Milestone title for Jays’ Braun

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Zane Braun joined some pretty exclusive company and snapped a Jamestown High School drought in the process.

The Blue Jays 152-pound standout continued his unbeaten season on Saturday with a tight 3-1 overtime victory over Bryce Fish of Grand Forks Central to win the 152-pound title at the prestigious Bismarck Rotary Tournament.

Braun, who pushed his record to a sparkling 24-0 with the 5-0 weekend sweep, put on quite a show against Fish, the same person he beat for a state championship last year.

“Those are two very good kids,” JHS coach Greg White said of Braun and Fish. “That was a really good, well-fought match by both. They’re going to battle it out every time they meet.”

Braun’s Rotary title was the first for a JHS wrestler since 2006 when heavyweight Tyler Wibstad and 103-pounder Lucas Krueger both captured the top prize, which many consider to be even tougher to win than a state championship due to the added competition from top out-of-state programs. Prior to that Dan White, the school’s all-time wins leader with 149, was the last to win in Bismarck coming in 2003.

“You win at the Rotary, you’ve really done something,” White said. “It’s a great accomplishment for Zane.”

Braun’s big weekend led a respectable 12th-place finish overall for the Blue Jays. White was hoping for a top 10, but their 92 points was just one behind Glendive Dawson County (Mont.) and two in back of Grand Forks Red River.

Jaden Horsted also advanced to the finals and put up a good fight before falling to Mandan’s Curt Zachmeier 13-5 at 126.

“The score made the match look not close, but that wasn’t the case. It was one of those matches where everything he tried went wrong,” White said. “But still, to place second, there’s no shame in that.”

Paxton Mewes was the other placer for the Blue Jays. The freshman didn’t score in a narrow 2-0 overtime loss to Dickinson’s Austin Hutzenbihler at 113 in the third-place match. Still, Mewes finished one spot ahead of his seed.

“Paxton did a nice job. That weight class is pretty strong. All the guys ahead of him are tough, so it’s going to be interesting to see how that all plays out down the road,” White said.

The Blue Jays now turn to the second half of the season and still have a legitimate shot at qualifying for state as a team for the first time in years. They’ll likely have to win out, but White said, “It’s possible.”

“It’s been one of those years where we haven’t been able to put everybody in their spots at the same time because of sickness, injury or something else,” he said. “If we can get everything lined up, we have a shot to do something.”

The Blue Jays start a busy week Tuesday with a dual in Devils Lake. They finally get a home match Thursday against Bismarck St. Mary’s before heading for Moorhead on Saturday.

Bismarck Rotary Tournament

eam results

1. Bismarck 199. 2. Century 184.5. 3. Rapid City (S.D.) Central 173. 4. Sidney (Mont.) 133. 5. Aberdeen (S.D.) Central 121.5. 6. Sturgis (S.D.) 117.5. 7. Williston 114. 8. Fargo Davies 112.5. 9. Turtle Mountain 96. 10. Grand Forks Red River 94. 11. Glendive (Mont.) Dawson County 93. 12. Jamestown 92.

13. Dickinson 87.5. 14. Rapid City (S.D.) Stevens 87. 15. Napoleon 84. 16. Mandan 82.5. 17. Minot 75. 18. Grand Forks Central 71. 19. Fargo North 70. 20. Wahpeton 69. 21. Fargo South 67. 22. Valley City 64. 23. St. Mary’s 45. 24. Beulah-Hazen 27.

Individual results

106 pounds: Zane Joens, Sturgis, def. Taylor Nein, Bismarck, 5-0 (championship). Ethan Graves, Sidney, def. Tyler Pfeifle, R.C. Central, 3-2 (third). Buddy Heidinger, R.C. Central unattached, def. Marvin Berry, Fargo South, 6-1 (fifth). Jaret Lee, Dickinson, pinned Ryan Zachmeier, Mandan, 2:08 (seventh).

113: Marlo Bell, Fargo South, def. Nathan Humann, Century, 5-3, OT (championship). Austin Hutzenbihler, Dickinson, def. Paxton Mewes, Jamestown, 2-0, OT (third). Brody Jorensen, Sturgis, pinned Jaden Fettig, Bismarck, 2:36 (fifth). Brandon Zachmeier, Mandan, def. Jacob Berg, Wahpeton, 4-1 (seventh).

120: Gresh Jones, Sidney, def. Tommy Walton, Fargo North, 5-4 (championship). Terry Lavallie, Turtle Mountain, def. Keaton Ohlsen, R.C. Stevens, 7-0 (third). Tate Barnhardt, St. Mary’s, def. Hayden Hansen, R.C. Central, 7-1 (fifth). Trevor Hieb, Aberdeen, pinned Rodell Johnson, G.F. Red River,1:51 (seventh).

126: Curt Zachmeier, Mandan, def. Jaden Horsted, Jamestown, major dec., 13-5 (championship). Jordan Moser, R.C. Stevens, def. Sean Murphy, G.F. Red River, 5-1 (third). Alan Heidinger, R.C. Central, def. Adam Blees, Bismarck, 8-2 (fifth). Jesse Skidmore, Sturgis, def. Dalton Jangula, Napoleon, 5-0 (seventh).

132: Garrett Peterson, R.C. Stevens, def. Lane Kaseman, Bismarck, 3-3, ultimate tiebreaker (championship). Dillon Tennant, DawsonCounty, def. Tyler Forcella, Dawson County unattached, 2-1, OT (third). Jonathan Grunefelder, Napoleon, def. Devin Berger, Dickinson, 10-6 (fifth). Grant Laducer, Turtle Mountain, def. Michael Bell, Fargo South, medical forfeit (seventh).

138: Cole Mehring, Fargo Davies, def. Griff Hieb, Aberdeen, 4-2 (championship). Jordan Stevens, Sidney, def. Dane Fischer, St. Mary’s, 5-2 (third). Dillon Beeler, Dawson County unattached, def. Layne Lantis, DawsonCounty, major dec., 10-0 (fifth). Forrest Pifer, Bismarck, def. Garrett Litzinger, G.F. Central, 3-1 (seventh).

145: Cody Haugen, Minot, def. Blake Stone, R.C. Central, 5-2 (championship). Mitch Johnson, Aberdeen, def. Tyler Kinn, Dawson County, 12-5 (third). Wyatt Meyer, Wahpeton, def. Tate Hoffman, Bismarck, 3-2 (fifth). Clayton Tangen, Dickinson, pinned Gunar Hanevold, G.F. Red River, 3:23 (seventh).

152: Zane Braun, Jamestown, def. Bryce Fish, G.F. Central, 3-1, OT (championship). John Frisco, Aberdeen, def. Michael Lehmann, Wahpeton, 9-4 (third). Shane Undem, Valley City, def. Martin Mueller, R.C. Central unattached, 3-0 (fifth). Hunter Babeck, Century, def. Adam Stein, Mandan, 7-6 (seventh).

160: Ryan Blees, Bismarck, def. Paul Michaelson, Williston, 11-5 (championship). Shane O’Connell, R.C. Central, def. Cole Bilbrey, DawsonCounty, 3-2 (third). Mathew Gross, Napoleon, def. Cody Christian, Sidney, major dec., 19-2 (fifth). Hunter Bondeson, Century, def. Cole Alexander, Fargo Davies, 8-6 (seventh).

170: Ricardo Galindo, Bismarck, def. def. Landon Schmidt, Century, 4-2 (championship). Zach Doty, Valley City, def. Konnor Peterson, Mandan, 7-3 (third). Ryder Peterson, Sidney, pinned Darren Crissler, Fargo Davies, 2:12 (fifth). Nicholas Becker, Napoleon, def. Markus Noeske, Williston, 3-2 (seventh).

182: Aero Amo, R.C. Central, def. Dayne Haman, Minot, major dec., 10-0 (championship). Brandon Rodriguez, TurtleMountain, pinned Dillon Pierce, Century, 4:50 (third). Dace Fisher, Sidney, def. Zander Mairs, Fargo Davies, 3-0 (fifth). Drew Kary, Bismarck, def. Kyle Terrill, G.F. Central, major dec., 8-0 (seventh).

195: Tommy Moravec, Century, def. Todd Kessler, Bismarck, 5-3, OT (championship). Waylon Decoteau, TurtleMountain, def. Zack Corneliusen, Williston unattached, 2-0 (third). John Wilcox, Sturgis, pinned Bret Sandberg, Williston, 1:28 (fifth). Jared Bertsch, G.F. Red River, def. Cody Nielson, Fargo South, 1-0 (seventh).

220: Andrew Beine, Napoleon, def. Jarran Jensen, R.C. Central, 6-4 (championship). Olaf Hanson, Fargo North, def. Brandon Sandberg, Williston, 11-4 (third). Sam Schaunaman, Aberdeen, def. Trace Moravec, Century, 4-2 (fifth). Seferino Hernandez, G.F. Central, pinned Chris Sickler, Dickinson, 1:22 (seventh).

285: Bryan Bjerk, G.F. Red River, def. Hunter Swenson, Fargo Davies, 8-3 (championship). Shawn Greenwood, Century, pinned Steven Horner, Valley City, 4:07 (third). Aaron Beaird, R.C. Central, def. John Wilson, Sturgis, 1-0 (fifth). Tyson Keplin, Turtle Mountain, def. Tyler Ringdahl, Wahpeton, 6-4 (seventh).

Sun sports writer Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

Tags: college sports, sports, jays, wrestling