By Colin Staab and Keith Harner
The wrestling team hosted the Winona Winhawks and Austin Packers on Thursday night in a triangular at 5:30 p.m. at the Northfield High School. You may notice throughout the article that there are different weight classes. The Minnesota State High School League changed the total number of weights from 14 down to 13 which was implemented this school year.
Northfield started out the evening against Winona where Drew Prybil won the first match of the night 7-3 over Auden Gulbransin at 114 pounds. Keith Harner wrestled next at 133 pounds where he pinned his opponent Josh Miller in 59 seconds. 152 pounder, Jamison Baker fell to Owen Allred 5-3 in a closely contested match. Colin Staab responded with a fall in 3:49 over Brady Lundgren at 172 pounds followed by a 5-0 victory by Owen Murphy in the 189 pound weight class. Eight wrestlers won via forfeit in the first dual of the night including: Caley Graber (107), Charlie Johnson (121), Caden Staab (127), Sam Harner (139), Zane Engels (145), Iah Schwiech (160), Ryan Kuyper (215) and Noah Ackerman (285). The final team score was 66-3.
In the second dual of the night, the Raiders battled Austin. Tenth grader Caley Graber started things off strong with a 18-3 technical fall at 107 pounds. Drew Pribyl received a forfeit followed by a fall for eighth grader Charlie Johnson in 58 seconds for his third varsity win. Caden Staab and Keith Harner received forfeits at 127 and 133 pounds respectively. The Raiders lead 29-0. Fellow eighth grader Sam Harner wrestled a hard fought match at 139 winning with a major decision 8-0 against Ismael Nieto. Zane Engles and Jamison Baker kept the train moving with falls in 2:17 and 5:45. Iah Schwieck lost 5-2 to Antonio Garcia at 160 pounds putting the score 45-3. With three matches to go, Colin Staab and Owen Murphy received forfeits. The match of the evening followed with the seventh ranked wrestler in class AAA, Ryan Kuyper taking on the fifth ranked 215 pounder in class AA. Kuyper trailed 3-1 with 15 seconds left before Kuyper got a last second takedown to send it into overtime tied 3-3. The junior fell to the higher ranked Austin Packer after a takedown in overtime. Noah Ackerman rounded out the triangular with a forfeit as the home team won 63-6.
The wrestling team hosts its annual high school tournament Saturday morning at 10 a.m.. They then travel to New Prague to take on the Trojans and the Forest Lake Rangers.
