After the dust settled at the Section 7A Individual wrestling tournament in Bertha-Hewitt Friday and Saturday, four Wolverines grapplers had secured a trip to the state meet.
Earning the honor to represent the Wolverines were sophomores Troy VanOrsdel and Tony Wegscheid with seniors Tanner Rentz and Tim Richards.
Next year, we're changing all of our kids' names to start with a T, joked Wolverine coach Norm Gallant after the tournament.
VanOrsdel was the first to advance to the state meet for the Wolverines with his runner-up finish in the 135-pound class.
After a first round bye, VanOrsdel pinned Zach Carter of West Central Area in just 28 seconds and stuck fourth-seed Nate Mord of Wheaton/Herman-Norcross in 1:56 in the semi-finals.
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Sixth-ranked Jasper Oyster of Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale ended VanOrsdels run with a 2-1 decision in the finals. VanOrsdel earned the automatic bid when Mord upended Menahga-Sebeka's Travis Ahlf in the third place match, thus eliminating the true second match.
Richards earned the Wolverines second trip to state by clinching the heavyweight title with a 56-second pin in the finals over Andrew O'Neil of CACGB. Richards was dominating in the individual section, pinning Aaron Saunders of Bertha-Hewit/Verndale in 22 seconds in his first match and needed just 52 seconds to pin Pelican Rapids Aaron Field in the semifinals.
The win for Richards gave him his second section title and his fourth consecutive trip to the big show as a heavyweight.
When you look at the state tournament it is fairly common for a kid to make it four times, but most of the time they start in the real low weights. Gallant explained. What is uncommon about Tim is that he has done it four times as a heavyweight. I'm not sure that has happened before. Tim has been a heck of an anchor for our team for four years and he is really looking sharp right now.
At 145 pounds, Tanner Rentz was defeated for the second time this season in the finals by Jake Nohl of Morris Area by a score of 7-0. Rentz had a second chance when Larry Martini of Menahga-Sebeka edged Sam Moenkedick of BHV in the third-place match.
Martini gave Rentz all he wanted in the true second match, but Rentz was able to escape with the 4-3 win and his second trip to state.
Tony Wegscheid also took the hard route when he was defeated by BHV's Aaron Moenkedick 3-2 in the 171-pound finals. Wegscheid had advanced to the finals with a first-round pin at 3:11 over West Centrals Zach Raustad and then a decision Brady Arvidson of Parkers Prairie 8-4 in the semifinals. Wegscheid then cruised to a 6-0 win over Breckenridge's Tyler Ascheman in the True Second match for berth to state.
Two other Wolverines wrestled back to take third place and earn a shot at a true second match. In probably the toughest bracket of the tournament, Kenny Steffens was defeated 12-2 by section champ and state second-ranked Brady Schneeberger of West Central in the 130 semifinals. Steffens wrestled back to defeat Alex Johnson of Breckenridge 8-4 for third. In the true second match, the seventh-ranked Steffens was defeated by third-ranked Jason Burg of New York Mills 6-2.
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Wolverine senior Darren Folkestad was also defeated in the 140 quarterfinals by section champion Shane Fickes of Wheaton Herman-Norcross. Folkestad earned the right to a true second match when he won a hard fought 5-4 decision over Matt Moenkedick of BHV. Jeremy Hagen of New York Mills ended Folkestads chances with his pin at the 3:07 mark.
Shawn Beversluis at 112 and Kevin Trout at 189 also wrestled back and placed third, but both were denied a true second match when the wrestler who had defeated them lost in the finals. Beversluis earned a major decision over Brandon Novak of New York Mills 12-3 and Trout defeated Joel Paur of Breckenridge 12-6 in their third place matches.
Jared Wegscheid went 1-2 at 103, Dylan Harrison 0-2 at 119, and Steve Lustila 0-2 at 160 to round out the Wolverine participation. Ian Carlstom was not able to wrestle because of an illness.
The state wrestling tournament begins today (Thursday) at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. VanOrsdel (30-10) will meet fourth-ranked Zach Braaten (30-2) of Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton in the first round. Richards (30-6) is ranked fourth in Class A and will battle ninth-ranked Jeff Pagel (36-5) of Dover-Eyota. Rentz (32-7), ranked sixth, will square off with Lane Srock (31-7) of Crosby-Ironton. Wegscheid (32-8) is ranked seventh and will take on undefeated and number-one ranked Torrey Line (41-0) of Browerville-Eagle Valley.
Section 7A Individual on Friday and Saturday at Bertha-Hewitt
WDC Results
112
Ethan Kern (BHV), Spencer Beech (BRK), Shawn Beversluis (WDC), Jordan Novak (NYM) Tanner Berning (WHN), Ryan Silbernick (PP)
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Semifinals
Kern pinned Novak 3:33
Beech major decision Beversluis 12-1
130
Brady Schneeberger (WCA), Jason Burg (NYM) (True Second: Burg decision Kenny Steffens 8-2), Kenny Steffens (WDC), Alex Johnson (BRK), Jake Braaten (BHV), Sam Klovstad (PR)
Semifinals
Burg pinned Johnson 1:51
Schneeberger major decision Steffens 12-2
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135
Jasper Oyster (BHV), Trey VanOrsdel (WDC), Nate Mord (WHN), Travis Ahlf (MS), Luke Tervola (NYM), Travis Thooft (MAH)
Semifinals
VanOrsdel pinned 1:56
Oyster decision Ahlf 4-2
140
Shane Fickes (WHN), Jeremy Hagen (NYM) (True Second: Hagen pinned Folkestad 3:07), Darren Folkestad (WDC), Matt Moenkedick (BHV), Adam Andrews (CACGB), Nick Blixt (PR)
Semifinals
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Fickes major decision Folkestad 14-5
Hagen pinned Moenkedick 3:20
145
Jake Nohl (MAH), Tanner Rentz (WDC) (True Second: Rentz decision Martini 4-3), Larry Martini (MS), Sam Moenkedick (BHV), Jesse Stuehrenberg (BRK), Dennis Kleindl (CACGB)
Semifinals
Nohl major decision Martini 9-0
Rentz decision Sam Moenkedick 3-2
171
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Aaron Moenkedick (BHV), Tony Wegscheid (WDC) (True Second: Wegscheid decision Ascheman 6-0), Tyler Ascheman (BRK), McKale Evenson (PR), Brady Arvidson (PP), Mark Simpson (NYM)
Semifinals
Wegscheid decision Arvidson 8-4
Moenkedick major decision Simpson 18-4
189
Brandon Marsh (NYM), Jerrod Lennox (WHN), Kevin Trout (WDC), Joel Paur (BRK), Travis Moser (MAH), Tom Jaskowiak (PP)
Semifinals
Marsh decision Paur 4-2
Lennox decision Trout 3-2
HWT
Tim Richards (WDC), AJ ONeill (CACGB) (True Second: ONeill decision Field 4-1), Aaron Field (PR), Andrew Frost (NYM), Tony Roschlien (WHN), Dan Bellmore (BRK)
Semifinals
Richards pinned Field 0:52
ONeill decision Frost 3-2 OT
