 132 lbs | Cameron Weiland | Beat Silas Reinke – Lisbon by pin 3:56 Beat Kaleb Mostoller – Wahpeton by pin at 2:48 ————————— Wrestles Keanan Pikarski – Sisseton in semi-finals |
|
| 138 lbs | Hunter Knutson | Bye Lost to Brock Roesler – Kindred by pin at 1:04 ————————– Bye Wrestles an opponent TBD in wrestlebacks |
|
| 145 lbs | OPEN | ||
| 152 lbs | Ethan Boll | Lost Joshua Worral – Fargo North 9-4 Bye ————————– Wrestles Anthony Benda – Sisseton in wrestlebacks |
|
| 160 lbs | Lukas Meier | Bye Beat Ekoue Kev Gbadoe – West Fargo Sheyenne by pin at :56 ————————– Wrestles Ben Stevens – GF Central in semi-finals |
|
| 170 lbs | Cade DeLeon | Bye Lost to Isaac Deal – Border West by pin at 1:18 ————————- Bye Wrestles Matthew Moen – Sisseton in wrestlebacks |
|
| 182 lbs | Damian Hodgson | Bye Beat Lance Nelson – Border West by pin at 1:33 ————————- Wrestles Jacob Schoon – Brookings in semi-finals |
|
| 195 lbs | OPEN | ||
| 220 lbs | Blake Fee | Lost Sam Rieger – Lisbon by pin :27 Grant Sullivan – Grand Forks Central ————————- Wrestles Grant Sullivan – GF Central in wrestlebacks |
|
| 285 lbs | OPEN |
Zach Brown close to a pin in his second round match
