PIRATE WRESTLERS FINISH 7TH AT RODD OLSON INVITE

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team finished 7th out of 10 teams at the Rodd Olson Invitational tournament held at the Crookston High School gymnasium.  The tournament was won by United North Central with 155.5 points, 13.5 points better than Park Rapids.   Crookston had nine wrestlers place and one champion. “I thought we really finished the day off well with Zach Brown coming from behind to win another title and we finished with a pin by Blake Fee so it was fun,” said Coach Wes Hanson. “I thought we got better as the day went along and that was nice to see.”

Pirate placers – Ethan Boll, Ethan Bowman, Cameron Weiland, Damian Hodgson, Blake Fee, Zach Brown, Cade Coauette (Not pictured – Braxton Volker and Nolan Dans)

Champion-
Zach Brown won the championship at 120 pounds to improve to 7-0 on the season.  He received a first-round bye, in the second round he won by a pin in the second period.  In the championship, Zach trailed 3-2 and had a nice reversal late in the match to earn the 4-3 victory and his second tournament championship of the season.  “It was a good test for him against a very quality opponent,” said Coach Hanson. “It was a very big win for Zach.”

Runners-up–
Ethan Bowman and Nolan Dans both finished second place in their respective weight class.
Bowman received a first-round bye at 106 pounds, won his second match 7-2 and in the championship, he ran into a very good wrestler from United North Central and lost 21-6 to finish second place.  “Ethan’s semi-final match was impressive and one of the best matches that I have seen any of our wrestlers wrestle this season,” said Coach Hanson. “He was solid on his feet and did some nice things and he ran into a tough opponent in the championship.”

Dans won a match by injury default and won another match by a 7-2 decision.  In the championship match, he lost by a pin at 4:57 and finished second place.  “We saw a lot of good things from Nolan today with some good single legs,” said Coach Hanson. “Overall it was a very good day for him.”

Third place –
Damian Hodgson won a thrilling opening round when he beat Austin Smith of Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 6-4 in overtime.  Damian lost his semi-final match by pin, but bounced back to win his next match by a pin late in the third period.  In the third place match, Damian beat Smith again and had a takedown late in the match for a 2-0 victory. “Damian was tough on top today and he was able to ride out the kid from Walker a couple times and that was the difference today,” said Coach Hanson. “He works so hard and wears down guys and it was a great day for him today.”

Fourth place –
Ethan Boll received a bye in his first-round match before he lost his second round by a 9-4 decision to Hunter Magnusson of United Clay Becker.  Ethan bounced back with a pin in 1:45 to advance to the third-place match where he would get a rematch with Magnusson.  In the third-place match, Boll wrestled better on the defensive end but he came up short on the offensive end and lost 5-0 to finish in fourth place. “He had some very good matches today and that is what we look for this time of year,” said Coach Hanson. “We saw a lot of good things from Ethan today.”

Fifth place –
Braxton Volker, Cameron Weiland, and Blake Fee finished fifth place for the Pirates.
Volker lost his first match by pin before he won his next match by pin in the first period.  Volker lost his next match and finished strong with a pin to finish fifth place.  “He was flying around and had a couple nice pins for us,” said Coach Hanson. “It was a good day for Braxton.”

Weiland lost his first match by decision and after he received a bye, he lost another decision.  In the fifth-place match, Cameron was solid with an 8-2 victory to finish fifth place.  “Cam is in a real deep weight class and he competed today,” said Coach Hanson. “We always try to preach finishing with an odd number.”

Fee lost his first two matches by pin before he finished the day with a pin in 2:07 to finish fifth place.  “In the couple matches he lost he did some good things and had a guy lifted off the mat with an explosive move and he hit the mat and rolled and he got pinned,” said Coach Hanson. “To come back to win the fifth-place match was huge and he looked really good in the match and it was a fun way to end the day.”

Crookston will travel to Thief River Falls on Tuesday for a dual.

Ethan Bowman on his way to a 7-2 decision victory in his semi-final match

TEAM RESULTS-
1. United North Central – 155.5
2. Park Rapids – 142
3.  United Clay Becker – 137
4. New York Mills – 131
5. Hillsboro-Central Valley – 122
6. Roseau – 114
7. Crookston – 100
8. Mahnomen-Waubun – 61
9. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley – 51
10. Red Lake County Central – 50

Zach Brown on his way to a championship match victory

         Braxton Volker close to a pin in his second match