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Cambridge-Isanti Triangular

The Wildcats lost both of their duals at the Cambridge-Isanti Triangular Thursday, January 16.  They fell 65-6 to the hosts and 58-18 to St. Francis.  The only Wildcat wrestler to get points against Cambridge was Logan Bender, ranked first in the state in Class AA at 285 pounds.  He pinned Brady Anderson, ranked eighth in the state in Class AAA, at 1:44.  Connor Frederixon (215) lost by a 5-3 decision to Jacob Henderson, ranked sixth in the state in Class AAA.  And Conner Aspenson (114) also faced a top ten Class AAA wrestler, eighth-ranked Wyatt Wald.  Wald won by technical fall over Aspenson, 17-1 at 2:35.  Against St. Francis, those three wrestlers accounted for all the Wildcat points.  Frederixon and Bender won by forfeit, and Aspenson (114) pinned Landon Borgen.

St. Croix Lutheran Crusader Invitational

Conner Aspenson (114), Conner Frederixon (215) and Logan Bender (285) each won their weight classes at the St. Croix Lutheran Crusader Invitational  Saturday, January 18.  Those championships plus a second-place finish  by Braxton Bender-Ehlke (160) helped the Wildcats to a fifth-place finish in the 13-team tournament.

Aspenson (12-13) opened by pinning Liam Slack of Robbinsdale Armstrong at 1:25.  He had a tough match with Trypp Lundberg of Ogilvie in the semifinals.  Aspenson led 5-4 after two periods.  Lundberg got a reversal and a four-point nearfall in the first minute of the third period to go up 10-5.  But Aspenson got a reversal and two three-point nearfalls to go up 13-10.  Lundberg got a late reversal to cut the lead to 13-12, and then Aspenson had a point taken away, tying the score at 12-12.  In the first overtime period, Aspenson pinned Lundberg with 11 seconds to go, earning a 15-12 sudden victory.  In the championship match, Aspenson dominated the first period to go up 10-0 over Hseh Wah of St. Paul Como Park.  Aspenson took Wah down at 2:28 and needed just six seconds to complete the win and claim the championship at 114 pounds.

Bender-Ehlke pinned Luke Cahill of WEM-JWP in 1:13 and pinned Andreas Adamsson of Brooklyn Center-Concordia Academy at 3:02 to advance to the championship match against Isaac Roberts of St. Paul Highland Park.  Roberts got a takedown midway through the second period to go up 3-0.  He reversed Bender-Ehlke at 4:34 and completed the pin at 5:12, relegating Bender-Ehlke to second place.

Frederixon (20-4) pinned his first two opponents on Saturday.  It took him 1:44 to beat Ezequiel Sibri Ortiz of Brooklyn Center-Concordia Academy.  And he finished off Donald Johnson of Robbinsdale Armstrong even more quickly, dispatching him at 1:11.  Frederixon got a takedown in the first period to go up 3-0 against Gus Mastrud of St. Paul Highland Park in the championship match.  He completed a reversal at 2:20 and was awarded a four-point nearfall with nine seconds remaining in the second period to increase his lead to 9-0.  Frederixon took Mastrud down at 4:36 and kept him down for the rest of the match for a 12-0 major decision and first place at 215 pounds.

Bender (15-0) pinned all three of his opponents on his way to the championship match.  Two of the pins took less than a minute each.  He won by fall over Avery Breyer of WEM-JWP in just 55 seconds.  He was even faster in his next match, pinning Qwadir Davis Brooklyn Center-Concordia Academy in just 41 seconds.  The semifinals pitted Bender against Chisago Lakes teammate William Naatz, and Bender finished off Naatz at 1:36.   The championship match featured two wrestlers ranked number one in the state at 285 pounds:  Bender, number one in Class AA, against Keegan Kuball of WEM-JWP, who is number one in Class A and is 105-8 over the past two and half years.  Bender got a takedown at 1:16 and led 3-0 after one period.  Kuball started on the bottom in the second period and escaped at 3:05 to cut Bender’s lead to 3-1.  Bender began the third period on the bottom, escaped at 5:00 and held on for the win and the first-place trophy at 285.  Since they are in different classes, these two top wrestlers would not have had a chance to wrestle each other in sections or at the state tournament.  Meeting in this tournament, both wrestlers proved they deserved their number one ranking.

Individual Results

114 Conner Aspenson

3-0         Champ

127 Lucas Yang

3-1         5th

139  Bruce Sweno

0-2         DNP

145  Brannick Malchow

1-2         6th

160  Braxton Bender-Ehlke

3-1         2nd

172  Diesel Lundeen

3-1         5th

189  Connor Bresnaham

0-2         DNP

215  Conner Frederixon

3-0         Champ

285  Logan Bender

4-0         Champ

285  Matthew Raboin

1-2         DNP

285  William Naatz

2-1         3rd

St. Croix Lutheran Crusader Invitational

1 WEM-JWP 164.5

2 Ogilvie 163.0

3 Cannon Falls 150.0

4 St. Paul Highland Park 140.0

5 Chisago Lakes 128.0

6 Robbinsdale Armstrong 122.0

7 North Branch 109.5

8 St Paul Humboldt-Open World Learning 81.0

9 St. Croix Lutheran 63.0

9 St. Paul Como Park 63.0

11 Brooklyn Center-Concordia Acad 39.0

12 Benilde St. Margarets 4.0

13 Columbia Heights 3.0

Wrestling Whangdoodles

In case you were wondering, WEM-JWP stands for Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.  So, now you know why they shortened it.   But it’s not very catchy, either way. 

Tonight, the Wildcats will wrestle in the nine-team Irondale/Spring Lake Park Tournament, which gets underway at 3 p.m.

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