Four wrestlers win titles at conference tournament

Four of Park Rapids' six rated wrestlers won titles as the Panthers finished third at Saturday's Heart O'Lakes/Mid-State Conference Tournament at Pelican Rapids.

Ashton Clark won the title at 106 pounds, Jared Sunram took first at 152, Justin Dravis claimed the title at 160 and Jacob Bittmann captured the title at 220 as the Panthers compiled 190 points in this 12-team tournament. Perham won the conference title with 268 points while Frazee was second with 211 points. Staples-Motley was fourth with 125 points.

All four of those teams are rated in the latest state polls with Perham rated No. 6 in Class AA and Frazee (No. 2), Park Rapids (No. 9) and Staples-Motley (No. 12) rated in the Class A poll.

Clark improved to 26-2 on the season with a 6-0 minor decision over Frazee's Landon Byer in the 103-pound title match. Sunram defeated Frazee's Hudson Heimenz 6-2 for the title at 152 to improve to 20-3 on the season. Dravis used a 13-4 major decision over Perham's Evan Guck in the final at 160 to raise his season record to 26-1. Bittmann improved to 21-7 with a 9-7 minor decision over United Clay Becker's Sam Wamre in the championship match at 220.

Clark is rated No. 1 at 106, Sunram is rated No. 7 at 152, Dravis is rated No. 3 at 160 and Bittmann is rated No. 9 at 220 in this week's state Class A poll.

Also placing for the Panthers were Landen Burlingame (fourth at 126), Nolan Booge (third at 132), Joe Klein (sixth at 138), Logan Johnson (sixth at 145), Cody Dravis (third at 170), Zach Nelson (fifth at 182), Zach Hocking (sixth at 195) and Logan Veo (fifth at 285). Booge is rated No. 10 at 132 and Cody Dravis is rated No. 8 at 170 in this week's state poll.

"I think we wrestled well. We had a couple of kids get some upsets and some kids proved that they were the No. 1 seeds. We let a couple matches get away from us, so I am not totally pleased. I figured if we wrestled well we could get third. I knew it would be hard to get first or second, but I also knew we could have dropped to fourth or fifth if we did not wrestle well," said Park Rapids head coach Matt Clark. "Our kids are down to weight. They will go up for some duals, but the entire team is going to get all the weigh-ins for their section weight. We have a couple of duals left on our schedule, but we really need to start to focus on the post-season. We need to put ourselves in a position to do great things. We are not there yet, but we are close."

Team scores: Perham 268, Frazee 211, Park Rapids 190, Staples-Motley 125, Barnesville 82.50, Detroit Lakes 79.50, Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus 79, Crosby-Ironton 68, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 68, United Clay Becker 46, Pelican Rapids 45, Breckenridge 35.50.

Championship matches

106: Ashton Clark, PR, minor decision over Landon Byer, Fra, 6-0. 113: spencer Miller, SM, minor decision over Gabe Bellefeuille, Per, 5-3. 120: Tanner Schermerhorn, Frz, minor decision over Leighton Rach, Per, 9-2. 126: Owen Bjerga, SM, minor decision over Matthew Pollock, DGF, 3-2. 132: Tanner Reetz, Fra, minor decision over Eric Lisson, SM, 4-2. 138: Brady Tweeton, Bar, minor decision over Dylan Fudge 8-4. 145: Braydon Ortloff, DL, minor decision over Tanner Eischens, Fra, 11-4. 152: Jared Sunram, PR, minor decision over Hudson Heimenz, Fra, 6-2. 160: Justin Dravis, PR, major decision over Evan Guck, Per, 13-4. 170: Alex Erpelding, SM, pinned Zachary Peterson, Per, 3:35. 182: Dawson Kellogg, Per, minor decision over Jacob Arends, DGF, 4-2. 195: Ty Moser, Per, minor decision over Kieran Johnson, Bar, 3-2. 220: Jacob Bittmann, PR, minor decision over Sam Wamre, UCB, 9-7, 285: Jonathan Staebler, Per, pinned Tony Malikowski, Fra, 5:43.

Park Rapids results

Ashton Clark (106): won minor decision over Owen Werner, Per, 5-2; won minor decision over Landon Byer, Fra, 6-0 (1st).

Landen Burlingame (126): won major decision over Matt Christopher, CI, 11-2; lost major decision to Owen Bjerga, SM, 8-0; won minor decision over Kaden Hiemenz, Fra, 5-1; lost minor decision to Jack Fudge, Per, 5-2 (4th).

Nolan Booge (132): won minor decision over Jake Poehler, PLPRB, 7-0; lost minor decision to Eric Lisson, SM, 2-1; pinned Fabyon Greer, DL, :48; pinned Patrick Johnson, Per, :44 (3rd).

Joe Klein (138): lost minor decision to Carter Gilles, Breck, 6-5; pinned Daniel Wilson, DGF, 3:00; pinned by Blaine Beat, Fra, 2:19; pinned by Ryley Byklum, UCB, 1:59 (6th).

Logan Johnson (145): lost minor decision to Casey Kulsrud, Pel, 9-8; pinned Austin Johnson, CI, 2:40; lost major decision to Gage Paurus, Per, 14-5; lost minor decision to Evan Gravdahl, PLPRB, 8-5 (6th).

Jared Sunram (152): pinned Zack Bennett, CI, :58; won minor decision over Wyatt Guck, Per, 7-0; won minor decision over Hudson Heimenz, Fra, 6-2 (1st).

Justin Dravis (160): pinned Chareton Wake, Fra, 1:17; pinned Devyn Richards, PLPRB, 3:34; won major decision over Evan Guck, PEr, 13-4 (1st).

Cody Dravis (170): pinned Trevor Dufault, DGF, 1:09; lost minor decision to Zachary Peterson, Per, 7-5; pinned Isaiah Thompson, DL, :39; won minor decision over Carson Haugrud, Pel, 5-0 (3rd).

Zach Nelson (182): pinned Jackson Poepping, Bar, 2:28; pinned by Dawson Kellogg, Per, 1:03; lost minor decision to Justin Neumann, PLPRB, 5-4; pinned Poepping 1:22 (5th).

Zach Hocking (195): lost minor decision to Luke Tweeton, Fra, 4-1; won minor decision over Jordan Sadsem, DL, 1-0; pinned by Taylor Eigenheer, I 1:51; pinned by Tanner Differding, Breck, 2:38 (6th).

Jacob Bittmann (220): pinned Eli Lies, CI, 1:22; pinned Rory Drewes, Fra, 2:00; won minor decision over Sam Wamre, UCB, 9-7 (1st).

Logan Veo (285): pinned by Hunter Maczieski, DGF, 3:52; pinned by Kyle Serich, SM, 3:38; pinned Armando Diaz-Perze, Pel, :28 (5th).