WCAAE Wrestling Finishes 1st Week of New Year Strong!!! By: Kevin Fick

Thursday, Jan. 3

The Knights started the new year by traveling to New York Mills to face the Eagles in a dual.  The Eagles boast a team to be reckoned with and made good on their reputation dispatching the Knights 58-15.  Knights that had success were as follows: 106 lb. 8^th gd Jake Nohre won by forfeit. 113 lb. 8^th gd Tyler Onstad picked up a 5:12 fall over John Flynn.  145 lb. Soph. Royal Crow won by an 8-5 decision over Taylor Ericksrud.  The greatest success story of the evening came from the J/V.  The J/V Knights came to do battle and in fact gave just that, winning 8-11 bouts.  Fantastic job by the upcoming WCAAE grapplers!

Saturday, Jan. 5^th

The Knights traveled to compete in the Benson Braves Classic.  This was an 11 team tournament and WCAAE placed seven of the ten wrestlers competing on the medal stand! The two 2^nd place finishers were 145 lb. Soph. Royal Crow and 195 lb. Soph. Hunter Fick.  Two wrestlers placed 4^th with those being 106 lb. 8^th gd Jake Nohre and 113 lb. 8^th gd Tyler Onstad. One 5^th place finisher with 132 lb. Fresh. Jake Larkin. Two 6^th place finishes with 120 lb. Fresh. Wyatt Odegaard and 152 lb. Junior Braedon Long.  The teams participating were as follows respectively: Benson, Ortonville, Mahnomen/Waubun, Minnewaska Area, Border West, Breckenridge/Campbell-Tintah, Barnseville, Fergus Falls, Sauk Center/Melrose, WCAAE and Quad County.   The top three finishers in order were Barnseville, Border West and BCT.  With four weight classes open the Knights finished 10^th.  A hilight for the tournament was a  grueling triple overtime bout in which Hunter Fick defeated the favorite of the day in Fergus Falls Abram Aho.  After the match Fick stated...”I just wanted to show heart can go a long ways, Aho is tough, it was a great win!”  This was a big day for the Knights as winning is infectious.  These young men turned a lot of heads in Benson as some of them are making huge strides.  It is apparent when watching that there is no room in accepting average with this bunch.  Through hard work they grow as both a team and as individuals weekly.  Coaches Gruchow, Onstad, and Lorenson can be proud of their protégés.

The ‘Wrestler of the Week’ is Tyler Onstad. Coach Gruchow says this… "Tyler looked real sharp Thursday in a confidence boosting win against Flynn with a third period fall.  Tyler also had a great showing at the Benson tournament placing 4^th at the 113 lb. class.  Tyler’s work ethic and willingness to dedicate himself to the sport all year around is paying off.  Tyler spent a great amount of time practicing and competing in free-style and Greco last spring plus a couple camps during the summer months.  The little extra things are adding up and the odds are starting to fall in his favor.  This is one of those weeks we have been waiting for Tyler to have…his future is looking bright!”

The Knights travel next to Ortonville on Tues. the 8^th for a triangular with the Trojans and the Minnewaska Area Lakers.  Radio coverage of the meet is on KKOK 95.7 FM.  The next home meet is Thursday the 17^th pitting the Knights against Browerville and Breckenridge/Campbell-Tintah.  Both evenings have a 5 pm start time.