St. Cloud State Wrestling enjoys strong performances at Saint John’s
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – No. 5 St. Cloud State Wrestling earned six titles at the North Country Open in Collegeville on Sunday. 20 Huskies in total earned top six finishes, 14 placed in the top three and nine were finalists.
In the Gold Division, Blake Legred went 3-0 at 157 with two decisions over DI wrestlers to earn the Huskies’ first title of the day. Legred did not give up a point in his three matches, outscoring his opponents 9-0. Bryce FitzPatrick made it two SCSU titles in the upper division, winning the 184 class with a 3-0 performance. The Mahtomedi product recorded falls in under a minute in each of his first two matches before winning a 4-1 decision in the Finals.
Four Huskies earned titles in the Silver Division. Aoci Bernard and Luke Studer earned co-champion finishes at 149, with Bernard going 2-0 and scoring a major decision. Studer enjoyed a 3-0 performance featuring three bonus point wins: one major, one tech and a fall. Owen Herbst won the 165-pound class thanks to a 4-0 day, scoring a major decision and a fall with three wins over NSIC opponents. Sebastian Zamorano closed out the day with a title at 174, recording one tech fall and outscoring his opponents by a 32-12 margin.
Archer Heelan and Ashton Clark placed third and fifth, respectively in the Gold division at 125. Three Huskies earned placement bouts at 133 as No. 11 Sam Spencer finished runner-up with a 1-1 day, Caleb Meekins took third and Robby Horsman placed fourth. Meekins had two tech falls and a pin to go 3-1, while Horsman’s two tech falls gave him a 2-2 performance.
Philip Kue went 2-2 with a fall and a major decision in the Gold 141 division, taking fourth. Kaleb Horn placed sixth, while Nate Rocheleau wrestled a pair of matches. Cameron Riggs won a major decision to take sixth in the Gold 149 division, joined in the class by Nolan Throne. In the Gold 157 division, Wyatt Abele took sixth with a 2-2 day that featured one major decision.
Logan Vaughan earned a Finals bout at Gold 165 before injury defaulting, finishing runner-up. Jimmy Pierandozzi took third at 165 with a 3-1 open, winning two decisions over DI wrestlers. Bryce Dagel went 1-2 at Gold 174 with a tech fall, while Isaac Grams and Kaleb Haase each placed third at Gold 197 and heavyweight, respectively. Grams went 3-1 with two falls, while Haase enjoyed a 2-1 performance.
Augustus Donovan competed in the Silver 149 division, taking sixth with a fall in the consolation round. Jadon Mims went 2-1 at heavyweight in the Silver division, winning decisions in the quarters and semis before earning a runner-up finish.
Saint John’s North Country Open Results
Quotables – St. Cloud State head coach Steve Costanzo
“I was just happy that our guys had a chance to go out and compete against some quality competition. It’s been a while since a lot of these guys have had a chance to get out there – they’ve been working really hard over the last month and a half. It was good to see them on the mat competing.”
“We had two champs in the gold division with Bryce and Blake – Blake had a nice win in the finals, and it’s good that Bryce has a chance to get some matches under his belt being that he has been injured the past two years. I’m happy to see those guys out there. We had some young guys in the silver division perform well. They’ve been working hard, and it’s good to see those guys go out there and have some success.”
“They’re happy to have an opportunity to compete because it’s been so long – some of these guys haven’t competed since the Dragon Open. Regardless, it’s been a while – these young kids need matches. Today I thought they had an opportunity to get a handful of matches and have a little bit of success at the same time.”
“They’ll build on getting matches, getting some good competition and learning from that. Regardless of whether you win or lose, you’ll always critique yourself. We’ll critique them as well, but more importantly it’s the learning process they get from each competition.”
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