Three Jays advance to placing round at Rotary

Three Blue Jays remain alive at the Bismarck Rotary Tournament.

Jaden Horstad and Brent Mittleider have assured themselves of at least placing sixth, while Ryan Hillerud is guaranteed of a top eight finish at the Rotary, the toughest and largest high school wrestling tournament in the state.

This year’s field features 24 teams in all from North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. The Blue Jays are in 21st with 52 points.

Horstad and Hillerud each went 3-1 on the day.

Horstad, seeded fourth at 119 pounds, had two pins and can still finish as high as third.

Hillerud entered as the No. 8 seed at 145. He earned a major decision as one of his three wins.

Mittleider went 2-1 on the day, including a fall and a major. The 140-pounder can still finish as high as third.

“Those three guys were definitely the bright spot for us,” coach Greg White said. “Even in the matches they lost they still wrestled hard.”

Zane Braun was the only other seeded JHS wrestler. He went down from 152 to 145, but was eliminated.

“It wasn’t one of those days where we wrestled really well. We wrestled OK,” White said. “This is about as tough as it gets at this tournament. You really have to be on the top of your game if you want to win and advance.”

Tags: sports, wrestling, jays, rotary