• • Pilot Raceway News

It was an impressive week of wrestling for Jackson County Central, as the Huskies finished fifth at the prestigious Christmas Tournament and then upset third-ranked Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Tuesday night.

The win over the Knights moves JCC to 2-0 on the season.


JCC 40, LCWM 22

A couple of matches that saw top-10 wrestlers square off highlighted the dual as the Huskies beat LCWM 40-22.

Second-ranked Taylor Menke needed a reversal as the final seconds ticked off the clock to beat No. 4 Paul Norgren 4-3 at 140 pounds.

Menke’s thrilling win was followed by another tight match as Jessie Regalado used a late takedown to beat Eric Hood 8-6.

Those two wins came in the middle of a streak in which the Huskies won seven straight matches to take command of the dual.

Kyle Edlin started the night with a pin in just 50 seconds and, after a LCWM win at 112 pounds, Paden Moore earned a 3-0 decision to put the Huskies up 9-4.

The Knights took their only lead of the night at 10-9 with a pin at 125 pounds but the Huskies used their seven straight wins to pick up the win.

No. 1 Bronson Steuber started the streak with a 9-4 decision and No. 6 Darick Vancura followed with a pin in 2:29.

Then came the last-second wins by Menke and Regalado, followed by a 21-10 major decision by top-ranked Tucker Freeman.

No. 2 Cooper Moore then provided more thrills for Husky fans as he beat No. 3 Cody Tibbetts 9-2 to put JCC up 31-10.

Patrick Hanson sealed the win with a pin in 3:08, giving the Huskies a 37-10 lead.

Alex Tewes battled No. 5 Nate Meixell to a 4-4 tie before getting pinned in the third period.

Jordan Phibbs held on to win 7-6 at 215 pounds before the Knights got a win at heavyweight.


JCC fifth at tournament

Freeman knocked off three ranked wrestlers, including two second-ranked wrestlers, as he won the 152 pound title at the Christmas Tournament in Rochester over the weekend.

Also placing for the Huskies were Cooper Moore (second at 160), Steuber (fifth at 130), Vancura (seventh at 135) and Phibbs (eighth at 215).

The Huskies finished tied for fifth place with 132 points, with Apple Valley winning with a score of 265.5 points. AV, the top-ranked team in Class AAA, edged Class AA No. 1 Simley, which finished with 243.

Rounding out the top five were West Fargo, N.D., (157), Bismark, N.D. (154), JCC and Class AA No. 5 Kasson Mantorville (132).

The Huskies finished ahead of eight teams ranked in Class AAA (No. 3 St. Michael-Albertville, No. 2 Hastings, No. 10 Forest Lake, No. 11 Bloomington Kennedy, No. 5 Cambridge-Isanti, No. 6 Albert Lea, No. 7 Coon Rapids and No. 8 Wayzata) and three teams ranked in Class AA (No. 3 Plainview-Elgin-Millville, No. 4 Scott West and No. 7 Totino-Grace).

Freeman opened his tournament with a third-period pin before winning an 8-3 decision over Class AA No. 2 Max Pikonen of Watertown/Mayer Lutheran. Freeman then beat Kyle Begin of Anoka 4-2 and won a major decision against Class AAA No. 8 Chad Zastrow of Rochester Century to advance to the finals. In the finals, Freeman beat Class AAA No. 2 Brandon Haluptzok of RC 9-5.

Cooper Moore won his first two matches at 160 pounds with first-quarter pins before beating Class AAA No. 3 Charlie Janssen of Forest Lake 9-6 to advance to the semifinals, where he pinned West Fargo’s Preston Lehmann in just 20 seconds.

In the finals, Moore was pinned by Class AAA No. 2 Steven Keogh of Apple Valley with just 15 seconds left in the match.

Steuber won by fall in his first two matches at 130 pounds and then knocked off Class AAA No. 6 Dalton Westerlun of Albert Lea 7-2. Steuber then lost an 8-1 decision to eventual champion Class AAA No. 1 Ben Morgan of Forest Lake.

Steuber lost a 6-4 overtime decision to Class AA No. 3 Jake Short of Simley but rebounded to beat Westerlun 3-1 to finish fifth.

Vancura used a 7-5 decision and 11-2 major decision to advance to the 135 pound quarterfinals, where he lost a 5-0 decision to Class AA No. 2 Mason Young of Henry Sibley. In the wrestebacks, Vancura beat Class AAA No. 10 Hieu Kovar of Champlin Park 8-4 before losing to Class AAA No. 4 Cory Hansen. Vancura rebounded with a pin of Class AAA No. 6 Jeff Engstrom of Hastings to finish seventh.

Phibbs opened the 215 pound bracket with a pin and won via disqualification before losing to eventual champion Scott Schiller of West Fargo in the quarterfinals. Phibbs then won via pin in the wrestlebacks before losing to Class AAA No. 5 Luke Schmidt of Apple Valley. Phibbs also lost to Class AAA No. 10 Jeremy Hill of Mounds View to finish eighth.

Menke and Regalado both won three matches but did not place.

Menke opened the 140 pound bracket with a loss to Anoka’s Zac Threadgill, ranked No. 4 at 145 pounds in Class AAA. He then pinned three straight opponents before losing a 3-1 overtime decision to Class AAA No. 4 Colten Lachance of Hastings.

Regalado won his first three matches at 145 pounds, including two by fall, before losing to Class AA No. 7 Nick Wanzek of Simley to drop into wrestlebacks. Regalado then lost a 6-0 decision to Class AAA No. 6 Nate Brunner of Apple Valley to finish the tournament 3-2.

Anthony Michelson (112 pounds), Paden Moore (119), Riggle (125), Hanson (171), Tewes (189) and Garrett Ramstad (heavyweight) all went 1-2 in the tournament.

One of Michelson’s losses came against Class AA No. 5 Tony Morrow of Kasson-Mantorville. Paden Moore lost to Class AA No. 9 Jon Ebert of Totino-Grace and Riggle got beat by Class AA No. 1 Drew Fleming.

Michelson, Riggle and Hanson each had a pin for their only win.

Edlin went 0-2 in the tournament, with one of his losses coming to Class AA No. 2 Dylan Siem of PEM.

Overall, head coach Randy Baker was pleased with the way the Huskies wrestled, but saw some areas of improvement.

“As a team, we wrestled well at the Christmas Tournament,” he said. “We had some great performances and at the same time, we lost some matches we should have, or could have, won.”

Baker said his troops need to continue to work hard and although the Huskies “have a long way to go and lots of hard work to do to be a great team,” he thinks they can get there.

“We are coming together,” he said. “The kids are working hard and we have some very talented wrestlers. It is kind of like a race now to get better and prepare for the end by getting better than our opponents faster.”


Up next

The Huskies will wrestle in the Rumble on the Red in Fargo, N.D., starting next Wednesday.