On Saturday Jan. 5, the Bulldog wrestlers journeyed to Montgomery, MN, home of Tri-City United High School, and the annual TCU Invitational. This was the Bulldogs’ 1st time attending the TCU Invitational. One of the main attractions for the Bulldogs was getting to compete against 6 other teams that are not on the schedule anywhere else, including #6 ranked AAA power New Prague. The Bulldogs competed well, placing at 13 of the 14 weight classes, including 6 finalists and 5 individual champions, finishing in 2nd place behind the heavily favored Trojans
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Individual highlights for the Bulldogs included:
113: Jason Feils (9) avenged a first round loss scoring a 20-10 major decision victory in the placing round to finish in 5th Place.
120: Garrett Olson (10) finished in 3rd place, going 3-1 on the day with his only loss coming at the hands of #3 ranked Nick Novak of New Prague.
126: Kael Lamb (10) finished in the top 4 finishing with a 2-2 record that included 2 pins.
132: Cooper Hofschulte (10) made it all the way to the finals before dropping a narrow 5-3 OT decision to Braeden Hendel of Mankato East. In the semifinals, Hofschulte defeated #8 ranked Trayton Hewitt of LCWM 9-5 to earn the 2nd place finish. Dereck Boyum (10) also earned a top 6 finish after earning a pin in the wrestleback round over Lucas Kruse of St. Clair.
138: Cael Marx (10) earned a tournament championship that included 2 first period pins and a 5-1 decision victory in the finals.
145: Lafe Aarsvold (12) placed in the top 6 by virtue of a 2nd period pin in the wrestle-back round over Chase Baker of St. Clair.
152: Joe Stucky (11) scored a tournament championship winning by fall in both the semifinals and the finals.
160: Carter Marx (12) also placed first, also scoring pins in each of the final 2 rounds.
170: Alex Rahman (10) and Connor Jones (12) placed 3rd and 4th respectively each getting a win by fall along the way.
182: Martin Prieto (9) finished 4th, earning 2 victories including 1 by pin.
195: Dustin Dittrich (12) earned the Bulldogs’ 4th championship of the evening with a dominating 10-5 victory over state ranked Brennan Rutt of New Prague, and 2 pins in the 1st two rounds.
220: Riley Wingert (11) lost a narrow 4-3 decision to tournament champion Will Busch of New Prague and won by fall in the 3rd place match.
285: Logan Wingert (11) earned his 3rd tournament championship of the season, earning all 3 victories by fall. Wingert is currently 24-2 on the season with 22 pins.
Pictures from the event can be seen HERE!
TCU Invitational Team Scores:
1. New Prague (#6AAA) 238.0
2. Plainview-Elgin-Millville 215.5
3. Tri-City United 202.0
4. Mankato East 106.0
5. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 92.5
6. LeSueur-Henderson 77.0
7. Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Area 72.0
8. St. Clair/Mankato Loyola 43.0
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