5 WCAAE Wrestlers Advance to State

By: Kevin Fick

“Technique and ability alone do not get you to the top; it is willpower that is most important.”                                      Junko Tabei 1975 after climbing Mount Everest

Friday, Feb. 21^st and Saturday, Feb. 22^nd

With the conclusion of team wrestling last week all that was left of the season was the Section 6A Individual Tournament.  This tournament is a bit different than others throughout the year as only the section champions and runners-up advance and the rest stay home.  It is a very final moment for most seniors who have put in years of hard work.  The action is intense, emotions run high and competitors leave it all out on the mat as the prize for the final two is a trip to the Minnesota State Tournament.

The WCAAE team wrestled a fantastic 2014 campaign and had high hopes of sending multiple individuals to state.  The grapplers were true to form and at the end of the tournament five wrestlers fought, clawed and scratched, used technique and ability, but in the end willed their way to a trip to state.  The following is a list of the weight classes and wrestlers followed by their win/loss record who earned a state berth…  106 lb. Jake Nohre  36-6, 113 lb. Levi Larkin  27-13, 138 lb. Jake Larkin  22-10, 152 lb. Royal Crow  34-5, 195 lb. Hunter Fick  33-7.  These young men will compete Friday, Feb. 28^th at the XCEL Energy Center in St. Paul along with the other 15 wrestlers left in their respective weight classes.  Action will begin at 9 am.  Congratulations wrestlers and good luck at ‘State’!

Section 6A is composed of ten teams.  The teams are listed below and the number behind represents the number of wrestlers each team is sending to the next level.

Barnesville                                                       (2)

Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale                              (5)

Border West                                                    (5)

Breckenridge/Campbell-Tintah                   (1)

New York Mills                                                (1)

Pelican Rapids                                                 (3)

Prairie Valley                                                   (3)

Staples/Motley                                               (2)

West Central Area/Ashby/Evansville         (5)

Wadena-Deer Creek                                       (1)

Coach Brandon Gruchow, who was earlier named Park Region Conference ‘Coach of the Year’, picked up another accolade being voted in by his peers as Section 6A ‘Coach of the Year’.  Congratualtions Coach Gruchow, you have put together a fantastic season!  About the weekend Coach Gruchow states….”All the hard work and dedication these boys and families have put towards the wrestling program has really paid off.  Overall, all the guys wrestled well and wrestled with heart.  It would have been nice to have a few section champs but runner- up provides a trip to the state tournament as well.  Just like sections, I like to think of the state tournament as a new season and a fresh start.    Not only am I proud of the 5 guys who took second I am also proud of the 9 other guys who threw it all out on the mat and wrestled with heart and intensity the last 2 days.  There were a lot of emotions; some real highs and some lows.  Some guys finished happy and others not so much.  One thing is for sure….we have a great group of kids who work hard, are dedicated, take care of their classroom duties.  They make coaching fun and are a pleasure to work with.”

106 lb. Jake Nohre (9)  2^nd place

Defeated Nick Hendrickx (NYM) per fall 1:47, defeated Brady Tweeton (BRNL) per dec. 7-1, defeated by Anthony Kern per fall 5:55

113 lb. Levi Larkin (8)  2^nd place

1^st round bye, defeated Brady Martz (BRNL) 6-0, defeated by Danny Franco (PR) per dec. 4-3

120 lb. Keaton Long (9)  3^rd place

1^st round bye, defeated by Conrad Kondos (BRK) per fall 2:37, defeated James Riley (BRNL) per fall 2:20, defeated Gage Brown (SM) per fall 5:29

126 lb. Tyler Onstad (9)

Defeated by Justin Gordon (BHV) per fall 4:50, defeated by Lee Hotakainen (WDC) per dec. 9-2

132 lb. Aiden Winter (8)

Defeated by Kyler Votova (BRNL) per fall :43, defeated by Dakota Pixley (PR) per fall 2:15

138 lb. Jake Larkin (10)  2^nd place

Defeated Johnny Flynn (NYM) per fall 2:57, defeated Holten Truax (BHV) per dec. 4-0, defeated by Rylee Anderson (BRNL) per dec. 4-0

145 lb. Kyle Mickelsen (11)

Defeated by Eric Schwagel (BW) per injury default

152 lb. Royal Crow (11)  2^nd place

1^st round bye, defeated Alex Diaz (PR) per major dec. 14-4, defeated by Dylan Pullis (BW) per dec. 6-4, defeated Andrew Cihlar (BHV) per dec. 5-0 true 2^nd match

160 lb. Braedon Long (12)

Defeated by Hobet Diaz (PR) per fall 1:20, defeated Blaine Snyder (WDC) 11-0, defeated by Hayden Truax (BHV) per fall 3:55

170 lb. Koel Seifort (11)

Defeated by Nick Bennett (BHV) per fall, defeated by Nathan Johnson per major dec. 14-5

182 lb. Sid Kamrath (10)

Defeated by Maverick Brady (BRNL) per dec. 3-2, defeated by Cormick Combellick (BW) per fall 3:42

195 lb. Hunter Fick (11)  2^nd place

Defeated Zach Hasse (BRK) per fall :56, defeated Andy Bounds (BHV) per fall 5:47, defeated by Tyler Patron (NYM) per fall 3:14

220 lb. Buzz Miller (10) 4^th place

Defeated Cole Graybow (NYM) per major dec. 11-0, defeated by Dillon Card (BHV) per dec. 7-0, defeated Caleb Monson (WDC) per fall 3:16, defeated by Dana Berg (BRNL) per fall 5:56

285 lb. T.J.Waskosky (10)  5^th place

Defeated by Brandon Monson (WDC) per major dec. 10-0, defeated by Alex Settlemeyer (BRNL) per fall :55, defeated Jesse Roberts (NYM) per fall 3:31

Wrestlers Finish Dual Season 17-5

By: Kevin Fick

The 2014 West Central  Area/Ashby/Evansville Knight wrestlers have concluded their ’14 dual campaign.  As with many teams it ended in a loss which happened in the semi-finals at team sections but let’s first look at this team and their accomplishments over the year with a comparison to last season.

The WCAAE Knights found themselves in a unique situation at the start of this season as unlike most high school teams they did not lose a single senior to graduation last year.  With all returning starters and a JV that was able to insert adequate athletes when needed the Knights turned last seasons dismal record of 7-13 into a very respectable mark of 17-5!  Coach Brandon Gruchow did a marvelous job at not just keeping his athletes healthy and ready but played a very strategic game of shifting wrestlers in and out of weight classes to best put his team in the most favorable position on the mat.  His efforts were rewarded as the Park Region Conference ‘Coach of the Year’.  Coaching aside the grapplers themselves are the players that get the work done on the mat.  There are no teammates, no coaches out there to help when in a wrestling match.  It is one on one and the opponent isn’t exactly cooperative in regards to an individuals efforts to score and win.  The Knights put up an astounding number of points on opponents as the boys in red scored a section leading average of 50 points per dual!  That is a 42% increase from last season in which the team scored 29.4.  Defensively the wrestlers did their duty also allowing just 21.7 points scored on them per match.  Compared to last seasons 43.9 that is a difference of 51%.  These efforts allowed for the following…runner up in the Park Region Conference, final four finishers in Section 6A, 3^rd place in the Grant County 10 team tournament, 17^th place in the 33 team Big Bear Tournament, and 3^rd place in the eight team Morris Invitational, all improvements over last year. 

There are individuals who view wrestling as an individual sport, there are indeed individual efforts and accolades that happen within wrestling but make no mistake in thinking that the team aspect does not hold importance to the athletes and coaches.  This team has accomplished a considerable turn around and the communities of West Central Area, Ashby and Evansville can be quite proud of their wrestlers.

The wrestlers competed twice this past week with team section action against Staples-Motley and Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale.  The Knights turned in their most dominant performance of the year Tuesday the 11^th against the 7-5 Cardinals with a 51-16 home victory in the opening round of playoffs.  This pitted the Knights against the BHV Raiders for the third time this season in Pelican Rapids. The WCAAE team competed valiantly against the heavily favored Raiders but fell a couple matches short.  The six WCAAE wins simply did not match up with the eight Raider victories in a 26-39 loss.  Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale went on to win the section by beating Border West and will represent Section 6A at the state tournament.

Tuesday, Feb 11^th    Barrett, MN

WCAAE 51,  Staples-Motley 16

106 lb. Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated Eric Lisson per dec. 8-1

113 lb. Levin Larkin (WCAAE) defeated Blake Gerard per dec. 5-0

120 lb. Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated Dalton Holmberg per fall 1:24

126 lb. Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) defeated Gage Brown per dec. 9-5

132 lb. Jake Swendsrud (SM) defeated Aiden Winter per fall :28

138 lb. Jake Larkin (WCAAE) defeated Alex Erpelding per fall 1:51

145 lb. Kyle Mickelsen (WCAAE) defeated Jeremy Miller per dec. 2-0

152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) won per forfeit

160 lb. Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated Braden Tyrell per fall 1:00

170 lb. Nathan Johnson (SM) defeated Koel Seifort per fall 5:23

182 lb. Drew Peterson (SM) defeated Blake Amundson per major dec. 15-4

195 lb. Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) defeated Dillon Massey per dec. 6-2

220 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated Mike Moxley per fall :39

285 lb. Buzz Miller (WCAAE) defeated Brian Mitts per fall 1:34

Saturday, Feb. 16^th   Pelican Rapids

WCAAE 26,   BHV 39

“We took a risk and changed things up a bit” stated Coach Brandon Gruchow…” somethings we were able to do after winning the flip.  Having wrestled BHV twice this season and losing both times, we knew we had some points to stretch. Adding Drake Swanson to the line-up and bumping up from there would help make up some of the points.  The lighter weights got it done and we were on track.  BHV pulled off a couple of big wins and started stretching the points back out on us.  They just had a little more pinning power than we did.  I thought we wrestled fairly well, we just needed to get more of the wins by pins and that didn't happen. These boys should be proud of their accomplishments.  They got to the final four which was one the goals they set back in July at camp.  They changed as a team.  They grew and transformed into a great team....which surprised a lot of people.  They got better and better as we went deeper into the season.  I am proud of their efforts and dedication they demonstrated. We will get back to the mat on Monday with a different perspective and goals in mind as we try to get our guys prepared for the individual section tournament and another chance to make it down to the State Tournament individually.  Thanks for all the support we received from the people in the WCAAE area throughout the season.”

106 lb. Drake Swanson (WCAAE) defeated Jarret Kveaton per fall :45

113 lb. Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated Anthony Kern per dec. 3-1 in OT

120 lb. Justin Gordon (BHV) defeated Levi Larkin per dec. 7-0

126 lb. Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated Marshall Willis per injury default

132 lb. Zach Waln (BHV) defeated Tyler Onstad per fall 4:44

138 lb. Jake Larkin (WCAAE) defeated Holton Truax per dec. 8-2

145 lb. Ethan Kimber (BHV) defeated Kyle Mickelsen per dec. 4-0

152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated defeated Nick Cihlar per major dec. 14-3

160 lb. Hayden Truax (BHV) defeated Braedon Long per fall 2:47

170 lb. Nick Bennett (BHV) defeated Blake Amundson per fall 2:55

182 lb. Charlton Nienaber (BHV) defeated Sid Kamrath per dec. 5-4

195 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated John French per major dec. 8-0

220 lb. Dillon Card (BHV) defeated T.j.Waskosky per fall :46

285 lb. Dalton Baker (BHV) defeated Buzz Miller per fall :56

Jake Nohre was KKOK’s ‘Wrestler of the Match’ for defeating #3 state ranked Anthony Kern in their overtime bout.

The WCAAE Knights will resume action in Wadena Friday, Feb 21^st and Sat. the 22^nd competing  in the Section 6A Individual Tournament.  Wrestling action will begin at 2 pm.  All the marbles will be cast as the top two placers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.  Best of luck Knights!

Colbe Tappe represented the Little Knights Wrestling program well after winning the MYAS Gopher State Nationals this weekend at the 50 pound PreK-Kindergarten division.

Wrestler of the Week

Sid Kamrath has become a new wrestler in the last couple of weeks. After his confidence boosting win in the conference tournament last weekend he has been acting and wrestling like a totally new person! Everything from how he is practicing, what he is eating, and how he is preparing for matches has changed. What a great time of the year to break out and turn a corner. We are very proud of Sid and his latest accomplishments. Thursday night he wrestled the same BHV opponent as he did last Saturday in the conference tournament and he beat him again. Sid wrestled very well Saturday in Morris and earned 4th place at the tournament. Sid is fairly new to the sport of wrestling and he hasn't had the success that he wants. If Sid keeps his "new" wrestling ways up he will start gathering those wins he wants. Keep up the great work Sid!

Knight Wrestlers are PR Conference South Champs By: Kevin Fick

The final week of regular season competition provided conference championship wrestling and a last chance for the grapplers to tune up their skills before sectional competition begins.

The wrestlers began their week in search of the Park Region South conference championship.  The wrestling took place in Elbow Lake against a depleted Long Prairie/Grey Eagle Thunder team.  With a fleet of forfeits by the Thunder a win was not the question but could the Knights score enough points (52) to separate them in the three way tie with Osakis and Roylaton/Upsula.  Following a 63-13 decision the boys in red clearly took their destiny into their own hands and doing so in front of a large crowd as it was ‘Parents Night’ for the Knights.  Royal Crow picked up his 75^th career victory against the Thunder.  The Knights finished the regular dual season 16-3.

The win against the Thunder enabled the Knights to challenge for the overall conference championship against the victors from the north side.  Thursday the Knights traveled to Bertha to face off with a very upperclassman heavy Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale team.  The Raiders took it to the Knights with a 43-24 win as WCAAE had too many starters out of the lineup with injuries to put up any real fight.  This may change in a week though as the Knights are seated number three in the section and Raiders are seated second.  If both teams make it to the semi-finals with a healthy lineup this competition should be much closer than Thursday evening.

The WCAAE wrestlers traveled Saturday to Morris for the MAHACA Invitational.  With this being the last chance during regular season to sharpen the tools in the tool box we saw 10 of the 13 athletes competing place.  It was interesting watching the wrestlers as some switched up styles.  We saw some of our aggressive wrestlers slow it down and work on riding skills, we saw some of the non-aggressive kids turn it up and take it to the opponent.  There was good competition in Morris and even without two of the top scoring starters the Knights managed a 3^rd place finish with four athletes making it to the first place round, four making it to the 3^rd place round and one making it to the 5fth place round.  Jake Nohre picked up his 50^th victory in Morris.

Tuesday, Feb. 4^th   Elbow Lake

WCAAE 63, LPGE 13

106 lb. Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated Jaden Buntjer per fall 4:43

113 lb. Levi Larkin (WCAAE) won per forfeit

120 lb. Aiden Winter (WCAAE) won per forfeit

126 lb. Nicholas Middendorf (LPGE) defeated Keaton Long per major dec. 14-4

132 lb. Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) defeated Thomas Pesta per major dec. 9-1

138 lb. Creg Donabauer (LPGE) defeated Alex Butcher per fall 1:54

145 lb. Remington Meagher defeated Kyle Mickelsen per dec. 6-5

152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated Cody Johnson per fall 1:40

160 lb. Zach Salo (WCAAE) won per forfeit

170 lb. Blake Amundson (WCAAE) won per forfeit

182 lb. Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) won per forfeit

195 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) won per forfeit

220 lb. Buzz Miller (WCAAE) defeated Keegan Cavellero per tech fall

285 lb. T.J.Waskosky (WCAAE) won per forfeit

Thursday, Feb 6^th Bertha

Coach Gruchow…“Tonight wasn't our night. It's as simple as that. We have to go back to the drawing board improve on some things and we need to get everyone healthy to beat BHV. Being banged up and having nuisance injuries is common problem this time of year. These boys have put their bodies through a lot in the last 3 months, competition has been tough, practices have been intense, and they have been pushing themselves through the season as hard as they can. If we can get things back on track and we beat Staples on Tuesday I think we could score more points and give up less on Saturday if/when we wrestle them next Saturday.”

106 lb. Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated Jarrett Kveton per fall :45

113 lb. Anthony Kern (BHV) defeated Levi Larkin per dec. 6-1

120 lb. Justin Gordon (BHV) defeated Keaton Long per dec. 10-4

126 lb. Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) defeated Marshall Willis per dec. 7-0

132 lb. Zack Waln (BHV) defeated Wyatt Olson per fall :16

138 lb. Holton Truax (BHV) defeated Alex Butcher per fall :30

145 lb. Ethan Kimber (BHV) defeated Kyle Mickelsen per dec. 6-3

152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated Bradey Baker per fall 4:26

160 lb. Andrew Cihlar (BHV) defeated Zack Salo per fall 2:34

170 lb. Nick Bennett (BHV) defeated Blake Amundson per major dec. 15-1

182 lb. Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) defeated John French per dec. 2-1

195 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated Andrew Bounds per fall 3:06

220 lb. Dillon Card(BHV) defeated Buzz Miller per fall 2:09

285 lb. Dalton Baker (BHV) defeated T.J.Waskosky per fall :34

Saturday, Feb. 8^th  Morris

Coach Gruchow…“We wrestled not having our best performance today but it definitely wasn't our  worst performance either. We had the majority of our guys place and we took third in the tournament. I think some of our wrestlers know as well as I do that they could have placed higher than they did. It was a great tournament in the fact that we knew that each wrestler could only get a maximum of 3 matches. It gave our wrestlers like Jake Nohre a chance to wrestle without going over match count. Freshman Jake Nohre earned his 50th win today as well, which is pretty awesome! Jake has only been able to wrestle the last two seasons because he was not heavy enough his seventh grade year. I felt we were a little flat in the last round, we weren't moving as well as I thought  we could. I think the wear and tear of the season has hit our guys. It will be good for them to have Sunday to rest and recuperate. We will have an intense-shorter practice on Monday and prepare for our first round match against Staples on Tuesday.”

1.      247 Kerkohvan/Murdock/Sunburg

2.      171 Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta

3.      147 West Central Area/Ashby/Evansville

4.      140 Fosston/Bagley

5.      122 Benson

6.      101 Holdingford

7.      80 Ortonville

8.      45 Breckenridge

106 lb. Jake Nohre    1^st Place

Defeated Cody Ballard (ORT) per fall :33, Defeated Jacob Carlson (KMS) per fall :50, defeated Jared Knutson (BEN) per major dec. 12-1

113 lb. Levi Larkin     3^rd Place

Defeated Wyatt McGee (BEN) per fall 2:29, defeated by Jamey Koetter (HOLD) per dec. 9-2, defeated Tristan Eastman per fall 3:41

120 lb. Keaton Long    3^rd Place

Defeated Jared Rohloff (MAHACA) per dec. 9-2, defeated by Casey Thorson (KMS) per dec. 9-2, defeated Ryan Skroch (HOLD) per fall 2:50

126 lb. Tyler Onstad    3^rd Place

Defeated Chase Young (BEN) per fall 1:08, defeated by Cody Peters per fall 1:43, defeated Lane Olson per dec. 6-4

145 lb. Kyle Mickelsen   5^th Place

Defeated by Nicholas Meyer (KMS) per dec. 7-0, defeated Dan Lenarz (BEN) per fall 3:08, defeated Devin Larson per fall 5:50

152 lb. Royal Crow    2^nd Place

Defeated Austin Snyder-Lein (BRECK) per tech fall 19-2, defeated Jake Ubert (FB) per fall 4:41, defeated by Bryce Goeff (BEN) per dec. 5-2

160 lb. Chase Kamrath

Defeated by Mitch Koosman (BEN) per fall 3:33, defeated by Danny Tracy (MAHACA) per fall 2:28

170 lb. Koel Seifort     5^th Place

Defeated by Travis Lamecker (KMS) per major dec. 16-3, defeated Steven Kohl (MAHACA) per dec. 6-3, defeated Matt Wieber (BEN) per dec. 8-7

170 lb. Blake Amundson

Defeated by Jordan Thooft (MAHACA) per fall :53, defeated by Matt Wieber (BEN) per dec. 8-4

182 lb. Sid Kamrath    4^th Place

Defeated Aaron Nelson (MAHACA) per dec. 6-4, defeated by Karter VanHeuvlen (KMS) per fall 3:46, defeated by Zach Larson (FB) per dec.3-1

195 lb. Hunter Fick     2^nd Place

Defeated Kyle Wrobleski (BEN) per fall 1:06, defeated Zach Como (FB) per dec. 3-1, defeated by Chase Norton (KMS) per fall 3:38

220 lb. Buzz Miller     2^nd Place

Defeated Tyler Jacobson (ORT) per fall 1:01, defeated Alec Gausman (MAHACA) per dec. 4-2, defeated by Luke Juve (FB) per fall 1:26

285 lb. T.J.Waskosky

Defeated by Mathew Collins (KMS) per fall :46, defeated by Taylor Zeltwanger (MAHCA) per dec. 1-0

WCAAE will open up Tuesday, Feb. 11^th in Elbow Lake hosting a team section meet against Staples-Motley.  Wrestling will begin at 7pm.  Should the Knights win they will travel Saturday, Feb 15^th to Pelican Rapids to wrestled in the section semi-finals and possible finals.