Last semester ended with a bang for the Itasca Vikings and so did the start of this spring semester. Itasca hosted a six-team dual tournament on January 8th in which Itasca went 3-0 as a team taking first place in the Northwoods Duals placing higher than Ridgewater Community & Technical College, Northland Community & Technical College, and Triton Community College, which is currently ranked #15 in the country for all community colleges. The Vikings beat four-year school, Carthage College, in the finals.
Itasca ended the first semester with 20 student-athlete wrestlers and a few student managers. For the 20 student-athlete wrestlers, ICC went 20 out of 20 with eligibility and retention moving into the second semester with a team GPA of 3.0 which marks one of the best retention and eligibility rates in the country. The wrestling team has rules and expectations for academic success following Coach Umlauf’s coaching philosophy of “Creating Champions of Life.”
Moving forward Itasca Community College travels to St. John’s Open on Jan 23rd. To wrap up January the Vikings will be hosting the MCAC conference dual tournament on Jan 26th in Grand Rapids, MN from Noon-4 pm in Mullins Hall (Live Stream available on social media pages).
In other second-semester news, the Vikings are proud to announce the addition of Darian Thacker, a two-time state champion from Oregon transferring from Minot St., and David Platt transferring from Concordia (Moorhead). Both these two will be welcome additions to the program as they look to make a final push down the home stretch.
SCHEDULE
Dec 8th- Battle of the North; Northland Rivalry Dual – 46-7
Jan 8th- Northwoods Duals – 3-0 in Duals
Jan 23rd- St. John’s Open
Jan 26th- MCAC Duals
Feb 5th- Northland Open
Feb 20th- National Qualifier
Mar 4th/5th- National Tournament
ROSTER
Zayne Brown- 125 (MN)
Lorenzo Paez- 133 (WI)
Charlie Black- 141 (KA)
Seth Cobb- 141 (AZ)
Antonio Watkins- 141 (FL)
Peyton Carll- 149 (MN)
Jack Herbes- 149 (MN)
David Platt- 149 (MN)
Joshua Worral- 157 (ND)
Parker Voss- 157 (MN)
Robert Solorio- 165 (AZ)
Darian Thacker- 165/174 (OR)
*Drew Deer- 174 (IL)
Tanner Grangruth- 174/ 184 (MN)
*Andy Dostal- 184 (MN)
Kohlter Mariscal- 184 (AK)
Wyatt Olson- 197 (MN)
*Brandon Wagner- 197 (MN)
Henry LaBorde- 197 (MN)
*Jake Rau- HWT (WI)
Ryan Prisch- HWT (MN)
*Axel Munter- HWT (MN)
*= Graduating this Spring
Check out Vikings Wrestling at itascacc.edu, and on Facebook and Twitter.