Rumble Results
ByCoon Rapids Wrestling “All Metro” Team consists of wrestlers with 12 wins or more- look for their names in this weeks news paper- I believe the Thursday addition of the Pioneer Press.
103lbs Cooper Anderson 12-4
119lbs Luke Stocker 12-5
130lbs Kahron Nix 13-4
140lbs Chad Mack 19-2 Chad Mack gained his 100th career victory this past weekend- congratulations Chad!
Thursday, Jan 7th we will be at Elk River for a dual between the Varsity and JV- JV at 6:00pm Varsity 7:00pm
Saturday, Jan 9th the 9th grade Team Tournament is at Eastview four dual meets – weigh-ins after practice Friday
The Coon Rapids Cardinals Wrestling team placed 16th out of 58 teams in Fargo N.D. in the annual Rumble on the Red tournament. The Cards placed two wrestlers in the finals of this elite tournament with Chad Mack and Kahron Nix both taking home a second place finish. On the JV side of the tournament Zach Lindberg and Jacob Fladland both placed third while Darren Gagne pulled off a huge upset in the varsity tournament.
Kahron Nix entered the tournament at 130lbs. with a record of 11-3 and was seeded third in the tournament. Nix rattled off four consecutive wins including a tech fall, a major and two decisions. Nix looked great on his feet in his march to the finals, scoring at will with a barrage of takedowns. In the semi-finals, match Nix won a hard fought 3-2 victory to propel himself into the finals against an ole nemesis from Forest Lake in Ben Morgan. Morgan and Nix tangled in the finals of the section 7AAA tournament last season with Morgan winning a close match 3-2. In this championship match the result was the same with Morgan coming out on top 7-3 to remain undefeated at 20-0. Kahron wasn’t happy with a second place finish and this loss will hopefully inspire him to work even harder the remainder of the season. Keep in mind Nix was at 125lbs earlier this season so wrestling up in weight will only make him better facing stronger competition.
Mack entered the tournament at 140lbs with a 14-1 record and was seeded fourth. Mack won five consecutive matches to get to the finals, two by fall, a decision and a major. In the semi-final match Mack scored a third period fall over Hatlestad 16-2, from New London. Hatlestad upset the number one seed in overtime in the quarterfinals. Mack held a tenuous i-o lead entering the third period when Hatlestad chose down. Mack slapped on the legs and forced Hatlestad to his back with the splits scoring a fall to propel himself into the finals. In the finals, Mack faced 23-0 and the number 3 seeded Ryan Arne. Mack controlled the action throughout the match and again held a 1-0 lead entering the third period. Mack again slapped in the legs and rode his opponent very hard. It looked like Mack was going to ride his opponent out and win the tournament with a 1-0 victory, however, with about 15 seconds left in the match, Mack riding legs, inadvertently slipped off giving up a two-point reversal to lose the match. Mack wrestled a great tournament and came away with a second place finish at a very tough weight class.
Kudos to Darren Gagne, who also had one fantastic tournament although he didn’t place. Gagne came into the tournament unseeded and would have placed in the top eight in the tournament had he been able to win one more match. In the sport of wrestling, luck of the draw sometimes comes into play and who you draw in the opening rounds can have a significant impact on how you finish. Gagne drew Steffenhagen 14-4 from Elk River (ironically these two may face each other this Thursday night again in a rematch) who defeated him last season. Gagne wrestled a great match and defeated his conference foe 2-0. Gagne’s win gave him the opportunity to wrestle the #2 rated wrestler in Minnesota in Lodges from Minneapolis. Gagne scored a first period take down and shut down Lodges the rest of the match. With a 4-2 lead late in the third period Lodges, in desperation tried to throw Gagne, however, Gagne countered catching the #2 Lodges on his back and pinning him with just :01 second left on the clock. Gagne’s prize for that victory? The #1 rated wrestler in Minnesota in Cody Paulsen (19-1). Just as he did earlier Gagne wrestled Paulsen very tough and was losing 5-2 late in the third period when Gagne threw a nasty headlock with Paulsen flat on his back on the edge of the mat. Unfortunately, the referee called them out of bounds and no points were awarded. Many onlookers, including the referee who was about to take his turn on the mat felt the wrestlers were in bounds. Gagne lost his next match in the wrestle backs and was eliminated from the tournament. It’s still early in the season and Gagne has already avenged three losses to kids he lost to last year showing that he is steadily improving and showing flashes of what is expected of him.
In the JV tournament the Cardinals had two wrestlers stand out. Keep in mind that because this is such a competitive tournament some coaches will put their varsity wrestlers in the JV tournament. Jacob Fladland 285lbs placed third and Zac Lindberg placed 103lbs both placed 4th in a 64 man bracket that was nearly full. Placing in the JV tournament is quite an accomplishment so congrats to both Zac and Jacob!
