Jays qualify 10 for state

• Zane Braun

(Morgan Zuck / For The Sun) West Region champion Zane Braun of Jamestown pins Williston’s Logan Usher in the 152-pound final at the West Region meet in Minot on Saturday.

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Jamestown High School will be sending 10 wrestlers to this week’s state wrestling tournament in Fargo — five of whom are seeded — following Saturday’s West Region tournament in Minot.

The Blue Jays tallied 116 points to finish sixth overall, just one point shy of fifth-place finishing Dickinson.

“We had some down spots, but I would say overall we got back to the way we’re used to wrestling,” JHS coach Greg White said. “We were back wrestling tough, and I was pretty happy with the overall effort.”

Jamestown senior Zane Braun, the defending state title holder at 152 pounds, will be the top seeded wrestler in that weight division at state this week, after improving on his impressive senior season in Minot.

Braun ran the table, pinning all three opponents he faced to grab the West Region title at 152 and up his prefect winning streak to 33-0. After a first-round bye, Braun pinned Williston’s Logan Usher (1:44), Dickinson’s Michael Cherwinski (:55) and Mandan’s Adam Stein in the championship (3:20).

“He was pretty dominant in every match. There wasn’t even anything really close,” White said of Braun’s performance. “We’d like for him to carry that all the way through the state tournament.”

Junior Triston Shipley also had a stellar day for the Blue Jays at 182. Seeded No. 4, Shipley rolled all the way to the title match before losing by fall to Century’s Dillon Pierce (5:58) to finish second.

Shipley (19-15) pinned Williston’s Skyler Moe (3:06), earned a 10-6 decision over Dickinson’s Jace Dukart and then pinned No. 1-seeded Brandon Rodriquez of Turtle Mountain in the semifinals (3:25). Shipley is seeded No. 7 for state.

“What a day Triston had. That’s why we coach, for days like that,” White said. “Where kids out-do what they’re supposed to do. That’s what we always look at when we go to tournaments, to finish higher than where you were seeded.”

Senior Jaden Horsted picked up a second runner-up finish for the Blue Jays, upping his season record to 32-3 at 132. Seeded No. 3 for state, Horsted fell 13-6 to Mandan’s Curt Zachmeier in the title match in a pairing between the top two seeds in the West.

Horsted pinned St. Mary’s Austin Huck (1:55) and Century’s Austin Wetsch (3:19), before picking up a 16-5 major decision over Turtle Mountain’s Tanner Crissler in the semifinals.

“He’s wrestled Zachmeier twice and lost twice, but in both matches it was something out of the ordinary that got (Horsted) in big trouble,” White said. “If they meet in the finals (at state) and he can eliminate that, he can win. He is even with Zachmeier as far as I’m concerned.”

Junior Eathan Gumke (24-10) and freshman Paxton Mewes (26-10) are also seeded for the state tournament at 170 and 113, respectively. Both are seeded No. 6.

Gumke is one of two Jamestown wrestlers going to state at 170 after falling in the fourth-place match to Century’s Landon Schmidt 3-1. Junior Caleb Ellingson (14-11) is the other, who finished the West Region tournament in seventh by defeating Minot’s Kimani Benjamin 9-2.

Mewes placed sixth at the West Region tournament.

“Eathan was seeded fourth and got fourth, but it was still at great effort by him,” White said. “Caleb ended up seventh and will be going to state as well as an unattached wrestler.”

Freshman Brandyn Harr (20-14) had a nice tournament, pinning Geraldo Fox of Turtle Mountain (4:15) in the fifth-place match at 160 to punch his ticket to state.

“He’s a freshman at 160 pounds and that’s not the easiest place to be,” White said of Harr. “He wrestled all juniors and seniors and he gets fifth place. We’ll take that.”

Senior Mitch Ova (11-14) captured fifth-place via forfeit at 138 for the Jays, ending up higher than where he was seended.

“Mitch had a good day. He was seeded sixth and ended up fifth,” White said. “It’s only one higher, but that still means you had to beat someone you weren’t supposed to.”

Sophomore Kyle Anderson and senior Mark Reynolds round out Jamestown’s field of wrestlers heading to Fargo. Anderson (12-18) finished seventh at 220, while Anderson (2-12) was eighth at 285.

The state Class A wrestling tournament starts on Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Fargodome.

“We want to at least reach our seeds, and we are also going to have some guys who aren’t seeded,” White said. “If those guys can place and score some points that would be good.”

Class A

West Region individual tournament

At Minot State Dome

Team results

1, Bismarck 245; 2, Century 235, 3, Turtle Mountain 164.5; 4, Minot 145.5; 5, Dickinson 117; 6, Jamestown 116; 7, Mandan 112.5; 8, St. Mary’s 101.5; 9, Williston 90.5.

Individual results

106: Championship: Jaret Lee, Dickinson, dec. over Taylor Nein, Bismarck, 4-2; third-place: Mason Schulz, Century, dec. over Tyler Kress, C, 2-0; fifth-place: Dillon Spalding, B, dec. over Caden Haugen, D, 4-3; seventh-place: Matthew Schaffner, Bismarck St. Mary’s, won by injury walkover over Ryan Zachmeier, Mandan.

113: Championship: Austin Hutzenbiler, D, dec. over Kael Knowlen, B, 6-4; Third place: Nathan Humann C, maj. dec. over Christopher Longie, Turtle Mountain, 14-3; Fifth place: Alex Hoffman, B, won by forfeit over Paxton Mewes, Jamestown; Seventh place: Caydon Cymbaluk, Man, maj. dec. over Casey Loeks, BSM, 10-0.

120: Championship: Adam Blees, B, maj. dec. over Tate Barnhardt, Minot, 13-0; Third place: Jorey Bartsch, Min, dec. over Brandon Zachmeier, Man, 10-3; Fifth place: Hunter Eckert, C, won by forfeit over Terry LaVallie Jr., TM; Seventh place: Jaden Fettig, B, maj. dec. over Tyler Strandberg, Min, 13-0.

126: Championship: Grant Laducer, TM, dec. over Chris Willits, C, 13-6; Third place: Tanner Bickford, TM, won by forfeit over Devin Berger, D; Fifth place: Logan Boese, B, won by forfeit over Cayne Cymbaluk, Man; Seventh place: Beau Bergeron, W, pinned Bobby Edick, C, 1:38.

132: Championship: Curt Zachmeier, Man, dec. over Jaden Horsted, J, 13-6; Third place: Jesse Hoffart, M, dec. over Lane Kaseman, 11-7; Fifth place: Sammy Maisey, W, won by forfeit over Tanner Crissler, TM; Seventh place: Austin Huck, BSM, dec. over Austin Wetsch, C, 11-6.

138: Championship: Dane Fischer, BSM, maj. dec. over Forrest Pifer, B, 11-3; Third place: Brandon Domagala, C, dec. over Eugene Fleetwood Jr., TM, 5-3; Fifth place: Mitch Ova, J, won by forfeit over Collin Thielen, D; Seventh place: Gabe Nehlsen, Min, dec. over Jason Lepp, C, 5-3.

145: Championship: Cody Haugen, Min, dec. over Tate Hoffman, B, 9-3; Third place: Matthew Elder, C, dec. over Jacob Schwab, BSM, 5-3; Fifth place: Clayton Tangen, D, pinned Dillon Clark, D, :48; Seventh place: Rowan Horswill, W, pinned Justin BearRunner, TM, 4:57.

152: Championship: Zach Braun, J, pinned Adam Stein, Man, 3:20; Third place: Hunter Babeck, C, dec. over Josh Brilz, B, 5-3; Fifth place: Robert Richter, BSM, pinned Michael Cherwinski, D, 1:49; Seventh place: Jacob Shypkowski, D, pinned Logan Usher, W, 4:02.

160: Championship: Ryan Blees, B, maj. dec. over Hunter Bondeson, C, 19-10; Third place: Brian Rabe, Min, pinned Samuel Ravnass, Man, 4:03; Fifth place: Brandyn Harr, J, pinned Geraldo Fox, TM, 4:15; Seventh place: Michael Dobitz, D, won by forfeit over Paul Michaelson, W.

170: Championship: Ricky Galindo, B, dec. over Konner Peterson, Man, 5-1; Third place: Landon Schmidt, C, dec. over Eathan Gumke, J, 3-1; Fifth place: Markus Noeske, W, tech. fall over Ronald Azure, TM, 15-0; Seventh place: Caleb Ellingson, J, dec. over Kimani Benjamin, Min, 9-2.

182: Championship: Dillon Pierce, C, pinned Triston Shipley, J, 5:58; Third place: Brandon Rodriguez, TM, dec. over Alex Haaland, W, 2-1; Fifth place: Jace Dukart, D, won by forfeit over Willie Sam, B; Seventh place: Nicholas Boechler, BSM, pinned Trevor Peterson, Man, 4:26.

195: Championship: Dayne Haman, Min, dec. over Trace Moravec, C, 12-10 (OT); Third place: Drew Kary, B, dec. over Bret Sandberg, W, 7-0; Fifth place: Zach Corneliusen, W, won by forfeit over Jesse Rodriguez, TM; Seventh place: Alexander Spilman, Man, dec. over Austin Barunagel, BSM, 8-2.

220: Championship: Waylon DeCoteau, TM, pinned Tommy Moravec, C, 3:17; Third place: Brandon Sandberg, W, dec. over Demetreus Roby, Min, 4-2 (OT); Fifth place: Jackson Grad, BSM, won by forfeit over Chris Mann, W; Seventh place: Tommy Sease, B, pinned Kyle Anderson, J, 2:33.

285: Championship: Nick Desdahl, Min, dec. over Shawn Greenwood, C, 5-2 (OT); Third place: Tyson Keplin, TM, dec. over Tristan Hall, 3-1; Fifth place: Anthony Mann, W, pinned Isaiah Crowe, Min, 3:37; Seventh place: Dual Keck, D, dec. over Mark Reynolds, J, 5-0 (OT).

Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at msavaloja@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jays, wrestling