Rich takes second in first ever finals appearance

The Otter Tail Central wrestling team competed at the Grant County Invitational on Dec. 11.  Even though the Bulldogs only had eight wrestlers in the varsity tournament, they were still able to finish in ninth place out of 11 teams.  

The Bulldogs were led by seniors Jaxon Rich, Brien Poser and Logan Schleske.  

Jaxon Rich was able to reach his first ever finals by getting two pins in the quarter finals and semifinals.  Although he came up a little short in the finals and finished in second place at 160 pounds.  

Brien Poser was probably in the toughest bracket of the tournament at 138 pounds. It included two former state runner-ups and two other wrestlers that entered the tournament undefeated. Poser was able to avenge his only loss on the year by defeating Solomon Wales in the first round 8-1.  He then ran into last year’s Class AA runner up Davin Rose from MAHACA and lost by tech fall.  

This sent Poser to the consolation bracket, where he was able to win his last two matches of the day and finished in third place.  

Logan Schleske also had a very tough bracket, but he was able to go 3-2 on the day and finished in fifth place at 152 pounds.  

Other place winners for the Bulldogs included Kale Rich in fifth at 220 pounds, Tommy Ehlert in sixth at 145 pounds and Tayden Soma in sixth at 113 pounds.  

“All these boys wrestled really tough today.  I liked what I saw on the mat. Tommy had a match where he was losing 11-4 and was able to get a nice throw and pin his opponent.  Tayden was also in a match in which he was losing 14-1 going into the 3rd period and ended up losing 15-13.  Their will to never give up was very evident today.  That is what is great about this sport, you can be losing pretty bad and still have a chance to win,” said coach Jason Rogers.