Section wrestling runners-up to join Petsinger at Xcel Energy Center
By JIM LUTGENS
Sports Editor
NRHEG High School will be well represented in this year's state wrestling tournament.
Junior Annabelle Petsinger, who earlier qualified for the girls' state tourney, will be joined at the Xcel Energy Center by the Panthers' Reese Routh and Makota Misgen, who both finished second in the Section 2A individual tournament at Maple River Saturday, Feb. 25. They were among nine Panther placewinners.
"It is hard to believe we have already wrestled in the section tournament," said NRHEG coach Shawn Larson. "We had a good showing at sections. I think the biggest demonstration of how we wrestled is shown in the fact that we wrestled at or above our seed in every weight class that we competed in. We are extremely happy and proud to add two more wrestlers to qualify for the state tournament."
Routh, a 152-pound junior, pinned his way to the semifinals, which Larson said all but solidified his state tournament berth.
Misgen, a senior, had two falls on his way to the finals, where he lost a controversial 3-2 overtime decision to WEM/JWP's Keegan Kuball.
"Makota lost in the ultimate tiebreaker overtime on a controversial rideout," said Larson. "The call made by the officials was a difficult call, and it did not go our way. Makota handled the situation well, which speaks volumes about his character."
The Panthers had two wrestlers finish third and miss the state tournament by one place, eighth-grader Ryan Schlaak at 145 and sophomore Harbor Cromwell at 160.
Freshman Deven Parpart finished fourth at 132. Fifth-place finishers
were freshman Jacob Karl, 105; sophomore Aiden Schlaak, 138; and sophomore Cole Hutchens, 195. Another sophomore, Jace Ihrke, took sixth at 220.
Petsinger and Misgen are repeat qualifiers for the state tournament, set for March 2-4.
"I know that Annabelle, Reese, and Makota are all looking forward to the opportunity to representing our communities and our school at the MSHSL state tournament," said Larson.
Routh and Misgen will compete Friday, March 3, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Wrestling starts for class A at about 1 p.m. The girls do not wrestle until Saturday at 9 a.m.
Individual section results:
• 106 Murphy, Brady (WEMJWP) def. Karl, Jacob (NRHEG) {Fall 1:09}; Hodge, Kevin (Westfield) def. Karl {Decision 32}; Karl def. Nagel, Timmy (Blue Earth Area) {Fall 2:11}; Karl def. Sheppard, Blake (Saint ClairMankato Loyola) {Maj Dec 14-0}
• 126 Bunn, Parker (NRHEG) def. Williams, Aric (WEM-JWP) {Fall 2:57}; Gimenez, Griffin (Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area) def. Bunn {Fall 2:07}; Davila, Noel (Madelia-Truman) def. Bunn {Fall 0:25}
• 132 Zwiener, Bo (Westfield) def. Parpart, Deven (NRHEG) {Fall 1:50}; Parpart def. Hulsing, Jaxon (WEM-JWP) {Maj Dec 15-1}; Martinez, Angel (Blue Earth Area) def. Parpart {Maj Dec 18-4}; Parpart def. Bullerman, Kolt (Maple River-USC) {Fall 4:48}
• 138 Schlaak, Aidan (NRHEG) def. Erler, Kelton (WEM-JWP) {Maj Dec 11-2}; Schlaak def. Steele, Kael (Westfield) {Fall 1:27}; Peterson, Cooper (Blue Earth Area) def. Schlaak {Decision 9-2}; Simon, Braxton (Maple River-USC) def. Schlaak {Maj Dec 12-0}
• 145 Schlaak, Ryan (NRHEG) def. Bollmann, Garrett (Maple River-USC) {Decision 5-0}; Christianson, Cade (Westfield) def. Schlaak {Maj Dec 9-1}; Schlaak def. Morsching, Lucas (WEM-JWP) {Decision 4-0}; Schlaak def. Osborne, Talan (Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area) {Decision 9-6}
• 152 Hoffman, Garron (Medford) def. Routh, Reese (NRHEG) {Fall 0:51}; Routh def. Sodeman, Noah (Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area) {Fall 1:13}; Routh (New
Richland-H-E-G) def. Bade, Chase (Saint Clair-Mankato Loyola) {Fall 3:27}
• 160 Cromwell, Harbor (NRHEG) def. Northquest, Austin (LCWM Area) {Fall 3:29}; Getchell, Byron (Maple River-USC) def. Cromwell {Fall 2:08}; Cromwell def. Neumann, Kael (Medford) {Fall 3:39}; Cromwell def. Quast, Isaac (WEM-JWP) {Decision 7-0}; Gaydon, Kade (Blue Earth Area) def. Cromwell {Maj Dec 13-0}
• 195 Bronson, Ty (Westfield) def. Hutchens, Cole (NRHEG) {Fall 2:04}; Fall, Avery (WEM-JWP) def. Hutchens {Fall 4:08} • 220 Adams, Mason (Saint ClairMankato Loyola) def. Ihrke, Jace (NRHEG) {Fall 0:55}; Cahill, Jack (WEM-JWP) def. Ihrke {Fall 1:13}; Johnson, Brody (Westfield) def. Ihrke {Fall 7:41}
• 285 Misgen, Makota (NRHEG) def. Arndt, Wyatt (Westfield) {Fall 0:23} Misgen def. Degrood, Mason (Medford) {Fall 1:29}; 285 Kuball, Keegan (WEM-JWP) def. Misgen {Decision 3-2}