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OTC Wrestlers End the Season on a High Note

By Jason Rogers, 02/26/23, 10:30PM CST

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The OTC wrestling team took to the mat on Saturday for the Section 6A wrestling tournament with a trip to the State Tournament on the line.  The Bulldogs competed very well on the day with many of the wrestlers finishing higher than expected.  

Here is a look at what the Bulldogs did on the day.

At 106, 7th grader Lanston Barry came in as the 8 seed and ended up going 0-2 on the day.  At 120, 8th grader Brock Resch was also the 8 seed and went 0-2 on the day.  

At 126, 8th grader Mason Christianson ended up in 4th place.  He had a very competitive match in the first round with Jackson Peasley of Pelican Rapids but ended up losing a close one 9-5.  Christianson had him on his back at one point, and almost secured the pin.  Peasley would go on to secure a birth in the state tournament.

At 132, freshman Tayden Soma ended up in 5th place, defeating Anthony Hernandez of Pelican Rapids by fall in the 5th place match.

At 138, senior Carson Roehl came in as a 5-seed and ended up in 3rd place.  Roehl had a shot at state as he earned a true 2nd match with Deegan Captain of BHVPP.  The two had split a pair of matches earlier in the year, so this was the rubber match.  Captain ended up coming out on top in this match with a first period pin.  Roehl finished the tournament 3-2 on the day.  He had victories over Christian Nathe of Osakis by a score of 8-3, Peyton Forcier of Border West by a score of 11-4 and a decision over Oakley Carlson of Pelican Rapids by a score of 10-6.  

At 145, senior Conner Nelson ended up in 6th place.  Nelson had a very good match in the first round against Brandt Malone of New York Mills.  Malone came out on top in double overtime by a score of 7-6.  Nelson’s last match of the day saw him have a 5-0 lead only to get a very suspect pin called against him.  

At 152, freshman Levi Evavold came in as a 8-seed and ended up in 5th place.  Evavold had to wrestle the 1-seed Kale Drevlow of Osakis in the first round and lost by fall.  He then wrestled Kolby Peters of WCAABE and got a pin of his own.  He then wrestled Patrick Forcier of Border West and lost by fall.  He then ended his day with a pin over Jay Mindermann of New York Mills to secure his 5th place finish.

At 160, Junior Gaiden Hoeper came in a 7-seed and went 0-2 on the day.  At 170, Freshman Xavier Lewis came in as a 6-seed and finished in 6th place.

At 182, Freshman William Schwartz came in as a 5-seed and ended up in 5th place.  Schwartz was able to secure a pin against Mazin Al-Ameri of Osakis in the 5th place match.

At 220, Freshman Josh Larson was able to secure a 5th place finish after securing a pin against Brett Reinke of Wadena-Deer Creek in the 5th place match.

At 285, Junior Kale Rich came into the tournament as the 3-seed and ended up in 3rd.  Rich ended up getting upset in the first round against Zachary Winkle of Osakis.  Rich then wrestled all the way back winning three in a row to earn a true second match.  Rich defeated Jarrett Stetz of Pelican Rapids by fall, then defeated Matthew Weigscheid of Wadena-Deer Creek by fall, and then defeated Grady Roberts of New York Mills by a score of 4-1.  This brought him to meet Braden Shamp of BHVPP for the true second match.  The two had wrestled twice already in the year, both very close matches in favor of Shamp.  This one was no different.  Shamp jumped out to a 4-1 lead before Rich was able to fight his way back to a 5-4 match going into the 3rd period.  After many attempts to secure back points, Rich gave up an escape to make the score 6-4.  Rich went for a throw at the end of the period to try and secure the victory only to come up short and Shamp was able to bring home the victory.  

“I was very pleased with the way the boys wrestled today.  Many of them finished at or higher than what they were seeded to begin the tournament.  We might have come up a little bit short on some personal goals of making it to state, but I truly believe that we exceeded our goals as a team.  We are a very young team and I hope that the success that some of these boys experienced today will translate into a very motivated team for the next few years to come,” stated Coach Jason Rogers.