By John Rittenhouse
Two Luverne-Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth wrestlers extended their seasons at Lac qui Parle Valley High School near Madison last weekend.
Competing at the Section 3AA Individual Tournament, Ellsworth High School senior Chris Tiesler and Luverne High School junior Joel Evans both qualified for the Minnesota State Class AA Wrestling Championships that start today and end Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Tiesler earned his third consecutive trip to the state classic by placing second at 119 pounds during the section event. Evans placed second at 189 pounds to earn his first berth in the state tournament.
Both Cardinals wrestle at noon today in the Class AA preliminaries.
The quarterfinals are set for 2 p.m. today. Tomorrow's slate begins with the wrestle backs starting at 4:30 p.m. The semifinals and consolation semifinals take place at 7:30.
Saturday's medal-round matches begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Tiesler went 0-1 during his first state appearance in 2000 before going 2-2 without placing last winter. He will take a 29-5 record into the state tournament.
He went 3-1 and won a 5-4 decision against Montevideo's J. Homan in a true second-place match last weekend.
Tiesler pinned Marshall’s Nate Boerboom in 2:31 and notched a 19-6 major decision win over Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's Adam Snyder to reach the finals, where he lost a 7-6 decision to Windom-Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin’s Nick Kulseth.
Homan advanced through the wrestle backs only to fall to Tiesler with a trip to state on the line.
Evans didn’t have to wrestle a true second place match at 189.
He advanced to the finals by posting pins over Yellow Medicine East’s Nate Schommer (:52) and Montevideo's Pat Huber (1:59). Marshall’s Colby Bruns handed Evans a 9-0 major decision setback in the title tilt.
Evans takes a 27-6 record into the state tournament.
L-H-BC-E junior heavyweight Cody Jagow placed fifth at the section meet with a 3-2 record. He finishes the year with a 17-6 mark. Sophomore Dustin Donth placed sixth at 125 with a 2-3 record. His season mark is 8-16.
Junior Canaan Petersen (15-15 overall) and sophomore Brant Jacobs (2-21) both went 1-2 without placing at 145 and 152 respectively.
Junior Dusty Seachris (11-20), sophomore Justin Mann (5-19) and freshman Jose Saravia (2-23) all went 0-2 at 130, 135 and 171.