New Ulm wins in last match of night

Mielke gets pin in 13 seconds

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- New Ulm's Dan Mielke had to wait until the final match to get his chance to wrestle, but the wait didn't seem to bother him.

With the score tied at 31 thanks to Mike Kral's pin at 145, Mielke was eager to be the one who decided the match.

Mielke jumped out and got a quick take-down, then put Kronneman on his back and pinned him just 13 seconds into the match to give New Ulm a 37-31 win over Madelia-Truman Thursday.

"I was kind of mad, because I knew we should've beat them by a lot more," Mielke said. He said he was a bit surprised how quickly his match was over.

"I was a little surprised, because I thought it was maybe going to take a little longer than that," he said.

"They just knew what they had to do," Neal Wenninger said of his teammates. "They knew they had to get those points back that we didn't get and they knew they had to get it done."

Wenninger jumped out to a 2-0 after the first period and a reversal in the second put him up 4-0. He won by major decision 9-1 over Chris Leiferman at 125.

"Our approach coming in here was we knew we had to wrestle hard," Wenninger said. "No matter what the team record is, you always have to go after them. Today, my play was to break him and see what happened after that."

The match started at the 160 pound class and it saw New Ulm's Ali Bernard wrestle a tough match with Eric Cooling. Cooling won 11-1.

"At 160 pounds, you gotta give a lot of credit to Ali Bernard," New Ulm coach Dar Arndt said. "She wrestled one of Madelia's toughest wrestlers. That was a situation I think Madelia probably wanted, because I think they wanted Cooling to wrestle Ali, but Ali did a heck of a job. Cooling has a lot of experience."

The Jayhawks went up 8-0 after Cody Schaefer won by major decision 18-7 at 171 over Tim Kral.

The Eagles got three straight forfeits (189, Eric Kral; 215, Travis Aufderheide; 275, Brett Lebrun) to take an 18-8 lead, but the Jayhawks came back at the lower weights to retake the lead.

At 103, Robbie Thomas pinned New Ulm's Justin Koob in 46 seconds to make it 18-14 New Ulm. then, at 112, New Ulm's Adam Hoffmann and Madelia-Truman's Andy Forstner hooked up in one of the more exciting matches of the night.

Forstner, who went to the state tournament a year ago, took a 3-2 lead into the second period. But Hoffmann retook the lead in the second period and led 4-3 going into the third. Forstner then got a take-down 40 seconds into the third period to go up 5-4 and Hoffmann was unable to get the escape, trimming the New Ulm lead to 18-17.

"Forstner was at state last year, and of course Adam is only an eighth-grader and it was his first loss of the year," Arndt said. "We were sure hoping to get that escape at the end to tie things up."

At 119, Tyler Stevenson won by technical fall over Nate Dobie to put the Jayhawks up 22-18, Wenninger's win at 125 tied it at 22.

In the 130-pound class, Dustin Forstner pinned Geoff Beranek in 3:58, giving Madelia-Truman a 28-22 lead. Brandon Greiner won a 7-6 decision at 135 over New Ulm's Curtis Thoreson, increasing the Jayhawk lead to 31-22.

Chris Koob's 9-3 decision over Darrek Ulmen at 140 and Mike Kral's pin over Blaine Eser tied the match at 31 before Mielke's pin won it for the Eagles.

New Ulm (4-1) is at Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Tuesday for a dual.

New Ulm 37, Madelia-Truman 31

160 -- Eric Cooling (MT) maj. dec. Ali Bernard 11-1; 171 -- Cody Schaefer (MT) maj. dec. Tim Kral 18-7; 189 -- Eric Kral (NU) won by forfeit; 215 -- Travis Aufderheide (NU) won by forfeit; 275 -- Brett Lebrun (NU) won by forfeit; 103 -- Robbie Thomas (MT) pinned Justin Koob in :46; 112 -- Andy Forstner (MT) dec. Adam Hoffmann 5-4; 119 -- Tyler Stenson (MT) tech fall Nate Dobie 4:39; 125 -- Neal Wenninger (NU) maj. dec. Chris Leiferman 9-1; 130 -- Dustin Forstner (MT) pinned Geoff Beranek 3:58; 135 -- Brandon Greiner (MT) dec. Curtis Thoreson 7-6; 140 --

Chris Koob (NU) dec. Darrek Ulmen 9-3; 145 -- Mike Kral (NU) pinned Blaine Eser in 3:19; 152 -- Dan Mielke (NU) pinned Tyler Kronneman in :13.