A pair of Packer matmen made it to the championship finals of the Blue Earth Area Invitational Saturday, with three-time state placewinner T.J. Parlin bringing home first place.

Austin placed seventh out of nine as a team, just one team point behind Worthington for sixth. United South Central won the team title.

Parlin moved his season record to 9-0 with two wins by technical fall, posting identical 23-8 scores over T.J. Forstner of Madelia-Truman and Ken Sandt of USC en route to the 130 trophy. Parlin was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.

"T.J. really impressed the coaches at the tournament with the ease at which he was able to beat his opponents," said AHS coach Bill Kinney. "He had 10 takedowns in each of his two matches."

Danny Rysavy earned second place in the 103-pound field, posting a pair of pins on his way to the finals. In the opening round Rysavy pinned Doug Bisek of Montgomery-Lonsdale in 25 seconds, and his second-round pin of Nathan Majer (Worthington) came at 3:33 during the second period. Madelia-Truman's Andy Forstner took Rysavy down by fall at 38 seconds of the finals match.

"Dan is still an undersized 103-pounder," Coach Kinney said. "He has yet to weigh-in over 100 pounds. His opponent in the finals was considerably larger and stronger.

"Dan has gotten off to a great start this season, and I'm sure this loss will only motivate him to bigger and better things."

Rysavy was nominated for the Dick Boran Sportsmanship Award for good sportsmanship in the tournament.

Two other Packer matmen earned third-place finishes for their efforts on Saturday. Josh Solberg took third at 171 and Marcus Ball won bronze at 160.

Nick Zrucky and Rob Frost won fourth place at 140 and 215 respectively, and Garett Plotts won his final match for fifth at 189.

Andy Graham (145) and Matt Day (275) each earned sixth-place finishes.

Austin opens its home wrestling season Thursday night at home against Rochester Mayo, who is off to a strong start. The Packers play host to the Spartans starting with junior varsity matches at 6 p.m. The meet will be the annual Alumni Night for all former Packer wrestlers, cheerleaders, managers and coaches who are able to attend as the team's honored guests.

Results:

Team standings -- 1. USC 186, 2. Lake City 156, 3. Blue Earth Area 129, 4. Madelia-Truman 120.5, 5. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 119, 6. Worthington 102, 7. Austin 101, 8. Montgomery-Lonsdale 94.5, 9. Martin County West 94.