WCAAE Wrestlers Improve to 9-2 By: Kevin Fick

The Knight wrestlers had another roller coaster of a week that included a Gophers match, a win over MAHACA and a postponed dual  with Osakis due to weather.  Sunday, Jan. 12^th found the team traveling to the University of MN for a dual that showed the #2 ranked Gophers dispatching the Wisconsin Badgers with relative ease.  Tuesday, Jan. 14^th brought the Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta Tigers to town.  The ever improving Knights showed a great amount of poise and patience when facing the AA opponent and put up a score of 44-27 on the Tigers.  Due to weather the dual with Osakis that was scheduled for Jan. 16^th has been moved to Jan. 31^st.  The team has also cracked the ‘Mean and Lean’ list, which are the teams getting votes for state rankings.

”We added this dual to our schedule to get another match against a good team.”…said Coach Gruchow.   “MAHACA has and up and coming team just as we do and we knew it was going to be a fun and action filled dual.  It was great to see a team with a full varsity line-up and a good number of JV/JH wrestlers.  The Knights went 5-7 in the JV/JH matches.  Chase Veldhouse, Hunter Mickelsen, Aiden Winter and Austin Clavin all won by fall; Kode Seifort  won by major decision.  It was nice to see the JV getting the big wins, we like to see all the pins!

The Varsity came out strong and set the tempo and expectation after capturing the first four matches of the dual.  We knew we had to come out strong to make it through the middle of MAHACA’s line-up.  They are a solid team….with a team like that you cannot afford to give them any breaks.  We had five pins on the evening; Drake Swanson, Jake Larkin, Braedon Long, Hunter Fick and Buzz Miller all earned those big points which help so much in tight duals.

Our plan is to keep on keeping on.  We are going to push it in the practice room, on the mat, and hopefully the boys are pushing themselves where it matters most….when no one is watching.  It was another fun night and I feel we improved as a team.  Hopefully that continues to be the trend.”

Tuesday. Jan. 12^th  Barrett, MN    Star Spangled Banner was sang by Marrissa Heyward

WCAAE 44, MAHACA 27

106 lb. Drake Swanson (WCAAE) defeated Christian Athey per fall 1:11

113 lb. Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated Matt Munsterman per major dec. 14-2

120 lb. Levi Larkin (WCAAE) defeated Jared Rohloff per dec. 2-0

126 lb. Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated Mitchell Ascheman per dec. 15-10

132 lb. Travis Ostby (MAHACA) defeated Tyler Onstad per fall 2:37

138 lb. Jake Larkin (WCAAE) defeated Trenton Nelson per fall 2:30

145 lb. Myles Smith (MAHACA) defeated Kyle Mickelsen per major dec. 13-3

152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated Jerid Berning per major dec. 9-1

160 lb. Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated Steven Koel per fall 5:19

170 lb. Danny Trac (MAHACA) defeated Zach Salo per fall 1:37

182 lb. Jordan Thooft (MAHACA) defeated Koel Seifort per tech. fall 16-1

195 lb. Aaron Nelson (MAHACA) defeated Sid Kamrath per fall 1:05

220 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated Alec Gausman per fall 2:25

285 lb. Buzz Miller (WCAAE) defeated Jacob Sperr per fall 1:30

KKOK ‘Wrestler of the Match’ was awarded to Braedon Long

An extra thanks goes to Orvin “Buggs” Erickson.  If there was a greatest fan award from a school it should be given to ‘Buggs’ from WCA.  It is a rare home event that the Elbow Lake native is not cheering from the stands.  Upon chatting with him at most of those contests it is evident that he is not just proud of his hometown but all the kids that participate in it, a pleasure to talk with about sports history.  We’ll see you at the next meet ‘Buggs’!