Alexandria wrestling: Cardinals defeat Willmar on tiebreaker

• Piepenburg

Trent Piepenburg, shown here wrestling in a dual meet earlier this season, earned a victory over his Willmar opponent last Thursday to help the Cardinals defeat their Central Lakes Conference opponent. (Lori Mork, Echo Press)

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With the match tied at 30-30, the Cardinal wrestlers found out just how important every element of each individual match can be, winning the contest with Willmar on the fifth tiebreaking criteria.

“The Cardinals continue to learn how to win matches as a team,” said head coach Tom Ellison. “The final score was tied 30-30, but we were able to bring home the win on the [5th] tie breaking criteria of most six-point wins in the dual.”

Those six-point wins came from pins by Dylan Kriese at 113 pounds over Juan Resendez in 3:40, Mike Schluter at 170 pounds over Vaughn Johnson in 5:51 and Justin Cumberbatch at 220 pounds over Matt Hennes in 0:56.

“I will also mention the wrestlers that lost in the dual as they played a very important role in this win,” said the coach. “They included Blake Olhausen, Jacob Schiltgen, Dustin Neu, Jake Nienbaber, Shawn Nelson and Andrew Moske.

“All of these wrestlers lost their match, but they battled for every point, and by keeping the score close in defeat, were able to prevent Willmar from building up a team score that would be hard to overcome.”

Ben Bogart, Trent Piepenburg, Tristan Johnson and Tony Hubbard also claimed individual victories in the Alexandria win.

 The win was not only a Central Lakes Conference victory, but a win over a Willmar team that received votes in the most recent State Class AAA poll.

“Before the match started, the coaches talked to the team about finishing during their match,” Ellison said. “We wanted the wrestlers to finish strong on each attempt to score, and to finish each period of the match strong.

“The team responded well and pulled out a win against one of the conference favorites.”

The win improved the Cards to 2-1 in Central Lakes Conference action before their match with Rocori last night, Tuesday.

“We lost to Brainerd by 15 earlier in the year,” said Ellison. “Willmar just beat Brainerd by 10 at the end of December.

“We matched up well against Willmar and we knew it was key to keep our losses during the dual to simple decisions, the guys accomplished that and were able to celebrate another conference win.”

Alexandria travels to Fergus Falls tomorrow, Thursday.

ALEXANDRIA 30, WILLMAR 30

(Alexandria wins on criteria No. 5 – most 6-point match wins)

106 – Ben Bogart, Alex, dec Clay Carlson 4-0, 113 – Dylan Kriese, Alex, pinned Juan Resendez 3:40, 120 – Trent Piepenburg, Alex, dec Logan Wolkow 6-0, 126 – Zach Lueders, Wil, dec Blake Olhausen 3-2, 132 – Austin Miley, Wil, dec Jacob Schiltgen 4-2, 138 – Tristan Johnson, Alex, dec Eli Gunderson 11-6, 145 – Tony Hubbard, Alex, dec Estavan Navarro 5-2, 152 – Travis Deagan, Wil, maj dec Dustin Neu 11-2, 160 – Colton Carlson, Wil, tech fall Jake Nienaberg 17-1, 170 – Mike Schluter, Alex, pinned Vaughn Johnson 5:51, 182 – Kory Welgraven, Wil, pinned Andrew Moske 1:51, 195 – Jalen Cabrera, Wil, dec Shawn Nelson, 6-4, 220 – Justin Cumberbatch, Alex, pinned Matt Hennes 0:56, 285 – Cass Herzog, Wil, won by forfeit.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, cardinals, wrestling