Dominant: Exercising
controlling power or influence
The 5th week of the
wrestling season found the Knight Wrestlers shredding through their competition. With convincing road victories in Glenwood
and Browerville the boys in red looked more like raging bulls than high school
students. The funny part of success is
that it is infectious. Coach Gruchow and
his staff may have these athletes conditioned and ready to wrestle but the team
seems to feed on itself and when the winning starts the victories begin to pile
up. The Knights are now 8-2 in team
duals.
The grapplers are growing in skill
and confidence by the week. One of the
most noted accomplishments witnessed lately is a presence of mat
awareness. If the reader can imagine
what this means the wrestlers are beginning to use the mat as a tool instead of
just a work bench. To further explain
this a wrestler needs to score points to win.
The athlete that can score points without endangering themself is
typically the one with a hand raised at the end of a match. A month ago many of the wrestlers were
blowing in hard on an opponent anywhere on the mat, this week it was clear most
of the Knights positioned themselves near the edge of the mat which equates to
safety if the move is not successful.
This team is no longer frustrated when a move does not work but instead
works to frustrate an opponent with a move.
From the fast paced antics of the light weights to the brute force of
the heavier weights there has been growth in every athlete…most enjoyable to
watch.
“It was great to get back into some
well needed wrestling action”…stated Gruchow.
“We missed out on the Benson Tournament this past weekend due to the
weather and a few of our wrestlers haven’t had any live competition since the
week before Winter Break. Due to the long break of competiton and practice I
was a little skeptical on how the wrestlers would perform. We went into the triangular with high
expectations for our Team. We pulled the
boys into the Minnewaska practice room before the tri to get a quick but
intense workout in. We didn’t want them
to be overconfident but we wanted them to be physically and mentally
prepared…we wanted to make sure they were ready to be dominant in both the
Ortonville and Minnewaska duals. They
came out ready and prepared. The boys
were on a mission and it was fun watching them throughout the two duals. There were a lot of great things that went on
during the triangular. Some of the
highlights included Braeden Long earning his first pin of the season, Tyler
Onstad really opened it up on his feet, and Hunter Fick beat the 6th ranked guy
in the state at 195 pounds in the third and final overtime. It was a good night; however there are
definitely techniques and positions we need to improve on and tune up before
the end of the season. That’s what the
boy’s will be doing at 6:30 tomorrow morning!”
Tuesday, Jan 7th Glenwood, MN
WCAAE 74, Ortonville 6
106 lb. Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated
Ben Eustice per fall 4:50
113 lb. Levi Larkin (WCAAE) defeated
Tristan Eastman per fall 4:40
120 lb. Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated
Jordan Karasch per fall 4:47
126 lb. Wyatt Odegaard (WCAAE) won
per forfeit
132 lb. Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) defeated
Elijah Cloos per fall 4:16
138 lb. Jake Larkin (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
145 lb. Kyle Mickelsen (WCAAE)
defeated Joseph Eustice per fall :45
152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated
Dylan Pillatzki per fall 2:46
160 lb. Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated
Cody Bedore per tech. fall 16-0
170 lb. Isaac Cloos (ORT) defeated
Koel Seifort per fall 4:45
182 lb. Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) defeated
Robert Wood per fall 3:06
195 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
220 lb. Buzz Miller (WCAAE) defeated
Kyle Rockensock per fall :44
285 lb. T.J. Waskosky (WCAAE)
defeated Hayden Knip per dec. 7-0
KKOK ‘Wrestler of the Match’ T.J.
Waskosky
WCAAE 57, Minnewaska 14
106 lb. Drake Swanson (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
113 lb. Joseph Weaver (MINN) defeated
Levi Larkin per dec. 11-4
120 lb. Aiden Winter (WCAAE) won per
forteit
126 lb. Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated
Spencer Winter per dec. 4-3 in OT
132 lb. Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) defeated
Garret Kelling per fall 1:56
138 lb. Jake Larkin (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
145 lb. Kyle Mickelsen (WCAAE)
defeated Weston Lardy per dec. 2-0
152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated
Marcelo Arredondo per fall 2:14
160 lb. Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated
Andrew Troen per fall 1:50
170 lb. Caleb Blaisdell (MINN)
defeated Koel Seifort per tech. fall 19-4
182 lb. Ryan Stottler (MINN) defeated
Sid Kamrath per fall 1:49
195 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated
Brad Jacobs per dec. 2-1 triple OT
220 lb. Buzz Miller (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
285 lb. T.J. Waskosky (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
KKOK ‘Wrestler of the Match’ Hunter Fick
About the night in Browerville
Gruchow states…”It is said that 90% of wrestling matches are won before they
are even wrestled….this is the big message we are trying to push onto our
wrestlers. They are in a much different
place than they were last year…they are better, more experienced, have bigger
goals and we are seeing a different mindset.
These wrestlers want to be better, they want to learn techniques, and
they are willing to push themselves to the next level. In our last three duals including our dual
tonight, they boys knew they could win, they knew they had to win, and they got
the win. Browerville had some open spots
so we knew we were sitting in a good spot to win the dual but we wanted to be
dominant. This desire to win was shown
during Kyle Mickelsen’s win in the last 3 second of the match when he scored a
takedown with a nice whip-over which won him the match. He wasn’t satisfied with loosing, he wanted
the win, and he made it happen. These
types of things are happening more and more, the boys are finding the ways to
win, or score the points that they need to help out the team and
themselves. The mind is a powerful tool
in the sport of wrestling and a key to success.
I think the wrestlers are catching on to it! Hopefully they can lock it in in our next
two duals against Morris and Osakis.”
Thursday, Jan. 9th Browerville, MN
WCAAE 69, Browerville 6
106 lb. Drake Swanson (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
113 lb. Noah Becker (BROW) defeated
Jake Nohre per dec. 3-0
120 lb. Levi Larkin (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
126 lb. Keaton Long (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
132 lb. Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) won per
forfeit
138 lb. Jake Larkin (WCAAE) defeated
Dalton Butler per fall :50
145 lb. Kyle Mickelsen (WCAAE)
defeated Jackson Wollenburg per dec. 3-2
152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated
Nic Becker per fall 1:46
160 lb. Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated
Austin Twardowski per fall 1:46
170 lb. Koel Seifort (WCAAE) defeated
Devin Lange per fall :56
182 lb. Jake Gaida (BROW) defeated
Blake Amundson per dec. 6-5
195 lb. Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) defeated
Bo Olson per fall 3:14
220 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated
Damion Lange per fall 5:55
285 lb. Buzz Miller (WCAAE) defeated
James Gaida per fall 2:26
The Knights find themselves back in
action on Tuesday, Jan. 15th in a home dual against Morris
Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta. Wrestling
begins at 6 pm in the Barrett gymnasium.
Thursday, Jan. 17th the wresters travel to Osakis. The dual is scheduled to start at 6 pm.
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