Lopez-Moen, Rich place second at Defender Invite
Sports | Published on December 5, 2023 at 3:58pm EST | Author: henningmaster
0The wrestling season is in full swing as the Otter Tail Central Bulldogs just completed their first couple weeks of practice and competition.
The wrestling room is a bit more full than previous years as there are around 40 boys/girls out for wrestling. The team is looking competitive with returning seniors Kale Rich and Gaiden Hoeper, as well as other returning varsity members Tayden Soma, Mason Christanson and Will Schwartz. With such a young team, there’s always room for growth.
The Bulldogs’ first competition was a triangular against the defending Section 6A champions West Central Area Knights and Pelican Rapids Vikings. OTC wrestled tough against WCA with a young squad, but fell short 69-6 with Mason Christanson getting a pin at 145.
The Bulldogs turned around and wrestled Pelican Rapids closer but also fell short 45-27. With a couple key wins from Mason Christanson and Levi Evavold midway through the match Pelican Rapids’ next few weights pushed them towards the win. Kale Rich capped off the dual with a quick 14 second pin.
West Central Area-Ashby-Brandon-Evansville 69 OTC 6
107- Nathan Brethorst (WCAA) over Charlie Bertrand (OTC) (Fall 3:12)
114- Brody Brunkow (WCAA) over Houston Schwartz (OTC) (Fall 1:18)
121- Evan Dingwall (WCAA) over Julien Umlauf (OTC) (Fall 2:44)
127- Tucker McGee (WCAA) over Dylan Geihsler (OTC) (Fall 1:04)
133- Owen Gruchow (WCAA) over Keaston Thorpe (OTC) (Fall 0:23)
139- Colton Braun-Koplin (WCAA) over Peter Newark (OTC) (Fall 3:43)
145- Mason Christianson (OTC) over Carter Lohse (WCAA) (Fall 4:25)
152- Adam Lohse (WCAA) over Tayden Soma (OTC) (Fall 1:03)
160- Solomon Wales (WCAA) over Levi Evavold (OTC) (Fall 0:13)
172- Ezekiel Sieckert (WCAA) over Gaiden Hoeper (OTC) (Fall 2:02)
189- Jeremy Blascyk (WCAA) over Landon Leitch (OTC) (Fall 0:58)
215- Freddi Munoz (WCAA) over Will Schwartz (OTC) (Dec 5-3)
285- Will Rustan (WCAA) over Kale Rich (OTC) (Fall 2:17)
Friday
On Friday the Bulldogs team went up to the Defender Invitational in Melrose for the first time in team history. This tournament had a boys and girls varsity as well as a JV portion.
OTC had a few placers in this tournament including Kayetana Lopez- Moen, Kale Rich and Levi Evavold. Lopez- Moenwas OTC’s first girl to make a finals appearance in team history. She took second place alongside senior captain Kale Rich.
Rich had a great tournament by pinning his way to the finals. He lost his first place match 3-1 in the final seconds of the match.
Levi Evavold battled his way back through the losers side of the bracket to put himself into the third place match. He upset an opponent he lost to earlier in the tournament to claim third place to cap off the tournament.
Overall all of the wrestlers had a great day with lots of close matches and lots of learning.
This week the Bulldogs will travel to Parkers Prairie for a triangular against BHVPP and UNC, as well as Wadena-Deer Creek for a dual against the Wolverines, and back to West Central Area for the Grant County Invitational.
Defender Invitational
107- Champ. Round 1 – Charlie Bertrand (OTC) 1-3 received a bye () (Bye), Quarterfinal – Blake Fischer (Osakis) 2-1 won by fall over Charlie Bertrand (OTC) 1-3 (Fall 4:49), Cons. Round 2 – Charlie Bertrand (OTC) 1-3 received a bye () (Bye), Cons. Round 3 – Brock Manderschied (Alexandria Area) 2-3 won by fall over Charlie Bertrand (OTC) 1-3 (Fall 2:07)
121- Champ. Round 1 – Logan Timm (Alexandria Area) 4-0 won by fall over Julian Umlauf (OTC) 0-2 (Fall 1:58), Cons. Round 1 – Julian Umlauf (OTC) 0-2 received a bye () (Bye), Cons. Round 2 – Damien Kazmierczak (Thief River Falls) 2-3 won by fall over Julian Umlauf (OTC) 0-2 (Fall 4:13)
139- Champ. Round 1 – Simon Jacobson (Osakis) 2-2 won by fall over Anthony Rousu (OTC) 0-2 (Fall 3:10), Cons. Round 1 – Anthony Rousu (OTC) 0-2 received a bye () (Bye), Cons. Round 2 – Blake Iverson (Albany) 2-2 won by fall over Anthony Rousu (OTC) 0-2 (Fall 4:14)
145- Champ. Round 1 – Mason Christianson (OTC) 3-2 won by decision over Rylan Pallow (Sauk Centre-Melrose) 0-2 (Dec 7-0), Quarterfinal – Preston Welling (Paynesville Area) 3-2 won by fall over Mason Christianson (OTC) 3-2 (Fall 1:55), Cons. Round 2 – Ryder Schmidt (Eden Valley-Watkins) 2-2 won by decision over Mason Christianson (OTC) 3-2 (Dec 3-1)
152- Champ. Round 1 – Owen Dvorak (Thief River Falls) 1-2 won in sudden victory – 1 over Tayden Soma (OTC) 1-3 (SV-1 12-10), Cons. Round 1 – Mitchel Blonigen (Paynesville Area) 1-2 won by fall over Tayden Soma (OTC) 1-3 (Fall 3:39)
160- Champ. Round 1 – Levi Evavold (OTC) 4-2 received a bye () (Bye), Quarterfinal – Carter Scheeler (Eden Valley-Watkins) 2-2 won by decision over Levi Evavold (OTC) 4-2 (Dec 8-6), Cons. Round 2 – Levi Evavold (OTC) 4-2 received a bye () (Bye), Cons. Round 3 – Levi Evavold (OTC) 4-2 won by fall over Trent Eastman (Ortonville) 1-2 (Fall 4:16), Cons. Semi – Levi Evavold (OTC) 4-2 won by fall over Henry Cronin (Robbinsdale Armstrong) 1-3 (Fall 2:16), 3rd Place Match – Levi Evavold (OTC) 4-2 won by decision over Carter Scheeler (Eden Valley-Watkins) 2-2 (Dec 10-5)
189- Champ. Round 1 – Riley Poissant (Thief River Falls) 1-2 won by fall over Will Schwartz (OTC) 0-4 (Fall 1:14), Cons. Round 1 – Will Schwartz (OTC) 0-4 received a bye () (Bye), Cons. Round 2 – Pablo Garcia (Alexandria Area) 2-2 won by fall over Will Schwartz (OTC) 0-4 (Fall 2:59)
285- Champ. Round 1 – Kale Rich (OTC) 3-2 received a bye () (Bye), Quarterfinal – Kale Rich (OTC) 3-2 won by decision over Kevin Raya Botello (Paynesville Area) 4-2 (Dec 10-3), Semifinal – Kale Rich (OTC) 3-2 won by fall over Isaac Frericks (Sauk Centre-Melrose) 4-1 (Fall 3:26), 1st Place Match – Harley Weber (Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa) 3-0 won by decision over Kale Rich (OTC) 3-2 (Dec 3-1)
Girls tournament
130A- Quarterfinal – Kayla Maegi (Mora) 2-2 won by fall over Ella Rich (OTC) 0-3 (Fall 4:18), Cons. Round 1 – Taya Gysberg (Sauk Centre-Melrose) 1-3 won by fall over Ella Rich (OTC) 0-3 (Fall 2:57)
136A- Quarterfinal – Kayetana Lopez-Moen (OTC) 2-1 won by injury default over Ava Long (Milaca-Faith Christian) 0-2 (Inj. 0:42), Semifinal – Kayetana Lopez-Moen (OTC) 2-1 won by fall over Kajsa Schwendeman (Mora) 3-1 (Fall 0:13), 1st Place Match – Maddie Poissant (Thief River Falls) 3-0 won by fall over Kayetana Lopez-Moen (OTC) 2-1 (Fall 4:24)
136A- Quarterfinal – Maddie Poissant (Thief River Falls) 3-0 won by fall over Jolene Fosee (OTC) 0-3 (Fall 1:33), Cons. Round 1 – Favour Kulu (Sartell-Saint Stephen) 1-3 won by fall over Jolene Fosee (OTC) 0-3 (Fall 1:41)
142A- Champ. Round 1 – Alyssa Witt (OTC) 1-2 received a bye () (Bye), Quarterfinal – Bethany Larson (Thief River Falls) 1-3 won by fall over Alyssa Witt (OTC) 1-2 (Fall 3:47), Cons. Round 2 – Alyssa Witt (OTC) 1-2 received a bye () (Bye), Cons. Round 3 – Payton Helmin (Milaca-Faith Christian) 4-1 won by fall over Alyssa Witt (OTC) 1-2 (Fall 0:55)
148A- Round 2 – Kalli Schrimers (Sauk Centre-Melrose) 4-0 won by fall over Ava Rousu (OTC) 3-2 (Fall 4:48), Round 3 – Ava Rousu (OTC) 3-2 won by fall over Carlie Casavan (Thief River Falls) 1-3 (Fall 5:41), Round 4 – Justice Cantrell (Milaca-Faith Christian) 3-1 won by fall over Ava Rousu (OTC) 3-2 (Fall 1:17), Round 5 – Ava Rousu (OTC) 3-2 won by forfeit over Joan Kennedy (Monticello) 0-4 (For.)