Packers capture fifth at Burnsville
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, January 9, 2001
BURNSVILLE – The Austin High School wrestling team garnered two first-place finishes and three second place finishes to finish in fifth place as a team in the Burnsville Invite Saturday.
Tuesday, January 09, 2001
BURNSVILLE – The Austin High School wrestling team garnered two first-place finishes and three second place finishes to finish in fifth place as a team in the Burnsville Invite Saturday.
Going up against some of the state’s prolific wrestling powerhouses, the Austin grapplers held their own.
Perennial state tournament Hastings won the eight-team invite with a team score of 200. Hastings was followed by Burnsville with 156 points, Eastview with 145 points, Rochester Mayo with 144.5 points, Austin with 131 points, St. Paul Como Park with 106 points, Byron with 75 points and Eagan with 51.5 points.
T.J. Parlin and Todd Krupicka led the Packers with first place finishes.
Parlin took first at 119 pounds. He opened by pinning Eagan’s Mark Buske in 2:53, then major decisioned Hastings’ Shawn McMenomy 16-6 and finished with an 8-3 decision over Eastview’s Mikey Fornicoia. The victory was Parlin’s second Burnsville title. He won at 103 pounds last year.
Krupicka meanwhile won top honors at 275 pounds, earning his first tournament title. He pinned Eastview’s Brian Putnam in 5:09 and then pinned Hastings’ Nick Wanger in 2:42.
The Packers’ three second place finishers were Matt Adwell, Drew Oesterle and Chad Mentel.
Adwell made it to his first tournament finals at 140 pounds with decisions over Eagan’s Brian Hartley by a 15-4 margin and Hastings’ Ryan Zajak by a score of 6-3. Adwell then ran into the No. 9 ranked wrestler in the state, Eastview’s Ryan Langlais, in the finals and fell by a score of 7-1.
Oesterle finished second at 145 pounds. He opened quickly with a 47 second pin of Eagan’s Taimon Wong. Oesterle then decisioned Eastview’s John Getske 11-6. In the finals Oesterle was pitted against the states No. 2 145 pounder, Hastings’ Jordan Cook. Cook was able to decision Oesterle 3-1 in a very tight match.
Austin’s Mentel, the No. 2 189 pounder in the state stormed into the finals with a major decision victory over Rochester Mayo’s Matt Higgins 11-3 and a pin of the state’s No. 10 ranked 189 pounder Adam Hoffman , of Hastings. Mentel pinned Hoffman in 5:41.
The 189-pound finals matched Mentel versus the No. 1 ranked 189 pounder Adam Fokken, of Eastview.
The match went to overtime with Fokken finally notching a 3-1 victory over Mentel.
Other Packer notable performances include: Dave Cunningham, who took third at 103 pounds; Josh Kestner, who took third at 130 pounds; Derek Hyland, who took fifth at 160 pounds; and Dan Smith, who took sixth at 152 pounds.
The Austin wrestling team is next in action tonight when it travels to Wascea for a quadrangular meet with the hosts, Mankato East and Prior Lake.