By John RittenhouseAlong with competing as members of Adrian’s third-place-finish team, five Dragon grapplers competed individually at the Minnesota State Class AA Wrestling Championships staged at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Thursday through Saturday.Three of the five AHS wrestlers placed in their respective weight classes. Two of the Dragons bowed out of the competition after receiving first-round setbacks."We had a pretty good weekend. Three of our five kids placed individually. I’ll take that any time," said Cardinal coach Gregg Nelson.Senior Cody Reverts turned in Adrian’s top individual effort by placing second at 215 pounds.Reverts handed Lester Prairie-Howard Lake-Waverley-Winsted’s Jason Latzke a 10-4 setback in Thursday’s opening round before nipping Mahnomen-Waubun’s Jon Brunner 3-2 in the semifinals later that day.The AHS standout strolled into the finals with a 15-6 major decision victory over New Prague’s Jake Schoenecker in Friday’s semifinals. Joe Nord, the defending champion from Waconia, ran his record to 48-0 after saddling Reverts (41-4 overall) with a 9-1 setback in Saturday’s championship match."Cody really wrestled well," Nelson said. "He was in control of his first three matches, but he ran into a kid ranked second in the country in the finals. Cody definitely earned it (his second place finish)."Junior Will Lutmer ended his 40-7 junior season by placing fourth at heavyweight.Lutmer nipped Stewartville’s Greg Reeves 7-5 in the opener before receiving 2-1 overtime victory over Thief River Falls-Goodridge’s Andrew Peralta when Peralta was penalized for head-butting Lutmer in overtime.Jackson County Central’s Jared Knips, the eventual champion, pinned Lutmer in 3:03 during the semifinals. Lutmer ran into Peralta again in the match for third and fourth place. This time Peralta used an escape in overtime to edge Lutmer 2-1.Brandon Bullerman ended his senior year with a 43-6 record after placing sixth at 135 pounds.Bullerman rolled to a 10-0 major decision win over Mankato East’s Kyle Carriveau before topping Little Falls’ Troy Biermaier 10-8 in the quarterfinals.St. Michael-Albertville’s Joe Grygelko, who eventually placed second, handed Bullerman a 7-4 setback in Friday’s semifinals.Bullerman lost to third-place finisher Travis Rutt of New Prague in Saturday’s wrestlebacks. After injuring his knee during the team competition on Saturday, Bullerman didn’t take the mat against Long Prairie-Gray Eagle’s Sam Schad in the match for fifth and sixth place."We didn’t want to send Brandon out there with a bad knee. It’s not the way you want to end your senior year, but that’s the way it happened," Nelson said.Seventh-grader Brock Bullerman (23-20) and junior Tyler Wagner (31-12) both went 0-1 at 103 and 171 respectively.New London-Spicer’s Chad Henle, who placed third at 103, bested Bullerman 14-3 in the first round. Roseau’s Mark Przekwas, who finished third at 171, upended Wagner 14-6 in the first round.
