COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John’s wrestling opened its 2023-24 season with two individual wins at its inaugural Haws/Elton 4-Team Rumble on Sunday, Nov. 12, in Sexton Arena.
A pair of freshmen, Owen Herbst (Buffalo, Minn.) and Connor Krueger (Superior, Wis.), both went 3-0 to win their respective weight classes in a tournament that consisted of SJU, Concordia-Moorhead, Minnesota North-Itasca and Division II Sioux Falls (S.D.).
A transfer from Division II St. Cloud State, Herbst posted a pair of falls at 174 pounds. He posted a 5-1 win over Concordia’s Zach Pribyl in his first match as a Johnnie and notched pins over Sioux Falls’ Timothy Lacina (2:15) and the Cobbers’ Alexander Rapelje at the horn (7:00) for the title. Krueger, meanwhile, collected a pair of close decisions against Sioux Falls wrestlers en route to the crown at 141 pounds. He edged Riley Fitzsimmons 8-5 in overtime to start the day, tallied a 16-5 major decision in the semifinal and earned an 11-8 decision over USF’s Beau Beavers in the championship bout.
Junior Logan Thorsten (Foley, Minn.) went 2-1 and finished second at 165 pounds. He recorded two convincing wins – a pin in 1:01 and a 6-0 decision – but fell to Sioux Falls’ Jayden Coulter via fall in the title match.
Junior Noah Whitfield-Lopez (Wheatland, Wyo.) won all three of his flight matches at 174 pounds, including a 5-3 decision in double overtime over freshman Landon Seward (Alexandria, Minn.) to end the tournament.
Haws/Elton 4-Team Rumble Results
The Johnnies hit the road for Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s 8-Man Battles at 10 a.m. this Saturday, Nov. 18.
125
-Marcus Hayes (Third, 1-1)
-Erick Solano (Second, 1-1)
141
-Connor Krueger (Champion, 3-0)
157
-Jon Gettel (2-1)
165
-Logan Thorsten (Second, 2-1)
174
-Ben Gilbertson (0-2)
-Owen Herbst (Champion, 3-0)
174 (flight, round-robin)
-Andy Johnson (2-1)
-Landon Seward (0-3)
-Noah Whitfield-Lopez (3-0)
184 (round-robin)
-Bryce Commerford (1-3)
-Jacob Vaughan (Third, 2-2)
197 (round-robin)
-James Diaz (0-3)
-Aidan Wayne (1-2)
285
-Kenneth Torres (0-2)
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