EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Three Saint John’s wrestling student-athletes reached the podium at Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s 8-Man Battle on Saturday, Nov. 18.
Freshman Connor Krueger (Superior, Wis.) posted a 2-0 record to win the title at 141 pounds. Following a bye, Krueger recorded a technical fall and defeated Eau Claire’s Andrew Kested with a pin at the end of the first period for the title. He is now 5-0 to start his collegiate career.
Junior Logan Thorsten (Foley, Minn.) finished second with a 3-1 record in his five-man, round-robin at 165 pounds. He started the day with a pin and technical fall, but dropped his third match via tech fall. Thorsten finished the tournament strong, however, with a 15-2 major decision to improve his season record to 5-2.
Freshman Owen Herbst (Buffalo, Minn.) won his first match at 174 pounds via technical fall, but suffered his first loss of the season (4-1 record) by a 6-5 decision in the semifinal. He claimed third place with a no-decision against senior Ben Gilbertson (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice).
A pair of Johnnie underclassmen – sophomore Andy Johnson (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) and freshman Cody Kwak (Ridgeland, Wis./Menomonie) – won three matches in their round-robin (flight) brackets. Johnson collected two first-period pins to finish 3-1 at 174 pounds, while Kwak went 3-0 with three first-period pins in his collegiate debut.
UW-Eau Claire 8 Man Battle Results
The Johnnies return from Thanksgiving break with Division II MSU-Moorhead’s Dragon Open at 9 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 3.
125 – Flight (round-robin)
-Marcus Hayes (1-3)
-Chris Mathis (1-3)
-Erick Solano (1-2)
141
-Connor Krueger (Champion, 2-0)
165 (round-robin)
-Logan Thorsten (Second, 3-1)
165 – Flight (round-robin)
-Kris Castro (2-1)
-Jon Gettel (1-2)
174
-Ben Gilbertson (0-1)
-Owen Herbst (Third, 1-1)
174 – Flight (round-robin)
-Andy Johnson (3-1)
-Landon Seward (1-3)
197 – Flight (round-robin)
-Aidan Wayne (2-1)
285 – Flight (round-robin)
-Cody Kwak (3-0)
-Kenneth Torres (1-2)
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