Wrestlers tie Hutch, beat Mankato East

By DAVE CLARK

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The young New Ulm Eagles team sent a message Tuesday night that they are not to be underestimated.

They tied state's eighth ranked team, the Hutchinson Tigers, 31-31, and beat the Mankato East Cougars 39-33 in the New Ulm Triangular.

What made the tie against the Tigers even sweeter, though, is that if it were tournament play, the Eagles would have won due to their having three pins in the match to Hutchinson's two pins.

After Hutchinson defeated Mankato East 37-33 in the opening match, New Ulm opened strong at 130 with Geoff Beranek decisioning Nigel Erickson. At 135, the Eagles Chris Koob lost a decision to Mark Spaude, but at 140, New Ulm's Mike Kral got a 12-2 decision over TJ Goldschmidt. Dan Mielke lost to the Tigers Andy Merkins, and at 152, Paul Ruch decisioned state ranked Tiger Blake Kaping, giving New Ulm a 10-7 early lead.

At 160, Michael Felling pinned New Ulm's Tim Kral, but Matt Wenninger returned the favor for the Eagles by pinning Eric Hlavka at 1:36 of the third period. Kyle LeBrun lost a close 4-1 decision at 189 to Tim Bjork, but Travis Aufderheide got New Ulm's second pin of the match over David Markgraf in just 18 seconds. The Eagles Trent Zabel was then pinned by the third ranked heavyweight in the country, Jon May, and it was tied 22-22.

Adam Hoffmann was decisioned by Hutchinson's Josh Wendland at 103, and at 112, Neal Wenninger lost a close 2-0 decision to Derek Bomstad, and the Tigers went up 31-25 when Beau Penk pinned Jacob Ellanson. This left the match up to New Ulm's Jeff Gieseke, who pinned Jake Schiller in just 1:27 and gave the Eagles their 31-31 tie.

"It was great wrestling," said Eagles coach Dar Arndt. "It's not like they were wrestling a bunch of candy canes. At 152, Ruch beat a ranked wrestler in Kaping, and last week he beat the state champ from BOLD. Their heavyweight is number three in the country. Give a lot of credit to Beranek and at 140, Mike Kral was voted our most improved wrestler and he beat a good wrestler in Goldschmidt."

"Then we were able to switch weights and traded pins. LeBron's going the distance at 189 might have been a major factor, and Aufderheide just destroyed his guy at 215. Then at 125, Gieseke had a really good match," said Arndt.

The tie set up another match fifteen minutes later against Mankato East, and Arndt tried warning the team at the break about losing steam.

"It was such an emotional thing to tie Hutchinson," said Arndt. "Some of them came out a little flat. We were fortunate to get through that."

The Cougars forfeited at 130, and at 145, Koob won a 14-7 decision over Scott Laughter. Kral followed with a pin of Rock King with two seconds left in the second period, giving New Ulm a quick 15-0 lead. Mielke was pinned by Dan Moret, followed by a Ruch win by forfeit. Kral was pinned by Anders Brekke, but Matt Wenninger got his second pin of the night with four seconds left in the second period over Jake Benzkofer.

The Cougars Gerry Brekke pinned LeBron but Aufderheide pinned Brian Jean in just 39 seconds. Eric Jean then pinned Zabel and Hoffman lost a close 6-4 decision to Cody Adams. Neal Wenninger was decisioned 5-3 by Michael Adams and Ellanson lost a decision to Kyle Carriveau. But Gieseke's win by forfeit gave the Eagles the deciding points for their 39-33 win.

New Ulm's B squad also had a good night, beating Hutchinson 30-18 and Mankato East 36-12.

The Eagles are now 4-3-2 on the season and travel to take on St. James on Thursday night.