Area Wrestling Action

The wrestlers hit the road on Thursday evening for a dual in Tioga against the coop of Stanley/Powers Lake/Tioga-Ray. The Wolves were able to get out to an early lead thanks to a 7-2 decision won at 106 pounds by Jade Hepper, a pin at 126 pounds by Coleton Jore and a pair of back to back forfeit wins by Clay Jorgenson and Kyle Cook respectively at 132 and 138 pounds. After 138 pounds the Wolves led 21-9, but the Blue Jays were hitting the heart of their order. Six of the final eight contested matches featured seniors for home team and the Wolves were missing a pair of seniors of their own. The upper classmen had their way with the younger Wolves squad reeling off 8 wins in a row and coming out on top 57-21.

BOX SCORE:

Stanley/Powers Lake/Tioga-Ray 57, Watford City 21

106: Jade Hepper, WC 7-2 Dec. over Gaige Reep, SPLTR

113: Jayden Iverson, SPLTR 5-4 Dec. over Logan Gumke, WC

120: Kaden Evenson, SPLTR pinned Marty Kueffler, WC (0:48)

126: Coleton Jore, WC pinned Derrick Erie, SPLTR (4:26)

132: Clay Jorgenson, WC won by forfeit

138: Kyle Cook, WC won by forfeit

145: Rhett Wolter, SPLTR won by forfeit

152: Chandler Meiers, SPLTR pinned Keegan Thompson, WC (2:55)

160: Cole Hysjulien, SPLTR pinned Jayden Vaupel, WC (0:46)

170: Abraham Roehrich, SPLTR won by forfeit

182: Summer Clayton, SPLTR pinned Dakota Neether, WC (1:26)

195: Cole Orduay, SPLTR pinned Hunter Olson, WC (0:33)

220: Jaryn Rassmussen, SPLTR pinned Tyler Krabbenhoft, WC (3:24)

285: Ben Cullopy, SPLTR pinned Kye Bolken, WC (0:36)

Half a dozen teams joined the Wolves in Watford City on Saturday for the annual Levi Wisness Classic wrestling tournament. Participating in the tournament were Watford City, Beulah/Hazen and Killdeer from Region IV, Des Lacs/Burlington, Velva, and Stanley/Power Lake/Tioga-Ray from Region III, along with Dickinson’s Junior Varsity squad. Numbers of participants varied greatly between the weight classes as some weights had as few as four wrestlers while others had ten or twelve. This caused for a variance of formats to be used ranging from round-robin to bracketing. Regardless the style of tournament that was run, it was done so very smoothly and efficiently as there was great help on hand to ensure a great day of wrestling. The Wolves got off to a quick start as they quickly qualified three wrestlers for the finals at 106A, 106B and 113A respectively, all with first period pins. Jade Hepper pinned Stanley’s Gaige Reep in the 1:13 in his semi-final bout while Dakota Garman recorded a pin in just 39 seconds in the other 106 pound bracket. 106 pounds was the largest weight class in the tournament with 12 competitors so it was split into two 6-man divisions. 113 pounds had 10 competitors and was split into two divisions as well. The 113A division is where Logan Gumke was able to cruise to the finals with a pin over Des Lacs/Burlington’s David Ruby at the 1:37 mark of the first period. Garmann was able to take it one step further as he picked up a pin at the 1:00 mark of the first period in the finals as he became the Wolves lone champion of the tournament. Hepper wrestled Beulah’s Tyrel Mellmer for the third time this period. The first period was very exciting as hepper made it a 2-2 tie after 1 period, but Mellmer was able to pin Hepper in the second period of the finals bout. Like Hepper, Gumke would face off with a familiar opponent in the finals in Stanley’s Jayden Iverson. Gumke defeated Iverson in the Velva tournament early in the year, but dropped a 1-point match to him in the dual on Thursday night. It was another very tight match in the finals, but Iverson was able to come away with a 6-3 victory. Aside from the three light-weights, the Wolves had a fourth finalist in Austin Garmann at 145 pounds. Garmann started off 3-0 on the day with a pin, technical fall and a decision in his round-robin bracket before reaching the final round against Stanley’s Rhett Wolter, also 3-0 on the day. Scoring came at a premium in this contest. The match remained 0-0 going into the third and final period and remained that way through most of the period as well before Wolter scored two points on a reversal with about 30 seconds remaining. Garmann was able to get away from his opponent to score a 1-point escape, but that would be the only scoring that took place as the bout ended 2-1 in favor of Wolter who is currently ranked fifth in the state.

The Wolves had a handful of other place-winners besides the four finalists as well. Clay Jorgenson lit up the scoreboard with 16-2 and 16-1 wins, going 2-2 at 132 pounds and placing third for the Wolves. At 138 pounds, Kyle Cook also finished third after collecting a win via injury default. 152 pound Sophomore Keegan Thompson finished 3-1 on the day with 2 pins to collect third place honors. Senior Joe Nelson also added two pins to his total on the day on his way to a third place finish. Dakota Neether earned a pin in his final match of the day to lock up fourth place in the tournament while Tyler Krabbenhoft finished fourth as well at 220 pounds. The wolves had a pair of fifth place finishers in Huner Olson at 182 pounds and Coleton Jore who notched a pin and a technical fall at 126 pounds. Jake Rogness and Kye Bolken finished in 6th place at 106B and 285 pounds respectively.

The Wolves will host Hettinger on Thursday night before traveling to New Salem for the East/West tournament on Friday and Saturday.

1. Velva – 182.0

2. Stanley – 151.5

3. Deslacs – 117.5

4. Watford City – 101.5

5. Beulah – 93.5

6. Kildeer – 79.0

7. Dickinson – 34.0

CHAMPIONS:

106- Tyrel Mellmer, Beulah/Hazen

106B- Dakota Garmann, Watford City

113- Jayden Iverson, Stanley/PL/T-R

113B- Tyler Erickson, Beulah Hazen

120- Cole Peterson, DLB

126- Derek Tabor- Killdeer

132- Justin Thomas- DLB

138- Dallas Osborn- Velva

145- Rhett Wolter, S/PL/TR

152- Chandler Meiers, S/PL/TR

160- Raphael Lopez, Dickinson

170- Nathan Schmaltz, Velva

182- Abraham Roehrich, S/PL/TR

195- David Dukart, Killdeer

220- Taylor Barstad, Velva

285- Ben Cullopy, S/PL/TR