Six Bulldog wrestlers place, Bulldogs take third place as a team

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

All six Bulldog wrestlers placed in the top seven as the Otter Tail Central girls wrestling team took third place at the Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie girls wrestling tournament on Saturday. The Bulldogs finished with 69 points to tie Thief River Falls for third, trailing just West Central Area with 84.5 points and Wadena-Deer Creek with 79 points. 

Individually, the Bulldogs were led by Kayetana Lopez-Moen who captured first place in the 130 lbs. bracket and improved to 12-3 on the season. Lopez-Moen earned a tech fall over Lola Hoehne of Frazee at the 1:07 mark of the semi-finals, before defeating Molly Ferguson of Thief River Falls by an injury default in the championship match.

Alyssa Witt improved to 17-15 on the season with a second place finish at 136 lbs. She was able to pick up a pair of pins in the opening two rounds of the tournament over Nora Martell of Thief River Falls and Isabel Cole of Staples-Motley to advance to the championship match. 

In the finals, Witt fell to Addison Hillukka who is 19-2 on the season by a fall in the first period. 

Ava Rousu took third place and improved to 13-11 on the season at 148 lbs. after going 2-2 in the round robin tournament. She picked up falls over Cameron Reyes of Wadena-Deer Creek at the 3:10 mark of their match, before defeating Allie Wevley of Alexandria at the 2:31 mark of the match. She also fell to Natalia Zoller of Thief River Falls and Elora Wagner of BHVVPP by a fall. 

Also placing for the Bulldogs was Ella Rich and Grace Thorpe who both placed fourth, as well as Ella Horn who took seventh place. 

118- 4th place- Round 1 – RaeAnna Gruchow (West Central Area-Ashby-Brandon-Evansville) 14-7 won by fall over Ella Rich (OTC) 11-22 (Fall 1:13); Round 2 – Masyn Arguelles (Crookston) 10-2 won by fall over Ella Rich (OTC) 11-22 (Fall 1:14); Round 3 – Charli Snyder (Wadena-Deer Creek) 4-4 won by fall over Ella Rich (OTC) 11-22 (Fall 1:14)

124- 4th place- Quarterfinal – Grace Thorpe (OTC) 19-14 won by decision over Janaya Albers (Thief River Falls) 18-10 (Dec 15-8); Semifinal – Grace Hamm (Frazee) 20-1 won by tech fall over Grace Thorpe (OTC) 19-14 (TF-1.5 4:16 (17-2)); Cons. Semi – Grace Thorpe (OTC) 19-14 won by fall over Skylar LaRue (West Central Area-Ashby-Brandon-Evansville) 7-12 (Fall 5:28); 3rd Place Match – Kaylee Endres (Wadena-Deer Creek) 17-3 won by tech fall over Grace Thorpe (OTC) 19-14 (TF-1.5 3:20 (18-2))

130- 1st place- Quarterfinal – Kayetana Lopez-Moen (OTC) 12-3 received a bye () (Bye); Semifinal – Kayetana Lopez-Moen (OTC) 12-3 won by fall over Lola Hoehne (Frazee) 9-10 (Fall 1:07); 1st Place Match – Kayetana Lopez-Moen (OTC) 12-3 won by injury default over Molly Ferguson (Thief River Falls) 19-8 (Inj. 2:00)

136- 2nd place- Quarterfinal – Alyssa Witt (OTC) 17-15 won by fall over Nora Martell (Thief River Falls) 6-17 (Fall 1:17); Semifinal – Alyssa Witt (OTC) 17-15 won by fall over Isabel Cole (Staples Motley) 9-8 (Fall 3:12); 1st Place Match – Addison Hillukka (Wadena-Deer Creek) 19-2 won by fall over Alyssa Witt (OTC) 17-15 (Fall 1:41)

136- 7th place- Quarterfinal – Addison Hillukka (Wadena-Deer Creek) 19-2 won by fall over Ella Horn (OTC) 6-21 (Fall 1:26); Cons. Round 1 – Chloe Black (Bertha-Hewitt- Verndale -Parkers Prairie) 7-14 won by fall over Ella Horn (OTC) 6-21 (Fall 1:20); 7th Place Match – Ella Horn (OTC) 6-21 received a bye () (Bye)

148- 3rd place- Round 1 – Natalia Zoller (Thief River Falls) 30-6 won by fall over Ava Rousu (OTC) 13-11 (Fall 1:54); Round 3 – Ava Rousu (OTC) 13-11 won by fall over Cameron Reyes (Wadena-Deer Creek) 0-16 (Fall 3:10); Round 4 – Elora Wagner (Bertha-Hewitt- Verndale -Parkers Prairie) 29-2 won by fall over Ava Rousu (OTC) 13-11 (Fall 1:30); Round 5 – Ava Rousu (OTC) 13-11 won by fall over Allie Wevley (Alexandria Area) 8-13 (Fall 2:31)