Photo by Scott Jonsgaard
Winning a weekend individual wrestling tournament isn’t easy. Southeast Minnesota has a plethora of good teams and wrestlers. The LARP Screamin’ Eagles did what they’ve haven’t done in a long time and pulled off the tough task. Tim Tekautz and Darrin Hegland’s group came out on top (182) at the PEM Invite, beating nearest foes Maple River/USC (173), Lake City (147), and PEM (147). FCLMC also took part, taking sixth (130) of 12 teams. LARP had one champion (Titan Tekautz), three second places (Eli Jensen, Brennan Corcoran, Tyler Kryzer) and four thirds (Quintin Betthauser, Jacob Meyer, Tyler Kreidermacher, Brock Frisch). Tekautz claimed the sole title with a trio of pins (including beating FCLMC’s Connor Wingert in the finals). Jensen (138) notched two pins before falling by pin to Winona’s Logan Henningson (11-3) in the finals. Corcoran (160) won a 15-2 major and a fall before losing by fall to Lake City’s AA #7 Jonathan Harvey (23-3) in the finals. Kryzer (182) beat FCLMC’s Oliver Hoeltzle by 10-4 decision before falling by fall to LC’s Sam Nutt (13-1) in the finals. Betthauser (132) went 4-1 (four pins, lost 8-0 major to MR/USC’s 24-2 #3 Boden Simon in the semis). Meyer (195) went 3-1 (two pins, 9-6 decision, lost 7-2 decision in semis). Kreidermacher (113) went 2-1 (lost 10-5 decision, won by fall and 14-9 decision). Frisch (220) went 2-1 (lost by fall, won 8-2 and 5-1 decisions). Camdyn Anderson (170) went 3-2 to take fourth. LARP put someone out at every weight save 126. FCLMC’s had one first (Kane Larson), two seconds (Wingert, Orion Sass) and two thirds (Carter Hovland, Hoeltzle). Larson grabbed the 106-pound title with a couple decision wins (8-4, 4-1). Wingert (145) won by fall and 16-0 tech fall before falling to LARP’s Tekautz in the finals. Sass (170) went 3-1, winning by 14-3 major, pin, and 20-5 tech fall to make the finals, losing by fall to MR/USC’s #5 Cooper Oschendorf (25-1). Hovland (138) went 3-1 (won two falls and a 9-2 decision, lost by fall to Henningson in semis). Hoelztle went 3-1 (won two falls and an 8-5 decision, lost to LARP’s Kryzer by 10-4 decision in semis). Bodey Wright (195) went 2-2 to take fourth. The Wolves had guys compete at 10 of 14 weights.