---

Benilde-St. Margaret’s Triangular

The Wildcats won both of their dual meets at the Benilde-St. Margaret’s Triangular on Thursday, January 11.  They beat the hosts 48-30 and prevailed 54-18 over Minneapolis Southwest.

Hall of Fame Duals

The Wildcats split two duals at the Hall of Fame Duals held at St. Croix Central High School in Hammond, Wisc., on Friday, January 12, beating Barron 60-15 and losing to Hudson 54-27.

Conner Aspenson (107) and Xavier Bradley-Peel (189) both went 4-0 over the course of four duals in two nights.  Braxton Bender-Ehlke (152) and Logan Bender each finished 3-0.  Michael Amos had a 2-0 record.  And two Wildcats – Connor Bresnaham and Chuck Gilman – won their only matches.  Lucas Yang (121) and Connor Frederixon (215) went 3-1 and Henry DeCorsey won two out of three matches.

Individual Results – Benilde and Hall of Fame Combined

107 Conner Aspenson 4-0

121 Lucas Yang 3-1

127 Sam Bird 1-3

133  Brannick Malchow 1-3

139 Franklin Stark 1-3

138/145 Aydin Lemke 2-2

152 Braxton Bender-Ehlke 3-0

152 Michael Amos 2-0

160 Diesel Lundeen 1-2

160/172 Henry DeCorsey  2-1

172 Connor Bresnaham 1-0

189 Xavier Bradley-Peel   4-0

215 Connor Frederixon 3-1

285 Logan Bender  3-0

285 Chuck Gilman 1-0

St. Croix Lutheran Invitational

On the strength of four champions, the Wildcats came in second place as a team at the St. Croix Lutheran Invitational last Saturday, January 13 at St. Crois Lutheran High School in West St. Paul.  Seven Wildcats placed, including first place finishers Conner Aspenson (107), Michael Amos (152), Connor Frederixon (215), and Logan Bender (285).  Also placing were Braxton Bender-Ehlke (145), fifth; Aydin Lemke (139), sixth; and Xavier Bradley-Peel (189), sixth.

Aspenson (107) opened by pinning Bre’ Ana Masso of WEM-JWP in 25 seconds in the quarterfinals.  He won his semifinal match over Benjamin Zaide of Roseville by a 9-.0 major decision, with a takedown in each period and a three-point near-fall in the second period.  The championship match against Trypp Lundberg of Ogilvie was a back and forth contest.  Aspenson took a 7-0 lead in the first period on the strength of a takedown and two near-falls.  But Lundberg cut the score to 9-7 after two periods with a takedown, reversal, and near-fall.  Aspenson’s only points in the second period cam from a reversal.  Aspenson’s takedown 19 seconds into the third period put him up 11-7 gave him a little breathing room, and he rode Lundberg the rest of the period to claim the championship.

Amos (152) pinned Julz Fredrick of St. Croix Lutheran in 42 seconds their opening match. In the quarterfinals, he used takedowns in the first and third periods to propel a 5-0 decision over Mark Gonzalez of Hopkins.  It took overtime to decide Amos’ semifinal match with Isaac Roberts of St. Paul Highland Park.  Amos led 2-1 after the first period and 4-3 after two.  In the third period, Amos started on the bottom and escaped at 4:52 to increase his lead to 5-3.  But Roberts got a takedown with 16 seconds left in the match to tie it at 5-5 and send it to overtime.  With 23 seconds left in the first overtime period, Amos got a takedown and a near-immediate two point near-fall to win the match 9-5 and move onto the finals.  Amos started off the match against Timothy Hubers of Concordia Academy with a takedown in the first period.  He used a three-point near-fall at the end of the second period to increase his lead to 5-0.  He had a takedown in the third period and received a point when Hubers was penalized for stalling to win the match by an 8-0 major decision and took the top spot on the podium.

Frederixon (215) made quick work of Kastiel Vang of St. Paul Johnson, needing just 14 seconds for a pin in their quarterfinal match.  In the semifinals, Frederixon took down Maddox Moreno of WEM-JWP early in the first period and pinned him at 1:13 to move on to the championship match.  Frederixon led from wire-to-wire in the final, with a first period takedown, a reversal and a three point hear-fall in the second period, and a third period takedown to complete a 9-0 major decision and a first place finish.

Bender (285) opened his day with a 41 second pin to win his quarterfinal match with Julien Quevedo Gana of St. Paul Johnson.  In the semifinals against Dylan Smith of Ogilvie, Bender had two takedowns in the first period and led 4-1.  Smith scored the only point in the second period with an escape.  In the third period, Bender had a takedown at 4:28 and pinned Smith at 4:39 to move on to the championship match, which was a thriller.  Bender opened the match, against Keegan Kubell of WEM-JWP, with a takedown at 1:02.  Kubell escaped at 1:22 and Bender led 2-1 after one.  Kubell started on the bottom in the second period and escaped immediately to tie the match at 2-2.  Bender was given a stalling warning at 3:36.  Bender started on the bottom in the third period and escaped at 4:10 to go up 3-2.  Kubell got a stalling penalty at 5:00, giving Bender another point to put him up 4-2.  That proved important, as Bender was penalized for stalling at 5:48, giving Kubell a point and cutting Bender’s lead to 4-3.  But Bender held off Kubell for the last 12 seconds and became the champion at 285.

Individual Results

107  Conner Aspenson    

3-0         Champ

121  Lucas Yang                

0-2         DNP

127  Sam Bird                    

1-2         DNP

133  Franklin Stark           

1-2         DNP

139  Aydin Lemke              

3-2         6th

145  Braxton Bender-Ehlke

4-1         5th

152  Michael Amos

4-0         Champ

152  Diesel Lundeen

0-2         DNP

189  Xavier Bradley-Peel 

3-2         6th

215  Connor Frederixon

4-0         Champ

280  Logan Bender

3-0         Champ

Wrestling Whangdoodles

The Wildcats’ only action this week is a triangular at Becker tonight against Becker and St. Francis starting at 5 p.m.

---