Grant County Herald Sports Story 1

Five Knights qualify for State Wrestling Tournament
by Kris Beuckens, Herman/Hoffman Tribune
The West Central Area matmen entered the Section 6A Individual Tournament last Friday afternoon with high hopes of getting several wrestlers qualified for the State Tournament. After the dust had settled in New York Mills on Saturday early evening, five Knights had punched their tickets to the big show this week in St. Paul.

Seth Felland wrestled to a Section 6A Championship at 130 pounds, Aaron Ray is the champion at 140 pounds and Jake Long is the 145 pound champion. They will be joined at the State Tournament by fellow Knights Cody Blehr, who was the Section 6A Runner Up at 152 pounds, and Jon Pikop, who was the runner up at 160 pounds.

The five Knights will see their first action of the 2010 State Wrestling Tournament on Wednesday night, March 3, at 8:00 p.m. during the Class A preliminary round. The championship quarterfinal round will then be held on Thursday, March 4 beginning at 6:00 p.m. Class A individual wrestlebacks will begin later that night at 9:00 p.m. All of the action will take place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Jake Long is the reigning State Champion at 140 pounds and will try to become the Knights’ only two-time state champion. This is Long’s third trip to State. Felland, Ray, Blehr and Pikop are all making their first trip to the state tournament. Five state entrants is the most for the Knights since the 1999 season.

WCA sophomore Kyle Martineau also made a run at the state tourney but came up just short in his true second match. He finished third at 135 pounds at sections while senior heavyweight Jordan Haarstad placed fifth and freshman 112 pounder Gage Odegaard placed sixth for the Knights.

Following is a breakdown of how the action happened for the WCA wrestlers at the two day Section 6A tourney.

Seth Felland, WCA’s junior 130 pounder, opened his section tourney with a bye and then won a decision, 6-0, over New York Mills’ Michael Meyer in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Felland won a decisive, 9-0, major decision over Jacob Meder of Ottertail Central to earn a spot in the championship match. For the title, it was all Felland as he rolled to a 4-1 victory. After an initial takedown, Felland rode out WDC’s Jordan Rentz through the rest of the first and all of the second periods. He then got another takedown in the third and was again brilliant on top. He let Rentz go in the final 10 seconds and won, 4-1.

Felland (31-9) will face Klinton VanHeuveln (33-10) of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in the preliminary round of the state tournament.

Aaron Ray, a senior at 140 pounds, was dominant all tournament long. He opened with a bye and then won an 8-2 decision over Peter Stark of New York Mills. In the semi-finals, Ray won an 11-3 major decision over Jacob Wegscheid of Wadena-Deer Creek to earn a spot in the finals. For the championship, Ray won, 7-1, over Dakota Aehling of Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale. After a slow first period, it was all Aaron Ray. He took Aehling down and put him on his back in the second period. While he didn’t get the pin, he stretched out his lead on his way to the Section 6A title.

Ray (34-7) will face Minnewaska Area’s Cam Schafer (24-6) in the state preliminary round on Wednesday night.

Jake Long, the Knights’ 145 pound senior, walked through the competition at the section tourney. He opened with a bye before winning by fall over OTC’s Austin Montgomery at 2:35 in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, Long again won by fall, this time at 5:03 over Derrick Rude of WDC. In the title match, Long made it look easy with a win by fall at 3:19 over Ryan Silbernick of Parkers Prairie.

Long’s victory in the semi-finals was the 200th of his career, a feat accomplished by only 40 other wrestlers in the state before this season. He got a standing ovation from the huge crowd in New York Mills when it was announced. He got number 201 in the championship match and will try to add to that total at the state tourney.

Long (39-1) will face Casey Nunn (30-7) of Frazee in the preliminary round of action at the state tourney.

Cody Blehr, WCA’s 152 pound senior, opened his Section 6A Tournament with a bye and then defeated Barnesville’s Matt Walters by major decision, 15-5, in the quarterfinals. In the semi-final match, he faced Brendan Hart of Ottertail Central whom he had lost to, 6-5, the week prior. This time was different though. Blehr controlled the action and pulled away at the end on his way to a 10-3 win to earn a spot in the championship match. There, Blehr wrestled tough against top-seeded Jake Braaten of Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale but was defeated, 9-4. Since Hart won third place, there was no true second match and Blehr had earned his spot in the state tournament.

Blehr (23-15) will do battle with Frazee’s Jake Schermerhorn (29-11) in the preliminary round at state.

Jon Pikop, the Knights’ junior 160 pounder, received a bye and then won a 14-3 decision over Isaac Goedtke of Barnesville. In the semi-finals, Pikop faced Alex Klovstad of Pelican Rapids. The two wrestled a back-and-forth match and were tied at 10-10 in the final period. With just moments left in the match, he finally got an escape and held off Klovstad for the win. In the finals, Pikop faced Stephen Erlandson of Breckenridge and lost by technical fall at 4:41. Klovstad won his third place match and Pikop had earned a spot in the state tournament with his section runner up finish.

Pikop (24-12) will do battle with Benson’s Brady Wesinger (31-6) in the preliminary round of the state tournament on Wednesday night.

Kyle Martineau placed third at sections at 135 pounds. He opened with a tough match against Zach Matthys of OTC and lost, 7-4. In wrestlebacks, he received a bye and then faced Border West’s Austin Gray whom he had lost to the week before. This time, it looked like Martineau would lose again. Down 6-4 with just four seconds left on the clock, he rolled through Gray’s hold for a two-point reversal that was called at the buzzer. In the overtime period, he looked again to be in trouble but freed himself of Gray’s grasp before control was determined and then scored the takedown for the win, 8-6.

Things only got more exciting in the third place match – a rematch with Matthys that went into triple OT. The third period ended in a 4-4 tie and neither wrestler scored in the first OT. In the second OT, Matthys gained the advantage with a reversal, but Martineau escaped and got one point back. He escaped Matthys’ grasp again to score the tying point and won it in the third overtime period with yet another escape.

The win earned Martineau a shot at true second against Jim Cossette of Pelican Rapids. He fought Cossette hard, but fell just short of a trip to state, 5-1, and had to settle for third.

WCA heavyweight Jordan Haarstad placed fifth at sections. He opened with a bye and then lost a decision to Border West’s Kenny Custard. In wrestlebacks, Haarstad received a bye and then won a 9-4 decision over Jeremy Schwartz of Parkers Prairie. After a loss by fall to WDC’s Tyler Wohlwend, Haarstad bounced back with a win by fall at 1:18 over Breckenridge’s Jeff Kraus for fifth place.

Freshman Gage Odegaard, wrestling at 112 pounds, placed sixth for the Knights. He opened with a bye before losing by fall at 1:27 to Tommy Selander of New York Mills. After a bye in wrestlebacks, Odegaard won by fall at :45 over Darius Erlandson of OTC. He then lost by fall at 1:45 to Barnesville’s Seth Hirsch and by decision, 10-8, to Pelican Rapids’ Carlos Gutierrez to place sixth.

Brandon Quick, WCA’s junior 171 pounder, won his opening match by fall at 3:19 over Jordan Mohr of Pelican Rapids. In the second round, he lost by fall to Amos Schmidt of BHV. He then won a 5-2 decision over Cole Praus of Breckenridge In wrestlebacks. Next, he faced Border West’s Charlie Maanum and was in control of the match until the third period when he got caught by Maanum and pinned at 4:34.

Sean Albert, WCA’s sophomore 125 pounder, opened with a win by fall at 4:36 over O’Ryan Bosek of Parkers Prairie. He then lost by fall at :42 to OTC’s Greg Blum. In wrestlebacks, Albert defeated Josh Klovstad of Pelican Rapids by fall at :40 and then lost a tough 6-5 decision to Kasey Horn of BHV.

WCA Freshman Carter Duncan wrestled at 119 pounds and was defeated by OTC’s Zach Johnson by fall at 4:12. He then lost a 16-5 major decision to Zack Bernu of WDC.

Senior 189 pounder Tucker Belgum lost by fall at 1:19 to Ryan Harris of Parkers Prairie and by fall at :45 to OTC’s Chris Haugrud.