Pierce Wrestlers are Conference Champions
by Kailey Marks
The Pierce Bluejay wrestling team traveled to compete against nine teams for the Mid-State Conference title in Battle Creek on Thursday, February 6. Their mindset was to work as hard as possible as a team, and that’s just what they did. All-together they racked up 188.5 points followed by O’Neill with 157.5 points.
Individually, Dylan Kuehler, Zander Schweitzer, and Michael Kruntorad placed 1st in their bracket; Brock Bolling, Brett Tinker, Ashton Schweitzer, and Jeremiah Kruntorad placed 2nd; Jayden Coulter and Carter Jensen placed 3rd; Blake Bolling and Parker Sackville placed 4th.
Starting at 113, Br. Bolling scored 13.5 team points. Br. Bolling won by fall over Clayton Christensen of Norfolk Catholic in a little over a minute. He then won by tech fall over Hunter Krekimeier of Battle Creek 17-1. In his last match, he lost in overtime to Gavin Dozler of Boone Central/Newman Grove.
Moving to 120, Isaiah Adams won by fall over Caden Meinke of Battle Creek. He lost his last two matches, one by fall to Ty Rainforth of O’Neill and the other by major decision to Ashton Munsell of Wayne. Also at 120, Coulter contributed 18 points to the final score. Coulter won by fall over Tristan Korth of Battle Creek. He also won by major decision over Ashton Munsell of Wayne. He then lost to Carter King of Battle Creek. Coulter then came back to win his last two matches, Caden Meinke of Battle Creek by pin and by major decision over Ashton Munsell of Wayne.
Bl. Bolling (126) scored six points for the Bluejays. Bl. Bolling lost by decision to William Grape of Boone Central/Newman Grove. He then won by decision over Boston Reeves of Battle Creek. In his last match, he wrestled William Grape again and lost by major decision. Also at 126, Ashton Koch lost by fall to Boston Reeves of Battle Creek and lost by major decision to William Grape of Boone Central/Newman Grove.
In the 132 weight class, Jensen scored 16 team points. Jensen won by fall over Eli Barner of Wayne in less than a minute. He then lost by decision to William Poppe of Crofton-Bloomfield. Jensen won by decision over Lio Dominguez of O’Neill and won by a quick pin over Jaxon Schafer of Boone Central/Newman Grove. Also at 132, Ethan Dohmen lost by fall to William Poppe of Crofton-Bloomfield and Eli Barner of Wayne.
In 138, J. Kruntorad racked up 16 points for the team. J. Kruntorad won by decision over Korbyn Batershaw 3-2. He won by decision over Allan Olander. In his last match, he lost by major decision to Brady Thompson.
At 145, M. Kruntorad scored 19 points for the Bluejays. M. Kruntorad won by decision over Fabian Acevado of O’Neill and won by major decision over Kobe Thompson of Battle Creek 12-3.
A. Schweitzer (152) contributed 19 points for the team. A. Schweitzer won by fall over Thomas Garcia of O’Neill, won by major decision over Levi Drueke of O’Neill and won by decision over Ashton Schafer of Boone Central/Newman Grove. In his last match, he lost to Damon Crawford of Guardian Angels Central Catholic.
Wrestling at 160, Z. Schweitzer scored the most points for the team with 28 team points. He won by pin in all of his matches to Eli Dozler of Boone Central/Newman Grove, Servando Gonzalez of O’Neill and Francisco Mendez of Norfolk Catholic. Also wrestling at 160, Jaden Jones won by fall over Tyrian Chenlo of Wayne, but then lost by fall to Traven Croghan of Battle Creek.
At 170, Tinker contributed 19 team points. Tinker won by fall over Enrique Sanchez of O’Neill right at the end of the first period. He also won by major decision over Richard Cleveland of Boone Central/Newman Grove. In his last match, Tinker lost by major decision to Eric Hoesing of Hartington Cedar Catholic.
In the 182 weight class, Sackville scored nine points for his team. Sackville won by decision over Dakota Spann of Wayne with a close score of 6-5. He then lost to Cash Meier of Guardian Angels Central Catholic. Sackville defeated Israel Uma of Boone Central/Newman Grove by pin. Spann of Wayne came back to avenge his loss and won to Sackville 5-3.
Travis Jensen (195) scored three team points. Caden Arens of Norfolk Catholic won by pin over Jensen. He came back to win by fall over Carsten Knobbe by pin in the second period. He then lost by fall to Noah Shabram of O’Neill.
Scoring 22 points, Kuehler wrestled at 220 weight. Kuehler won by fall over Camden Moser of Boone Central/Newman Grove and over Mitchell Peatrowski of Guardian Angels Central Catholic. He won his 1st place match by decision over Jared Janssen of Crofton-Bloomfield.
Richard Halligan (285) lost by fall to George Fraher of Guardian Angels Central Catholic and Cole Greek of Boone Central/Newman Grove.
Coach Tyler Legate stated, “Getting the win was awesome for the boys and they should cherish this moment because we haven’t won Mid-State Conference in 25 years. Although we are breaking barriers, we still didn’t wrestle our best, and we just need to learn how to stay on top which I feel we will do better at the State Duals this weekend.”
When asked about the Mid-State Conference tournament, freshman Z. Schweitzer said, “I honestly feel like I wrestled my hardest, and I did the best I could not only for myself, but also for the team.” He went on to say, “I feel like our team left it all out on the mat, and we did our best and wrestled hard, but we do have some improving to do, but overall met our expectations.”
