Wrestlers take part in St. Croix Falls tourney
Members of the Abbotsford-Colby wrestling team participated in a tournament held in St. Croix Falls this past Saturday, where they took on athletes from 21 other schools. Short on wrestlers for the event, having six athletes for the varsity boys tournament and one for the girls tournament, the co-op took 17th out of the 22 teams, scoring 27.5 team points. Two teams from Minnesota took the top two spots, with Stillwater finishing first with 227.0 points and Princeton claiming second with 191.5 points. The hosts rounded out the top three, ending the day with 175.0 points.
MaKenna Herrmann had the top placement for the co-op at Saturday’s tournament, taking third in the 120-pound girls’ division. Herrmann went 2-1 in her bracket to get to the podium. The sophomore started off her day with a pin of Brynn Powell from St. Michael-Albertville, taking down her opponent at the 3:30 mark. She then suffered a loss to Paige Haaf of St. Croix Falls, forcing her into the third place match. Facing off against Kamyah Hall from Hopkins, Herrmann pinned her opponent in the third period, claiming third place in her weight class.
The co-op also had two sixth place finishes. Tristan Smazal went 3-2 in the 120-pound boys division and Jacob Hoppe also went 3-2 in the 160-pound weight class.
Smazal started bracket play with an 8-6 decision victory over Talon Berg from Osceola. The freshman was then pitted against the number one overall seed in his bracket, Kanye Johnson from Cameron. Johnson pinned Smazal in the second period, forcing him into the consolation bracket. Smazal then reeled off two consecutive victories, pinning Noah Evenson of Boyceville at the 3:54 mark and taking the 5-4 decision over Stillwater’s Joe Dauffenbach. He couldn’t quite get his fourth win of the day in his final match, losing a 5-1 decision to Austin Herbst of Totino Grace.
Meanwhile, Hoppe captured a first round victory over Clayton Cecka from the Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Praire Farm co-op, pinning him at the 4:55 mark. He then was forced into the consolation bracket after losing a major decision to Osceola’s Addison Uddin. After being relegated, the sophomore had to fight A-C
through two more matches in order to reach the fifthplace match. He won both by fall, first defeating St. Croix Falls’ Chase Lessard and then following it up by pinning Turtle Lake’s Brandon Wright. Hoppe did not face off against Stillwater’s Isaac Hunter in the fifth place match, with it ending in a double forfeit.
Luis Nava Rojas also placed for the co-op, taking eighth after going 1-3 in wrestled matches in the 285-pound bracket. After receiving a first round bye, Nava Rojas was relegated to the consolation bracket following a close 3-2 decision loss to Andrew Olson of Stillwater. He then defeated Moses Ochoa of North Branch in a 2-0 decision before taking his second loss of the day after being pinned by Owen Swedberg of Totino Grace. He then unfortunately could not wrestle the final match of the day, giving it to Turtle Lake’s Caleb Findley by medical forfeit.
The team will be traveling to Thorp to take on Owen-Withee, Stanley-Boyd and Thorp this Thursday. The event is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
