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Tiger wrestlers lose one at home; take fourth in Hinckley TournamentBy Barbara Brown The Rush City wrestling squad faced some of their toughest competition of the season Jan. 10 when Aitkin came to town and trounced the Tigers 69-3. ìAitkin is the strongest team in the conference,î said head coach Kevin Jensen. Eleven of Aitkinís 13 wrestlers are juniors and seniors and that experience helped them win against the Tigers, Jensen said. ìExperience plus poor match-ups put us in a difficult situation for the dual meet,î Jensen said. Senior grappler Garett Sowman scored the only points for the team when he won a decision in the 130 class against Matt Finlayson. Sowman reversed out of Finlaysonís take-down in the first period, but he couldnít hold on until the buzzer and Finlayson reversed back. The second period started with Sowman in the down position. He quickly escaped from Finlayson and turned to take him down for two. Sowman nearly had Finlayson pinned, and earned two back points for the effort, but Finlayson wiggled out of it. Finlayson reversed on Sowman, earning two, but Sowman quickly returned the favor and reversed back on Finlayson. Richard Marohn, 103, held on until the second period when he was pinned in 3:06. The Tigers gave up a forfeit for the 112 weight class. Sam Umbreit, 145, lost 3-4 in his bout and Mike Wuorinen, 160, also lost 20-6 in a match where he earned all his points through escapes. Robert Lined, 171, was pinned at :54, the 189 class was a forfeit and Sean Linn was pinned in the first period. The team also traveled to the Hinckley Tournament Jan. 12 and Jensen went into the all-day event with hopes that the Tigers would pull out a placement in the top three teams. ìOur kids wrestled pretty well throughout the day,î Jensen said. ìWe had a lot of fun seeing a few different schools that we havenít wrestled this year.î Sowman again gave the team some strength during the tournament as he was one of two wrestlers who took first in their weight classes. Sowman won a decision in his match against Nathan Britz of Pierz. Mike Wuorinen also snagged the first place spot in the 152 class when he pinned Dustin Eiffel of Pine City. Other results from the Hinckley Tournament were: Tim Allerton, 112, took second when he lost the decision match 12-6 against Joe Hyatt of Pierz; Sam Umbreit, 140, also took second after he was pinned by Craig Lubberts of Pierz. Richard Marohn, 103 was fourth when he lost a decision 11-3 against Greg Tambornino of Trinity. Brandon Hochstatter, 135, also was fourth after loosing an overtime decision 5-3 against Matt Rowen of St. Cloud. Tim Morris, 145 snagged fourth after losing a decision 14-7 against Zach Sollinger of Pierz. Adam Morris, 125, was fifth after he pinned Thane Taylor from St. Cloud. Robert Lind, 171 also secured fifth when he pinned Carl Heller of Pine City. Sean Linn, 275 took sixth after he suffered a pin by Steve Wieczorek of Hinckley. ©ECM Post Review |