Parents and Wrestlers K-8

I just wanted to give all of you a heads up on the NWYA tournaments.  Wrestlers must first compete in the Districts tournaments.  I would encourage all of you to give it a try!  We have had great showings and results at the tournaments all year...lets keep it up!  Below is the information needed for NYWA Districts 4 and 5.  I will be attending Pelican on the 16th and Peirz on the 17th.  I believe coach Lohse will be attending Benson on the 8th.  There is a $12.00 membership fee to belong to the NYWA plus a tournament fee.  You may purchase memberships at the tournaments.  You can also find this information on the NYWA.  Lets show the state the talent we have in our club!  You can find more information at http://www.nywa-mn.com/

NYWA Districts are held at 20 different locations the first two weekends following the Minnesota State High School Wrestling tournament.  Wrestlers must attend one of the districts in order to qualify for regions.  Wrestlers can attend any district they choose to BUT if they qualify at that district, they MUST attend the regional tournament that that district is under.  For example, a wrestler who attends and qualifies at the Austin District MUST wrestle at the Region One tournament (Rochester region).  If a wrestler does not follow the proper advancement, they will be disqualified.  Wrestlers who place 1st or 2nd at districts will advance to the regional tournament.  At regions, a wrestler must place 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the weight class to advance to State (with the exception of the wildcard region which advances the top 4 to state).  Then those wrestlers who place 4th, 5th or 6th place at regions can advance to the Invite tournament if they wish.

Region 4 (New London/Spicer):

1.  Foley: Friday, March 8th
Contact: Jodi Henry
Phone: (320) 249-3857
View touranment flyer

2.  Pierz: Sunday, March 17th
Contact: Darren Girtz
Phone: (320) 360-2212
Pierz High School.  Weigh-ins from 9-10:30 am; wrestling begins at 11 am.

3.  Benson: Friday, March 8th
Contact: Steve Ricard
Phone: (320) 444-0569
View tournament flyer

4.  Belgrade: Saturday, March 9th
Contact: Nick Bents
Phone: (320) 894-7817
View tournament flyer

Region 5 (Bemidji):

1.  Greenbush: Saturday, March 9th
Contact: Ron Mooney
Phone: (218) 782-2278
View tournament flyer

2.  Pine River: Saturday, March 16th
Contact: Roy Swenson
Phone: (218) 232-2791
View tournament flyer
www.lakesareamatrats.org

3.  Pelican Rapids: Saturday, March 16th
Contact: Jeff Meyer
Phone: (218) 863-1774
View tournament flyer

4.  Deer River: Saturday, March 9th
Contact: Kevin Gullickson
Phone: (218) 246-2760
View tournament flyer

Bus Times for Individual Sections

Friday:  We will be leaving Barrett at 10:00 am. We will stop in Ashby to pick up at 10:20 am.

Saturday:  We will leave Barrett at 7:30 am.  We will stop in Ashby to pick up at 7:50 am.

WCAAE Grapplers Knock-Out the Knighthawks

By: Kevin Fick

Tuesday, Feb. 12^th

The West Central Area/Ashby/Evansville wrestlers traveled to Wheaton to open section 6A wrestling.  First round of the section tournament found #7 WCAAE facing #10 seated Prairie Valley.  The young Knight team performed well and dispatched the Knighthawks with ease finishing the match 50-29.  It was good to get sophomore Royal Crow back in the lineup having missed him last week.  The Knights should be back to full strength this week with Jake Larkin’s return for Individual Section competition.  The wrestler’s moved to the second round against the #2 seed Border West Bucs.  A heavily favored upperclass Bucs unit ended the Knights post season team wrestling 51-17.  There was a lot of good wrestling but perhaps the most important part will be carried into the teams next season.  Any win in the post season is big…a win by a group of sophomores, freshmen and 8^th graders is huge.  Should these young men decide to stick together and work in the off-season there is a very bright future in store for this team.

WCAAE 50, Prairie Valley 29

106-Jake Nohre (WCAAE) won per forfeit, 113-Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) defeats Nolan Hart per fall :46, 120-Wyatt Odegaard (WCAAE) won per forfeit, 126-Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated by Thomas Leeseberg per fall 3:52, 132-Alex Olson (WCAAE) defeated by Derrick Leeseberg per fall 3:34, 138-Kyle Mickelsen (WCAAE) defeated Dylan Winkler per major decision 14-0, 145-Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated Bryce Looker per fall 3:46, 152-Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated Dillon Borchert per major decision 8-0, 160-Blake Amundson (WCAAE) won per forfeit, 170-Koel Seifort (WCAAE) defeated by Josh McKeown per fall 5:50, 182-Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) defeated Quentin Uran per fall :16, 195-Hunter Fick (WCAAE) won per forfeit, 220-T.J.Waskosky (WCAAE) defeated by Tyler Schlosser :53, 285-Jordan Bruns (WCAAE) defeated by Logan Nibbe per Technical Fall.

WCAAE 17, Border West 51

106-Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated Mason Pullis per decision 5-4, 113-Tyler Onstad defeated Dylan Menge per major decision 10-1, 120-Wyatt Odegaard (WCAAE) defeated by Cameron Sykora per fall 1:55, 126-Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated by Bryce Nilson per Technical Fall, 132-Alex Olson (WCAAE) defeated by Tracer Lee per fall :52, 138-Kyle Mickelsen (WCAAE) defeated by Dylan Pullis per major decision 1-8, 145-Kode Seifort (WCAAE) defeated by Gus McCarthy per fall 1:12, 152-Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated Carter Behrens per decision 10-4, 160-Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated Cormick Combellick per major decision 11-2, 170-Blake Amundson (WCAAE) defeated by Nick Stafford per fall 2:30, 182-Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) defeated by Austin Maanum per fall 1:34, 195-Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated Bradan Krump per decision 3-1 in OT, 220-T.J. Waskosky (WCAAE) defeated by Seth Callenius per fall :26, 285-Jordan Bruns (WCAAE) defeated by Wyatt Tritz per fall 5:54

Although team competition is over the Knights will travel to Wadena Friday, Feb. 22^nd and Saturday, Feb. 23^rd for Section 6A individuals.  Wrestling will begin at 11 am.  The top two placers per weight class will continue on the following weekend to compete in the State Tournament.  Best of luck to the WCAAE grapplers!

Wrestler of the Week

Wrestler of the Week goes to Sid Kamrath.  Coach Gruchow states…”My choice for wrestler of the week is Sid Kamrath.  Sid is a young guy who more than not finds himself wrestling older kids.  Week in and week out Sid battles for the team and never misses a practice.  Sid is a great kid to have at practice as there is no complaining, no dodging, he just wrestles.  Sid is a second year wrestler and the staff sees a huge progression happening, he is on track.  With a win this week in the post season over Prairie Valley’s Uran Sid helped secure a first round team victory.  Sid has wrestled 170 and 182 this year.  We are excited for his future.  Keep up the great work Sid!”

Wrestler of the Week

Wrester of the Week is Braedon Long.  Coach Gruchow states…” Braedon is our lone junior on the team and one of our most seasoned wrestlers in the room.  I have been very impressed with Braedon’s jump in intensity and mental toughness these past couple weeks.  The road has been a little rough for Long as he has wrestled some tough competition.  His perseverance through the tough times has been remarkable; he has been doing all the right things including watching film, cleaning up technique, and getting in his extra workouts.  Braedon is learning what the sport takes to improve and he is doing a great job!  Keep up the great work Braedon!

WCAAE Wrestlers Finish Regular Season

                                                                                             

By: Kevin Fick

The wrestler’s completed their regular season with a makeup dual in Upsula with  the Royalton-Upsula Royals and a tournament in Morris.  The Royals proved hard to handle for the young WCAAE team.  In Fact the WCAAE grapplers pulled out just one victory.  There was some good wrestling in Morris and a bit more success was produced.

Part of athletics, especially during the physical contests, teaches an athlete a lot about themselves.  During the football season we promote the fact that everyone gets knocked down sometime…the successful athlete is the one who gets back up, learns from it and moves forward.  Each week these young men have taken the mat and faced in most cases an older more experienced wrestler.  There was plenty of being knocked down but during this time valuable experience has been picked up.  For some, this will pay dividends yet this season as sections are now upon us. For others, the experience gained this year will transfer into what should prove a very successful campaign next year as WCAAE will be very junior and sophomore heavy in the roster.

Thursday, Feb. 7^th    WCAAE 6   Royalton-Upsula 63

106-Jake Nohre (WCAAE)  defeated by Michae Petron per decision 4-8, 113-Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) defeated by Joe Jensen per decision 0-5, 120-Wyatt Odegaard (WCAAE) defeated by Matt Neu per fall 3:49, 126-Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated by Cody Wensmann per technical fall, 132-Alex Olson (WCAAE) defeated by Brady Moulzolf per fall :45, 138-Kode Seifert (WCAAE) defeated by Brad Kroll per  fall 1:35, 145-Kyle Mickelsen (WCAAE) defeated by Tyler Hegna per decision 1-5, 152-Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated by Shawn Urbanski per fall 3:01, 160-Blake Amundson (WCAAE) defeated by Tim Valencia-Louden per decision 2-7, 170-Koel Seifert (WCAAE) defeated by Kyle Lang per major decision 3-13, 182-Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) defeated by Mitch Lange per fall :30, 195-Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated Tony Gadacz per fall 5:33, 220-Cory Wensmann (RU) won per forfeit, 285-Clint Gadacz (RU) won per forfeit, the JV went 4-5

From Coach Gruchow…”We had two of our starters out of the lineup this week (Jake Larkin and Royal Crow), which did not help when we are young and struggle to fill the 14 weight classes the way it is.  Thursday night was rough but kudos to Hunter Fick for pulling off the team’s only win.  It is mentally tough to pull out a big win against a good wrestler when every other guys in front of you have all lost.  I was happy with the way the boys wrestled we were just overpowered by the age and experience of the RU wrestlers.  Saturday was a great learning experience for our wrestlers as the boys wrestled with the competition the Morris tournament had to offer.  This is a tournament we like to get in at the end of the year to boost the confidence in our wrestlers.  They wrestled well and for the most part I am pleased with their performance.”

Saturday, Feb. 9^th  MAHACA Tournament (Morris)

Teams participating…Benson, Breckenridge/Campbell-Tintah, Fosston/Bagely, Kerkhoven/Murdock/Sunberg, Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta, Ortonville, Pequot Lakes/ Pine River/ Backus, West Central Area/ Ashby/ Evansville

2^nd Place 195-Hunter Fick, 3^rd 106-Jake Nohre,  4^th place 113-Tyler Onstad, 120-Wyatt Odegaard, 5^th Place 138-Kyle Mickelsen, 152-Braedon Long

Top three teams for the day were in order KMS, PLPB and MAHACA.  WCAAE finished 7^th. 

WCAAE will begin team sections Tuesday, Feb 11^th in Wheaton facing the Prairie Valley Nighthawks.  Like most sports this is a win and your in type event.  The winner of that match will face-off with #2 seed Border West the same evening.  Wrestling will begin at 5:30 and will be covered by KKOK 95.7 FM.

Best of luck to our grapplers in the post season!

Wrestlers of the Week...9th Graders Larkin and Amundson

I am going to nominate two wrestlers of the week this week, both are 9th graders.

The first is Jake Larkin. Jake has been wrestling varsity since he was in 7th grade. He put out some really amazing results as a seventh grader, eighth grader, and now as a ninth grader. Jake has more than 50 varsity career wins. He has been around the sport since he was a little guy and has state NYWA accolades to show for it. He is a technically sound wrestler who puts in the extra work to get better. Jake and his little brother Levi even have their own wrestling room at home to stay crisp over the summer months and also to work out the kinks in technique during the season. Jake attended a few camps over the summer, including a trip out to Cornell to watch some of the best technicians in the country show their technique. Jake's performance this week shows what type of wrestler he is and what he is willing to do for the team. He is a great guy to have in the line-up! 

The second nominee is Blake Amundson. Blake wrestled in elementary and due to some complications this is Blake's first year back in action. Man, are we glad to have him back! Blake works exceptionally hard in practice and out on the mat. You can tell he gets frustrated sometimes during his matches (maybe because he knows what to do but just from being out for awhile things don't click as he would like them to) but man he will fight tooth and nail as long as he is out on the mat. This past weekend at the conference tournament Blake was loosing after the first period.  Blake chose the up position and pinned his Osakis opponent shortly after the second period started. He didn't give up and kept on fighting.....this is the kind of guy we like to have on our team, they are the kind of people who help team develop dreams!

Congrats to both Wrestlers on being Wrestlers of the Week!!!