Colten Carlson

Four Jacks win at Bison Open

FARGO, N.D. – Four South Dakota State University wrestlers won titles and five others reached the championship bouts of their respective weight classes during competition Saturday at the Bison Open.

Leading the way for the Jackrabbits was top-ranked Seth Gross, who pinned all three of his opponents en route to winning the 133-pound title. The NCAA runner-up at 133 pounds last season, Gross defeated each of his first two opponents in less than a minute before pinning host North Dakota State’s McGwire Midkiff in 4 minutes, 32 seconds in the championship bout.

Also at 133 pounds, freshman Rylee Molitor placed third with a 3-1 record on the day.

Winning at 149 pounds was redshirt freshman Colten Carlson, who defeated three NDSU wrestlers on his way to the title. Carlson opened with a 6-4 win over the Bison’s Gavin Sutton, then scored a 12-0 major decision over Minot State’s Tanner Crissler. In the semifinals, Carlson knocked off Kyle Gliva with a third-period pin. The championship bout against Mitchell Bengston ended 105 seconds into the match, with Carlson declared the winner by injury default.

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Family, Farming and Wrestling – The Carlson Legacy in Willmar

By Brian Jerzak

Family and wrestling go together like ice cream and apple pie. All across the state of Minnesota, the wrestling landscape is littered with families steeped in wrestling history. The Short family, the Morgan family, the Thorn and the Ness families, just to name a few, have produced multiple high-level wrestlers. They are families that get the sport of wrestling in their blood, and it never gets out.

The connection between wrestling and family is similar to the connection between family and farming. Generations of families work family farms. Often the home and farm are passed down from one generation to the next. Once farming gets in a family's blood, like wrestling, it is hard to get it out.

Few families in Minnesota encapsulate the strong bond between family, farming and wrestling more than the Carlson family from Willmar.

"Our dad (Curtney) wrestled for Willmar back in the 1950's," Chad Carlson said, "and graduated from Willmar High School in 1957. He got us started in it. It wasn't like he was pushing us one way or the other, but I think he thought it would be a good thing to get us into."

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