---

St. Croix Lutheran Crusader Invitational
The Wildcat wrestling team had six wrestlers with 3-1 records at the St. Croix Lutheran Crusader Invitational last Saturday, January 14, propelling them to a fifth-place finish in the 15-team tournament.  Brycen Morley (152) and Chuck Gilman (285) finished second.  Four wrestlers came in third:  Braxton Bender-Ehlke (132), Michael Amos (145), Stephen Weiss (170), and Connor Frederixon (182).  Riley Palmer (126), with a 2-2 record, finished fourth.  Morley lost a tight championship match 7-6 to Jon Gettel of Benilde-St. Margaret’s.  And Gilman was pinned at 3:46 in his championship match by Keegan Kuball of WEM-JWP.

For North Branch, after losing three dual meets the previous night in Monticello, the Viking wrestling team was looking forward to the St. Croix Lutheran Crusader Invitational last Saturday, January 14.  The Vikings finished eighth overall and had five of their ten wrestlers place in the 15-team tournament.  Jack Baker (106) and Michael Thao (132) led the way with a second-place finishes.  Tanner Cummings (152) came in fourth, Aiden Schwartz (113) finished fifth, and Ethan Kester (120) came in sixth.  In the championship match at 106, Baker was pinned by Brady Murphy of WEM-JWP in a51 seconds.  And Thao lost an 8-7 decision to Kaden Felde of Ogilvie in the championship match at 132.

Individual Results - Chisago Lakes
106  Brannick Malchow 
1-2         DNP
120  Sam Bird                  
 0-2         DNP
126  Riley Palmer            
2-2         4th
126  Franklin Stark          
1-2         DNP
132  Braxton Bender-Ehlke
 3-1         3rd
145  Michael Amos        
 3-1         3rd
152  Brycen Morley        
3-1         2nd
160  Reed Bleymeyer     
2-2         DNP
170  Stephen Weiss        
3-1         3rd
182  Connor Frederixon 
3-1         3rd
285  Chuck Gilman         
 3-1         2nd

Individual Results - North Branch
106  Jack Baker                
2-1         2nd
113  Aiden Schwartz       
4-1         5th
120  Ethan Kester            
3-2         6th
132  Michael Thao          
3-1         2nd
152  Tanner Cummings  
2-2         4th
160  Emmit Hansen        
1-2         DNP
170  Elijah Watts             
0-2         DNP
182  Leonardo Santos    
1-2         DNP
195  Aayden Anderson   
0-2         DNP
285  Moses Ochoa          
1-2         DNP

Team Results
1 Ogilvie 174.5
2 St. Paul Highland Park 167.5
3 WEM-JWP 153.5
4 Roseville Area 137.5
5 Chisago Lakes 136.5
6 Hopkins 110.5
7 Park Center 104.0
8 North Branch 99.0
9 St Paul Humboldt-Open World Learning 85.0
10 Benilde St. Margaret 72.0
11 St. Paul Como Park 61.0
12 Brooklyn Center-Concordia Acad 60.0
13 Cretin-Derham Hall 50.0
14 St. Croix Lutheran 37.0
15 Columbia Heights 10.0

Wrestling Whangdoodles
The Wildcats will host a triangular tonight with Forest Lake and Big Lake at 5 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School.  And tomorrow night, they will wrestle a home dual meet with St. Francis at 6 p.m.  On Tuesday, January 24 they will participate in a quadrangular at East Ridge High School starting at 5 p.m.

The Vikings will wrestle Princeton tonight in a dual meet at home at 6 p.m.  On Saturday, they will take part in the St. Croix Falls (Wisc.) Invitational, with the festivities getting underway at 10 a.m.

---