Andy Bernard earns 100th career victory for Eagles

By ANDY ROGERS

Journal Sports Editor

WABASSO -- It's not every day a wrestler gets his 100th career win.

And it just so happened two reached the mark Saturday afternoon at the Wabasso Quadrangular. Wabasso's Brandon Irlbeck and Andy Bernard each notched 100 career wins within an hour of each other.

New Ulm's Andy Bernard pinned David Erickson of Windom/Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin 1:13 into the match.

Bernard didn't even know it was coming. He said he wasn't keeping track.

"He was very unaware of it, and that's the kind of guy he really is," New Ulm High coach Dar Arndt said.

Bernard didn't know how close he was.

"I thought I was at 98. I'm not too big on wins or anything," Bernard said.

Winning was in the cards Saturday as Bernard went undefeated against Wabasso, W/ML/BO and Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.

"There wasn't much of a challenge all day," Bernard said. "I thought I'd get to wrestle (Steven Wood of Wabasso). He's supposed to be pretty good. But he wrestled in the (heavyweights)."

But this isn't the only goal Bernard has for the year.

"It ain't done yet, we got conference, we got sections and we got state. And hopefully I'm going to win all of them," Bernard said.

So what's Bernard's secret?

"He's got a pin hold that's a double-wrist ride, which is a wrist and a half-nelson. And Andy is so strong in the upperbody -- if he gets that on you, there's very few people who can stop it," Arndt said.

"And he's relentless, he'll ride that guy and keep grinding him right into the mat until he succumbs to it. We've seen him before, even when he's behind, he'll come back to win it with that hold."

Arndt said it's tough to win that many matches in Class 3A.

"You see one here and there now and then," Arndt said. "I think there's only like eight people in New Ulm history to get the record.

"This is a pretty rare thing. It's equal of a basketball player getting a 1,000 points."

Bernard is in his sixth year wrestling for the New Ulm High varsity.

"It's absolute outstanding to be able to coach a kid like this for this many years," Arndt said.

As a seventh-grader, the current Eagles' co-captain lost in his only varsity match. It wasn't a story-book start to Bernard's journey to 100 wins. The next season, Bernard wrestled at 152 pounds and 160 pounds.

"He's been through the school of hard knocks," Arndt said. "He was in the fire -- right on. And that's been the story of his life."

He went 7-8 at the varsity level as an eighth-grader and recorded the first six of his 63 career varsity pins -- just two shy of Gus Martens' NUHS career mark of 65.

"(Bernard) is chasing that pretty hard," Arndt said.

He's also going for the single season pin record, which is 23. Bernard is at 15, with plently of the season left.

Bernard went 19-18 as a freshman wrestling at 160 pounds. As a sophomore, Bernard moved up to 171 pounds and went 28-8.

Last season Bernard was 30-7 with 19 pins, won his second Section 2-3A individual title and finished his season as a qualifier at the Class 3A state individual tournament. The list of honors and accomplishments is long. In addition to nearing Martens' career pin mark, Bernard will also likely break the New Ulm High season pin record.

Bernard is a five-year lettermen for the Eagles, a three-time All-South Central Conference selection and was named the conference's outstanding wrestler for the 2000-2001 season. Bernard was third in the running his sophomore season.

Wabasso's Brandon Irlbeck also joined the career 100-win club Saturday. The Rabbit 145-pounder stuck Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's Paul Carlson in 1:05. And unlike Bernard, he knew and he was nervous leading up to the event.

"The nerves kind of get to these guys," Wabasso head coach Gary Hindt said. "And that's why you hope it's not a real key match.

"Now he can get back to the task at hand."

Hindt said his feet and pinning ability got him the 100-win mark. He's been to state competition before and his goal is to return.

"Get back to state; that's what he's got left," Hindt said.