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State Wrestling: 3 area wrestling in the state semifinals

The Class 1A and Class 2A State Wrestling Tournament Friday, March 3

Winning wrestler has arm held up by ref to indicate win, losing wrestler walks away.
Pierz's Chase Becker wrestles in the state individual wrestling tournament on Friday, March 3, 2023, at Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul.
Bill Johnson / Picture Day Pro!

ST. PAUL — Two Staples-Motley freshmen showed out on the first day of the State Individual Wrestling Tournament Friday, March 3, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Eli Greenwaldt pinned both his opponents to reach the semifinals at 106 in Class 1A. Colbe Tappe pinned his first opponent and won a 9-5 decision in the quarterfinals to also reach the semifinals at 138.

“They both wrestled loose and relaxed,” Staples-Motley head coach Jim Jackson said. “That’s really what I noticed. They went after it and scored a lot of points. They both wrestled really well.”

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Jackson hopes to see more of the same calmness from his two wrestlers in the semifinals Saturday, March 4. Greenwaldt will face Miklo Hernandez of Pipestone while Tappe will face Cory Scanlan of Caledonia-Houston.

“You have to be relaxed and confident and focus on what your plan is and they both have that,” Jackson said. “It’s amazing to have two ninth-graders in the state semifinals. We are very excited for them.”

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Crosby-Ironton senior John Paul Fitzpatrick made the semifinals in Class 1A at 152.

The state veteran pinned his opening-round opponent in 1:43 and earned a 7-2 decision in the quarterfinals.

“He’s wrestling aggressively and with an attitude that he is the dominant wrestler in control,” C-I head coach Brian Wood said. “He has laser focus and it’s been hard to crack a smile out of him today. I can tell today when he won that quarterfinal match that a little weight was relieved and he’s going to come out tomorrow ready to go.”

Fitzpatrick’s semifinal match will be against BOLD’s Austin Kiecker.

“Foot on the gas,” Wood said. “He’s a better wrestler when he is on the offensive, but right now he is putting that foot on the gas and playing offense.”

In Class 2A, Pierz’s Carter Young qualified for the semifinals after a 7-4 decision in the opening round followed by a 12-7 decision in the quarterfinals at 113.

Young missed out on facing Pequot Lakes/Pine River Backus Parker Zutter in the quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed was upset by Minneapolis Edison’s Vicente Lopez Marsh in an 11-8 decision in the opening round.

“Carter was just ready to go when the lights shine bright,” Pierz head coach Skip Toops said. “He was a little slow in that first match, but got to his offense and scored. Then Zutter got knocked off, but the kid from Edison was really tough. We kept attacking and I liked his movement. We scored points at the end of periods and punched our ticket to the semifinals.”

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Young will face undefeated Titan Friederichs from Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran in the semifinals.

“He’s a hammer, but Carter is ready to go and can wrestle anyone in the state,” Toops said.

Pierz’s Chase Becker pinned his opponent in his first match before losing in his quarterfinal and wrestleback match at 138.

“He took a step forward this year,” Toops said. “We thought he was in a good spot to win some matches and came up a little short of our goal, but he wrestled tough.”

The Road Crew had three wrestlers reach the quarterfinals. Corbin Knapp at 195 earned a 4-2 decision in the opening round and lost in a 9-3 decision. Knapp pinned his opponent in wrestlebacks to advance to Day Two.

Riley Peters at 285, pinned his opening round opponent in 4:32 before he was pinned in the quarterfinals in 1:55. Peters bounced back with a second-period pin in the wrestlebacks to advance to Day Two.

Easton Miller at 120 made the quarterfinals with a 54-second pin in the opening round. He followed it with losses in the quarterfinals and wrestlebacks.

Aitkin’s Jacob Williams reached Day Two after falling 15-5 in the opening round, but netted a 5-2 decision in wrestlebacks at 182.

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Class 2A

Opening Round

106: Broc Vaughan (Kasson-Mantorville) dec. Kyle Stangl (Pierz) 5-4

113: Carter Young (Pierz) dec. Aidan Carlson (Mahtomedi) 7-4; Vicente Lopez Marsh (Minneapolis Edison) dec. Parker Zutter (Road Crew) 11-8

120: Easton Miller (Road Crew) pinned Max Carlson (Bloomington Kennedy) 0:54

138: Chase Becker (Pierz) pinned Jace DeYoung (Stewartville) 5:38

145: Laiken Copeman (Zumbrota-Mazeppa) dec. Kenny Erickson (Aitkin) 3-2

152: Jon Gettel (Benilde St. Margarets) dec. Jacob LeBlanc (Pierz) 7-0

182: Tate Link (Dassel-Cokato-Litchfield) maj. dec. Jacob Williams (Aitkin) 15-5; Hunter Gibson (MAHACA) maj. dec. Trey Tuchtenhagen (Road Crew) 10-0

195: Corbin Knapp (Road Crew) dec. Parker Bothun (DBLQPMU) 4-2

285: Riley Peters (Road Crew) pinned Heath Parrish (Kasson-Mantorville) 4:32

Quarterfinals

113: Young dec. Lopez Marsh 12-7

120: Cole Munsterteiger (Mound-Westonka) dec. Miller 4-2

138: Cooper Rowe (Mound-Westonka) pinned Becker 1:13

195: Bo Flagstad (St. Francis) dec. Knapp 8-3

285: Sam Dinozeghy (Mound-Westonka) pinned Peterson 1:55

Wrestlebacks

120: Jonah Coleman (Kasson-Mantorville) pinned Miller 4:09

138: Zander Clausen (Dawson-Boyd) dec. Becker 5-3

182: Williams dec. Gibson 5-2

195: Knapp pinned Lamar Sloan (Minneapolis Edison) 4:00

285: Peters pinned Max Rice (Mahtomedi) 2:03

Class 1A

Opening Round

106: Elijah Greenwaldt (SM) pinned Connor Carlson (Kimball) 3:09

120: Braxton Lange (Caledonia-Houston) pinned Justin Olson (BHVPP) 3:53

132: Bolton Thesing (Dover-Eyota) maj. dec. Jason Trantina 11-0; Hudson Burnett (Pipestone) maj. dec. Bennet Arceneau (BHVPP) 16-6

138: Colbe Tappe (SM) dec. Tony Baumann (HLWW) 9-2; Cory Scanlan (Caledonia-Houston) pinned Deagen Captain (BHVPP) 5:40

145: Tucker Ginther (Caledonia-Houston) dec. David Revering (BHVPP) 8-1

152: John Paul Fitzpatrick (CI) pinned Patrick Forcier (Border West) 1:43

182: Peyton Hemmesch (Paynesville) pinned Justin Koehn (BHVPP) 3:25

195: Ayden Goetzinger (Caledonia-Houston) dec. Koby Endres (WDC) 5-3

285: Braden Shamp (BHVPP) dec. Marcus Peterson (UNC) 6-4

Quarterfinals

106: Greenwaldt pinned Brady Murphy (WEM-JWP) 5:53

138: Tappe dec. Lane Fink (Canby) 9-5

152: Fitzpatrick dec. Isaiah Rodriguez (JCC) 7-2

285: Keegan Kuball (WEM-JWP) maj. dec. Shamp 8-0

Wrestlebacks

138: Wyatt Engen (BBE) dec. Captain 9-2

145: Revering dec. Will Gorecki (Royalton/Upsala) 5-0

182: Tate Twardowski (LPGE) pinned Koehn 2:19

285: Shamp pinned Grant Ness (Caledonia-Houston) 0:58

CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.

Started at the Dispatch in June of 2019.
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