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The road to Rochester for the Fulda/Murray County Central Warriors is paved with excitement, hard work, and dedication, and it all culminated with an excellent showing from Kindergarten wrestlers all the way through eighth grade. The Northland Youth Wrestling Association holds a state tournament every year that individuals and teams must qualify for in order to compete. At the same time they hold an invite tournament for any wrestlers who didn’t qualify for state competition but made it to the regions.
This year the FMCC Warrior wrestling club sent two complete teams, the K-6 team as well as the 7th and 8th grade team, and competed very well. In addition to competing as a team many or all of these wrestlers would compete as individuals either on the state level or at the invite.
To start off the weekend the 7th-8th grade team would make their weigh ins Thursday at noon and start competition at 1:30. The teams were separated into 4 brackets for the 4 regions of the state and then the place winners would be separated into a pools for place winners. So pool 1 would be all the first place winners from the bracket and 2 would be all the second place winners and so on through Pool 8 so the teams would see level competition.
The 7th and 8th grade Warrior wrestling team started off by routing the Grand Rapids team with a final score of 39-9 with 6 pins and a decision. Next up would be the UNITED and the Warriors would win 4 matches with pins by Teague Meyer and Brayden Gilb, then a techfall by Quinten Lewis and a Decision by Owen Olsem. With a 20 -20 tie going into the 235 pound bout and Colby Kesteloot did his absolute best, but ended up losing by decision the winner take all match and putting the Warriors into pool 3 with the other third place winners.
First up in the pool 3 was NLS (New London/Spicer) and the Warriors would rack up 3 pins by Kaston Clarke, Lucas Kuball, and Quintin Lewis. Two decisions by Owen Olsem and Colby Kesteloot. Giving the Warriors 24 points which was enough with Luke Iverson, Teague Meyer, and Brayden Gilb holding their opponents to decisions. With Mason Kirchner the only wrestler to allow bonus points the Warriors held NLS to 17 for the win.
Next up was Foley who beat the St. Peter team 39-9 to enter the quarterfinals of pool three. The Warriors started off strong earning a Major decision with Kaston Clarke. The Warriors would allow too many bonus points in the dual and not earn enough of their own with pins by Owen Olsem and Colby Kesteloot it just wasn’t enough this time and the Warriors ended up 2nd with a final placing of 10th in a 32 team tournament.
The K-6 Team landed in bracket c and their first dual of the day would be against Pine Island where Mason Kirchner, Truman Olsem, and Levi Lewis would all score pins and Curtis Johnson earned a major decision giving the Warriors 22 points. Pine Island was a little deeper though and earned 58 points out of the 15 matches getting the win and moving on. Next up was Becker and Brady Haken, Mason Kirchner and Levi Lewis all scored pins, and Truman Olsem scored a decision giving the Warriors 21 points against Beckers 60 putting the Warriors into the 7th/8th place bracket where they fell to Canby. Holden Clarke, Brodik Clarke, and Luke Sweetman earned pins. George Rosenbrook earned a major decision and Brady Haken, Mason Kirchner, and Truman Olsem all earned decisions. The warriors ended up with 31 to Canby’s 44 and headed to pool eight where they found equal competition.
In Pool Eight the Warriors would fall to Roseau in a 51-17 dual score then headed to the semi finals against Monticello where the Warriors would rack up 45 points with pins by Holden Clarke, Jonah Paulzine, George Rosenbrook, Brodik Clarke, Brantley Klein, Mason Kirchner, and Levi Lewis. Luke Sweetman earned a decision and the Warriors won 3rd place in pool 8 putting them 31st out of 32 teams.
That may not sound so good but these boys are all learning and working hard and just making it to the state NYWA tournament with a full team is a huge undertaking requiring coaches and parents making sacrifices and believing in the program. We look forward to watching these boys grow and become better wrestlers and young men and giving us many years to look forward to in this program.
On the Individual side of things most of these wrestlers would compete. In the 5th and 6th grade State Tournament Dane Hansen at 80lbs went 0-2. Mason Kirchner at 84 lbs went 0-2. Truman Olsem at 130lbs went 0-2.
For the 5th and 6th grade invite Brodik Clarke at 70lbs in bracket 70A went 1 and 2 earning 4th.
Three Wrestlers made the 7th and 8th grade state tournament. Kaston Clarke who went 0-2 at 85lbs.. Owen Olsem went 1-2 at 140 lbs. Quinten Lewis earned 6th place in the state at 135lbs going 2-2.
7-7th/8th grade wrestlers went to the invite and made an excellent showing. Brayden Gilb went 3-0 in 105B earning 1st. Teague Meyer was 2-1 in 115B earning 2nd. Lucas Kuball went 3-0 at 125 earning 1st. Caleb Rosenbrook went 2-2 at 130 earning 4th. Noah Mathiowetz went 2-1 in 135B earning 2nd. Weston Kruger was 0-4 at 160 5th. Finally Colby Kesteloot went 2-1 in bracket 235A and got 2nd.
In the 1st and 2nd grade Invite tournament Holden Clarke got 3rd in 50B going 3-1. Jonah Paulzine got 4th in 61A going 2-2. Oliver Staples went 0-2 in the 70lb eight man bracket and did not place. Maxwell Ray got 1st going 3-0 in the 85lb bracket.
Levi Lewis wrestled tough against good competition and went 2-2 in the 3rd and 4th grade State Tournament, but didn’t make the finals.
In the 3rd and 4th grade Invite tournament George Rosenbrook received 1st place in the 64B bracket going 3-0, and Brantley Klein went 1 and 2 in an 8 man bracket for 85A and did not place.
How exciting it is to see all of these wrestlers competing at higher levels learning everyday how to put forth their best efforts and see the results. Its fun at the NYWA state tournament to see where you land in the state and see these little guys setting goals for improvement.
Its never too soon to start looking forward to next year as the Club has activities planned all summer long with their banquet on June 10th and an outing on the Lake July 16th. All wrestlers are welcome as well as anyone interested in wrestling.
