Orono Wrestlers at Mound Invitational
The Orono wrestling team closed out the regular season this past Friday placing 5th in the Mound-Westonka Leopold-Haglund Memorial Tournament. Nine Orono wrestlers competed in the 14 weights. The tournament, won by Waconia, featured three Spartans in the finals.
Sophomore Marcus Ostvig (113) started the Spartans winning with 6-0 decision over Trevor Sharp of Eastview. Ostvig followed up with a semi-final major decision over AJ Aitkin of Osseo 12-0. Marcus ended the evening in 2nd place after losing to the state’s 2AA top ranked 113 pounder, Garret Vos of Waconia.
Freshman Henry Beck ((120) opened up with a 17-4 major decision over his Buffalo opponent, Nathan DesMarais. A semifinal loss put Beck in the consolation finals where he ended up fourth for the evening’
Top seeded Senior and Co-Captain Jon Schmid (126) began the night with a 20-5 technical fall over Eastview’s Mehdi Moukrim. A second period fall in the semifinal round set up a grudge match in the finals with Waconia’s Tim Stapleton. Schmid came up short this time and placed second.
Freshman Nick Simafranca (132) pinned his opening round opponent, Dah Eh Gay of Como Park in the first period. A subsequent loss in the semifinals sent Nick to the consolation finals where he ended up 4th for the tournament.
Coming off mid-season injuries, Senior Spencer Schuh (145) lost a tough opening round match 6-3 to Charlie Kinneberg of Waconia. A subsequent pin at 3:41 over Joe Soucy of Monticello put Schuh in the 5th-6th place match where he ended up 6th.
An opening round loss for 8th grader Danny Striggow (152) sent him into the consolation bracketing. A second round pin over Monticello’s Tanner Talbot and another third period fall over Raymond Chester of Como Park gave Striggow 5th place honors for the evening.
Sophomore Blaine Bauman (170) earned an opening round fall over Hsar Wah of Como Park. A semifinal round loss to the eventual champion put Bauman in the consolation finals where he earned a 3rd place fall over Eastview’s Eric Schmidt.
Sophomore Co-Captain Bobby Striggow (182) pinned Edward Jordan of Monticello at 0:59 in the opening round. Striggow pinned Daniel Arehart of Eastview in the semifinal round. Bobby earned a 5-3 decision over Will Storch of WEM/JWP to become the only Spartan champion for the evening.
With the end of the regular season now complete, the state tournament journey begins this week. In a weekend seeding meeting, Orono drew the 5th seed for the team sectional tournament which will be held at Totino-Grace (TG) High School. The winner of the sectional tournament will represent Section 5AA at the State Tournament in two weeks.
Orono will host the 5AA Individual Section Tournament February 20-21. According to Head Coach Joe McPherson, the Spartans have a chance to send 6-7 boys to the State Tournament. “We are gearing up for the end of the season and looking forward to a strong finish”.
