“Seth wrestled up to his seed and had a good tournament,” said Cyr. “The athletes that were ahead of him were a two-time defending state champion and the No. 1 rated guy in his weight.”
Jade Waltz wrestled well to reach the semifinals at 120 but did not win another match and finished sixth.
Also placing sixth were Tyler Logan, 132; and Brandon LeBlanc, 138. David Lassahn was seventh at 145, Jacob Staloch seventh at 152.
“Tyler wrestled a total of eight matches,” said Cyr. “He had some really good performances in those matches but ran out of gas a little in his final match. As is the case in a tournament like this, we lost some really close matches that meant the difference between some of our guys finishing in sixth or seventh place rather than getting a shot at the bronze medal. Our team performance was encouraging.”
The previous Thursday, the Panthers hosted Medford in a dual meet and won 40-22.
“It was a very poor performance on our part,” said Cyr. “For the most part we were outwrestled by Medford. The intensity level of our guys was not there. Thankfully, we have guys like Esplan and Petranek who bring their ‘A’ game every night.”
A pleasant surprise for the Panthers was Brad Claycomb, who stepped into the lineup at 160 and earned his first varsity win. Other NRHEG winners: Waltz, 120; Esplan, 126; LeBlanc, 138; Nathan Krohn, 170; Matt Dahle, 182; Petranek, 195; Geoff Ramaker, 220; and Wyatt Fitterer, 285.
The Panthers are off until Dec. 29, when they travel to St. Paul to take on Irondale and Chisago Lakes in a triangular.
