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St. Francis Triangular

The Vikings lost both of their duals at the St. Francis Triangular on Thursday, January 30.  They fell to the hosts 53-24 and lost to the Monticello Magic 39-36.  Jack Baker (114) pinned both of his opponents, and Nicholas Andreotti (133), Aydan Loren (215) and Moses Ochoa (285) were all 2-0 for the evening.  The score in the Mahtomedi match is a bit deceiving.  The Zephyrs had a 39-6 edge in contested matches, with Jack Baker’s pin being the only points scored for the Vikings.  But the Zephyrs forfeited at five weights to give the Vikings their other 30 points.

North Branch Invitational

The Vikings tied for fourth with Sartell-St. Stephen at the North Branch Invitational Friday, January 31 at North Branch High School. Jack Baker (114) won for the second year in a row, and the still undefeated Evan Pommier (172) was the champion in his weight class.  The format of the tournament allowed teams to have multiple entrants in each of the weight classes.  The Vikings ended up with 14 entrants, all of whom placed.

In the championship match at 114, Baker (31-6) took down Edgar Sanchez of Fridley 24 seconds into the matchup and completed the pin at 1:10 to claim the championship after also taking first place at the North Branch Invitational last year.  And in the championship match at 172, Pommier (31-0) led 3-0 over Bryan Weston of Fridley after the first period.  Weston and his coaches apparently didn’t know that Pommier scores a lot of his points on near-falls, because Weston chose bottom in the second period.  In an incredible 16-second span, Pommier had two four-point near falls to balloon his lead to 11-0.  A reversal by Pommier midway through the third period made it 13-0, and Weston’s escape 11 seconds later allowed him to avoid the shutout.  Pommier, ranked seventh in the state in Class AA at 172 pounds, won the championship with a 13-1 major decision.

Wrestling Whangdoodles

The team section tournament will take place on the weekend of February 14-15 and the individual section tournament will be the weekend of February 21-22.  We will provide previews of those tournaments in upcoming issues of the Press.

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