CL pins and wins records now Zupko's

Senior wrestler Quade Zupko set two records with one win against Totino Grace. He pinned John Lewis of Totino Grace at 1:19 of the first period for the 171st win of his career, passing Travis Kammerer for first place on the all-time career wins list at Chisago Lakes High School.

The pin was the 81 of Zupko’s career, which also sets a new career mark for pins by a Chisago Lakes High School wrestler. The previous record holder for the pins record was also Travis Kammerer. The record-setting match came in a triangular against Totino Grace and Columbia Heights that took place at Totino Grace High School in Fridley last Thursday, January 10. Earlier in the evening, Zupko tied both the wins and pins records with a pin at 39 seconds of the first period over Ibrahim Dawould of Columbia Heights. Zupko took down Dawould nine seconds into the match and was relentless until finishing off the pin just 30 seconds later. Zupko got off to an even quicker start against Lewis, scoring a takedown five second into the match. He let Lewis up for an escape right away and took him down again 31 seconds in. After the wrestlers went out of bounds at 44 seconds, Zupko gave up the escape heading into the restart. He took down Lewis again five seconds later and, at 1:19, completed his domination of Lewis with a pin to set the record. Zupko’s teammates and a small but vocal contingent of Wildcat fans cheered loudly. The P.A. announcer told the crowd that Zupko had just set the school record for wins and pins, eliciting a nice round of applause from the whole crowd, Totino Grace fans included. The celebration did not go on for more than a few seconds, however, as there were still more matches to wrestle. It was back to business as the 145 pound match got underway. As you would expect, when Zupko was interviewed after the match he was excited about setting the record.

“I was pretty pumped up coming into the night,” he said. “I knew I was close to the pin record, too. It’s a lot of fun to set both records in the same night.” Zupko then praised Kammerer, the wrestler whose mark he had broken earlier in the evening. “Travis is a good guy and a good role model,” said Zupko. “I really look up to him and it meant a lot to me to pass up his records.” Jonah Westbury then came over with a big grin on his face to give Zupko another congratulatory hug and Zupko said “And this guy, Westbury, beat a state champ tonight!” Zupko didn’t really want to talk a lot about himself. He said “We’re really focused on team goals this year.

We want to make it to the state tournament as a team. Beating Milaca recently was a big confidence booster for us. Now we know we’ve got an excellent chance to go to state. Going to the state tournament as a team would be an experience we would never forget.” Zupko, a senior and the Wildcats’ lone captain this year then talked about all of the people who have been there for him throughout his career and in his pursuit of the record. “My teammates are such a good group of guys,” he said. “We have a lot of fun and help each other out. And from the start of the season, the coaches have pushed us every day. Our team’s success starts in the wrestling room. And my parents have been there for me from the start, supporting me and encouraging me all the way.” Quade’s father, Craig, is a Wildcat assistant coach. Wildcat head coach Shawn Frederixon said “Quade went out to attack the guy the same way he attacked all his opponents throughout the past six years. He didn’t try to go out and do anything fancy or unusual because it was a career milestone. He took a businesslike approach, went out and pinned him. Quade knows what he’s going to do 

when he goes into a match and then just goes out and does it. Getting this kind of record not only tells you how good he is, but that he’s been there every single day over his career. He’s never missed a day of practice. He’s never missed a meet. He’s always there and that’s a credit to who he is.” Chisago Lakes 66, Columbia Heights 15 The Wildcats won ten matches by pin, including eight pins in the first period, as they crushed the Columbia Heights Hylanders 66-15 at the Totino Grace Triangular last Thursday, January 10 at Totino Grace High School in Fridley. The first four Wildcat wrestlers pinned their opponents to get the Wildcats out to a 24-0 lead and the Wildcats never looked back. Five Wildcat wrestlers pinned their opponents in the first minute of their matches: Kyle Schoenecker (120), Dylan Connell (126), Quade Zupko (138), Sean Hoyt (145) and Mark Sontag (160). Totino Grace 39, Chisago Lakes 29 In the second match of the evening, the Wildcats built a 23-12 lead after Carson Velaski’s win at 145. But the Eagles came back strong in the upper weights and beat the Wildcats 39-29. The Wildcats trailed 6-0 after Solomon Lunde was pinned in the opening match. But Aaron Sistrunk came back strong at 113. A reversal early in the third period gave him a 10-0 lead over Adam Vettel, and Sistrunk rode Vettel the rest of the period to pick up a major decision. The Wildcats trailed 6-4. At 120, Kyle Schoenecker dominated Matt Bebeau, pinning him with 23 seconds left in the first period to put the Wildcats up 10-6. Nathan Graeve was pinned at 126 and the Wildcats were down 12-10. Dylan Connell came out aggressively at 132, taking down his opponent Pierce Rothenbacher eight seconds into the first period. Connell led 5-1 after the first period and went on to a 12-1 major decision to put eh Wildcats up 14-12.

Quade Zupko’s pin of John Lewis stretched the lead to 20-12. At 145, Carson Velaski led 3-2 after the first two periods. His opponent, Jared Florell, tied it up with an escape in the third period to send the match into overtime. 40 seconds into the overtime, Florell had a near takedown. But Velaski turned it around on Florell and scored a takedown for a 5-3 win and a 23-12 Wildcat lead. Sean Hoyt was pinned at 152. Joe Virga had a takedown in the first period and a reversal in the third period to beat Walker Thiele 4-0. The Wildcats led 26-18, but things were about to turn around. Mark Sontag was pinned by the Eagles’ Kez Flomo at 170 to cut the Wildcat lead to 26-24. Eric Brown had a pivotal match with Isaac Florell at 182. The match went back and forth and Brown trailed just 8-7 with 39 seconds to go. But Florell had a late takedown and near fall to put the match out of reach. The 13-7 loss meant the Wildcats now trailed 27-26. The Wildcats forfeited at 195 and Kevin Schmidt was quickly pinned at 220, giving the Eagles an insurmountable 39-26 lead. Jonah Westbury and his opponent, Joe Schiller, had quite a battle at 285. Schiller is ranked number one in Class AA in the state at 220 pounds and was the state champion last year at that weight. The two wrestlers traded escapes in the second and third periods, so the score was 1-1 heading into overtime.

Schiller had a near takedown early in the overtime, but the referee ruled that the wrestlers were out of bounds. Westbury completed a takedown of his own 29 seconds into overtime to win 3-1, notching yet another win over a highly ranked opponent. Wildcat head coach Shawn Frederixon said, “We needed to turn a couple matches around that night and it just didn’t work out. The guys wrestled hard. Totino is really loaded from 160 to heavyweight. They are pretty stellar. But we had some encouraging performances. Joe Virga beat a kid we haven’t been able to beat the last couple of years. The kid Eric Brown wrestled is ranked in the top ten at 170. Eric was doing all he could to hang in there. And Jonah has been in really good form lately. He had quite a seven day stretch from Hibbing to Totino Grace. He beat three ranked kids and one of them is a state champion. You can’t ask for too much more than that.” Pine City Tournament Despite sending only nine wrestlers to the ten-team tournament at Pine City, the Wildcats finished in third place overall. And four of the nine wrestlers finished the day as champions in their respective weight classes – Dylan Connell (126), Quade Zupko (138), Joe Virga (160) and Jonah Westbury (285). Connell (Chisago Lakes) pinned Collin Thompson of St. Peter with a minute left in the third period to take first place at 126. He won his first two matches with a technical fall and a pin. At 138, Zupko won by major decision over Wyatt Juhl of Big Lake by a score of 12-1. Zupko pinned his quarterfinal opponent and won his semifinal match when the other wrestler forfeited. Virga pinned his first two opponents and then won the championship match at 160 with a 10-4 decision over Kyle Bosacker of St. Peter.

And Westbury pinned all three of his opponents at 285. He pinned Jordan Hecht of Pine City/Hinckley-Finlayson just 15 seconds into the third period to claim his crown. The Wildcats sent nine wrestlers to each of two tournaments on Saturday, with the other nine going to the tournament at St. Croix Lutheran accompanied by head coach Shawn Frederixon. He said “I wasn’t at Pine City, but we did a good job finishing in third place with just nine wrestlers. Our guys are doing all they can to wrestle hard and get ready for the section tournament.” Individual Results at Pine City 106 - Solomon Lunde 2-2 5th 113 - Aaron Sistrunk 3-1 3rd 120 - Nathan Graeve 0-2 DNP 126 - Dylan Connell 3-0 Champion 138 - Quade Zupko 3-0 Champion 145 - Sean Hoyt 1-2 5th 160 - Joe Virga 3-9 Champion 170 - Eric Brown 3-1 3rd 285 - Jonah Westbury 3-0 Champion St. Croix Lutheran Tournament The Wildcats had two individual champions at last Saturday’s St. Croix Lutheran Invitational. Kevin Schmidt came from behind to win the championship match at 220 and Carson Velaski won both of his matches to claim the title at 145. The Wildcats, who brought nine wrestlers to the tournament, finished in fifth place as a team. Wildcat head coach Shawn Frederixon said “At the start of the season, Carson was within two points in nearly every match, but always seemed to be on the wrong end of the score. He’s now starting to develop the confidence and experience to win the close matches.

He’s really been helping us out against tough teams. He beat a kid in overtime the other night against Totino Grace and went out on Saturday and got a couple of big wins for us.” The tournament didn’t have a lot of wrestlers at the higher weights, so Schmidt had to wrestle just one match to win his championship. But it wasn’t easy. “Kevin went out there with a plan and got to it,” said Frederixon. “He got behind and found a way to come back and tie it up. He took the lead at the end and won. At the end of the match, the other kid was gasping for air and Kevin was still attacking. He just keeps going. His determination is good to see and it’s nice to see him get a little success this week.” St. Croix Lutheran Individual Results 120 - Dustin Kluge 1-1 3rd 126 - Mike Bliskowski 1-1 2nd 132 - Austin McCurdy 2-1 2nd 138 - Kyle Merry 1-2 4th 145 - Carson Velaski 2-0 Champion 160 - Ashlund Wellesly 0-2 DNP 170 - Mike Sampson 3-1 3rd 182 - Bill Mechelke 1-3 6th 220 - Kevin Schmidt 1-0 Champion The Wildcats (13-6 overall in duals) will participate in a tournament at Eastview High School starting at 10 a.m. this Saturday, August 19.