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Feb. 13, 2000
6 Eagles claim championships at SCC tourneyBy PAUL DUNLAP Journal Sports Editor NEW ULM -- Repeat. The New Ulm Eagles won its second straight South Central Conference tournament championship Saturday, amassing six class champions on its way to 232 total points at NUHS gym. St. James was second at 212 points, and Blue Earth Area took third at 205. Waseca (153) was fourth, followed by St. Peter (87), United South Central (71), and Fairmont (26). "It (title) kind of gives us a little revenge on (SCC season winner) St. James," Eagle coach Dar Arndt said. "A lot of people don't know that we were without (130-pound Shane) Gulden in the match, plus we had to wrestle up a weight and didn't match up well against a good Saints team. We would have liked to have been outright champs, but this is nice, too." The Eagles flew their way through the opening rounds, sending a total of nine wrestlers into their respective championships. Josh Luneburg, at 112 pounds, was the first New Ulm wrestler to take his class title as he outlasted Waseca's Mike Folie in a 3-2 decision. Luneburg, who had a bye in the first round, pinned BEA's Blake Murphy (:55) in the semifinals. "Luneburg looked awful solid again," Arndt commented. "He's got (Folie's) number a little bit I think, because he always seems to pull out (the win)." One title that many New Ulm fans expected was at 125 pounds as top-ranked Peter Zangl faced USC freshman Mike Niebuhr. Niebuhr kept away throughout the whole match before catching Zangl off-balance and garnering a surprising 6-1 overtime win. Zangl had pinned St. Peter's Tim Sinclair (2:53) and St. James' Eric Hiermeier (5:21) up to that point. "I just didn't think we got the stalling calls we should have gotten," Arndt said of Zangl's loss. "They finally warned (Niebuhr), but we chased him around for six minutes before finally just losing it." Zangl was the second runner-up of the day to that point for the Eagles as 119-pounder Nate Gieseke won two matches before falling to BEA's Jeff Pfaffinger in the championship on a technical fall at 4:49. "Of course, (Pfaffinger) is the defending state champion, and he's pretty slick," Arndt said. "Nate had a really good tournament for us." Shane Gulden would give New Ulm its second title at 130 pounds, winning twice by technical fall before literally holding off St. James' Dustin Kulseth 11-10 in the finals. Gulden avoided a pinfall as time expired. "Shane's awful steady," Arndt said. "He's wrestled (Kulseth) before so I wasn't really too worried, but it was a good match right down to the end." Perhaps the biggest grudge match of the night was for the 140-pound title as New Ulm's Eric Miller faced St. James' Danon Anderson with the team title still hanging in the balance. The match was tied 3-3 after numerous Anderson blood delays before an escape and key takedown with :07 left gave Miller a 6-3 win. Miller got to the finals by pinning both USC's Brandon Sahr (1:10) and BEA's Josh Malwitz (1:41). "Neither one of us could get our offenses going," Miller said of his title match. "I was taking a shot, and came up and hit (Anderson's nose). It (blood time) bothered me big time because I couldn't get into my rhythm going at all. Starting and stopping is real frustrating." The Eagles would put the meet away in the latter weights, starting with Bill Bastian's first-place finish at 160 pounds. Bastian had a first-round bye before pinning Waseca's Dan Buker (1:59) in the semis and winning a 15-5 major decision over St. James' Lance Larson in the finals. Andy Bernard was on fire at 171 pounds as, after his first-round bye, he pinned Waseca's Jim Mlenck (4:24) and St. James' Colter Johnson (1:52) en route to the title. Gus Martens took the same road at 189, pinning both St. James' Jon Nibbe (1:40) and Waseca's Ben Janike (1:25) after a first-round bye. The team title was sealed up by then. "From 160 (pounds) on out, it was awesome," Arndt said. "Those are No. 1 seeds -- Bastian, Bernard, and Gus -- and they proved why. "Of the three, the most impressive was probably Bernard. We came out and really took it to (Johnson), and the best thing is everyone's going to have to deal with this kid for a couple more years." Eagle heavyweight Kory Andersen had a good day as well, defeating BEA's David Mensing 9-4 before topping top-seeded Pete Kuisle of Fairmont 4-2 in the semis. Andersen was right with Waseca's David Miller throughout the finals before finally succumbing 3-2. "I couldn't be more proud," Arndt said of Andersen. "This is a kid that's been wrestling for only about 10 weeks. We tried to get him out (for wrestling) when he was little, and he finally did this year. To make it to the finals of the South Central Conference on your first try is outstanding." These weren't the only Eagles to place, however. Eighth-grader Dan Mielke took fourth as he lost to Waseca's Josh Dokken in the third-place match. Mielke had defeated Dokken 8-5 earlier in the day. Rob Gieseke, at 135 pounds, battled his way to a third-place finish as he decisioned Waseca's Spencer Hanson 6-4. Gieseke had defeated Hanson 4-2 earlier in the day before losing to top-seed Juan Fernandez of St. James 12-5 in the semis. Travis Hermel, at 145 pounds, pinned Fairmont's Andy Dauer (4:24) in the opening round before being pinned by BEA standout Ty Eustice (1:45) in the semis. Hermel would take fourth place as he was decisioned 7-2 by Waseca's Jon Buker. Tony Ruch fell in both his matches at 152 pounds for seventh place. "Everyone did a good job for us," Arndt said. "Kids like Mielke, and Robbie Gieseke, and Hermel -- kids like that. They all had good tournaments." This is just the first step for the Eagles as they travel to Worthington Saturday to compete in the Section 2AAA team competition. The individual competition will be held the following weekend in Willmar. "Everyone (on the team) is going to be ready to go, because our coaching staff is awesome," Miller said. "We know what each of our opponents is going to do, plus we have time off to get our mental edge back up. We should be fine." Note: New Ulm's Martens won the SCC Offensive Wrestler of the Year Award, scoring a perfect score of 60 in his six conference season matches this year. Ten points are awarded for a fall or forfeit, nine point for a technical fall, etc. Bastian was second at 58 points, and Bernard was tied for third with 57.
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