Cadets win Flanagan Invitational

TRUKA WINS AGAIN - Scott Truka, right, takes command during his semifinal match against Mike Tangen of Decorah at 135 pounds Saturday at the Flanagan Invitational. Truka won a 16-2 major decision over Tangen, and he pinned Mitchell Lange of Caledonia to earn first and improve his record to 20-3. Photo by Nate Troy.

Four Cadets earned first place

By NATE TROY, Sports Editor

Thanks to an outstanding effort by the entire Crestwood wrestling team, the Cadets won the Flanagan Invitational Saturday at home for the first time since 1993.

Every Crestwood wrestler who hit the mat Saturday earned a top six finish. Four Cadets earned first place, one took second, three fin-ished third, three placed fourth, one took fifth and one placed sixth.

Individual champions for the Cadets included: Brad Klobassa at 112 pounds, Mark Jensen at 125, Tylor Burke at 130 and Scott Truka at 135 pounds.

Eric Pedretti took second at 171. Third place finishers for the Cadets included Justin Sovereign (145), Dustin Watt (189) and Steve Hughes (275).

Crestwood finished with 194 points while Caledonia was second with 185.5 and Decorah took third with 178.5 points. Saturday's meet marked the first time since 1994 that the Vikings did not win the Flanagan Invitational.

North Fayette earned fourth place with 178 points, Fillmore Central took fifth with 155.5, Riceville was sixth with 91 and DeSoto took seventh place with 64 points. Derek Hebrink of Fillmore Central earned the Most Valuable Wrestler award as he became a five-time Flanagan champion.

"At every weight we really wrestled hard," Cadet head coach Doug Hatch said. "Eric Pedretti was a fifth seed and he got to the finals. If he'd have been in a little better shape, he might have won it. But he wrestled some real quality kids at his weight (171)."

"Caleb Cray at 119 beat a kid (Lee Rohrer of Caledonia) who beat him pretty good last year, but this year, Caleb beat him real good (by an 11-0 major decision)."

Hatch noted that Scott Truka also wrestled well at 135 pounds, espe-cially in the finals against Mitchell Lange of Caledonia who had entered the match with a 15-0 record. Truka fell behind Lange early in the match, but he rallied to pin Lange at 3:36 in the second period.

"Our guys wrestled their hearts out all day. Some of our younger guys are learning from mistakes we've made in the past."

"Our first match back (after the Christmas break) against Waukon, we looked like it was our first match. But today, we looked more like we did rolling into Christmas. We're really pulling together as a team right now. If you look on the sideline, you'll see one kid pulling for another kid. I love to see that," Hatch said.

At 103 pounds, Andy Vick of Decorah won first place. Aubrey Audetat of DeSoto was second, Dustin Patrick of North Fayette took third and Jesse Acker of Caledonia was fourth. Crestwood did not compete at this weight.

In the 112 pound class, Brad Klobassa won by fall over Taylor Coyle of Fillmore Central at 38 seconds in the first period, won a 10-0 major decision over Jacob Foellmi of Caledonia and he won by fall over Dustin Stortz of Decorah at 1:14 in the finals. Jacob Foellmi placed third and Mitch Johnson of North Fayette took fourth place.

At 119 pounds, Caleb Cray took fourth place. Cray lost an 8-4 de-cision to Alan Fadness of Decorah, won by fall over Nick Goodbrand of Riceville at 3:43, won an 11-0 major decision over Lee Rohrer of Caledonia and lost an 8-6 decision to Zach Nickelatti of DeSoto in the match for third. Fadness took first, and Tom Tribon of Fillmore Cen-tral placed second.

At 125 pounds, Mark Jensen won by fall over Kyle Strand of DeSoto at 54 seconds, won by fall over Adam Lewis of Riceville at 1:21 and won by fall over Aarik Dahlen of Decorah at 1:42 in the finals. Eli Hammann of Fillmore Central took third, and Mike Adrian of North Fayette was fourth.

At 130 pounds, Tylor Burke received a first round bye. In the semifinals, Burke won by fall over Spenser Nickelatti of DeSoto at 2:55. In the finals, Burke won by fall over Gary Burrichter of Cale-donia at 1:57. Nate Meyer of North Fayette placed third, and Nickelatti took fourth.

In the 135 pound class, Scott Truka received a first round bye. In the semifinals, Truka won a 16-2 major decision over Mike Tangen of Decorah. In the finals, Truka won by fall over Mitchell Lange of Caledonia at 3:36. Darroll Larson of Fillmore Central took third, and Tangen placed fourth.

At 140 pounds, Danny Kraft lost by fall to Jason Steinlage of North Fayette at 1:10. In the con-solation bracket, Kraft won a 10-3 decision over Dominic Dohlman of Riceville and he lost by fall to Jason Steinlage at 2:53 to place fourth. Kasey Meiners of Caledonia earned first and Mikel Hansen of Decorah placed second.

In the 145 pound class, Justin Sovereign received a first round bye. In the semifinals, Sovereign lost a 3-2 decision to Brady Meyers of North Fayette. Sovereign won a 5-4 decision over Brett Schultz of Decorah and won by injury default over Matt Haugen of Fillmore Central to take third. Ryan Feller of Caledonia earned first and Brady Meyers of North Fayette placed second.

At 152 pounds, Evan Carman lost a 5-0 decision to Anthony Schwarck of Riceville. Carman won a 3-1 overtime decision over Josh Meyer of Caledonia, and he lost an 11-6 decision to Mitch Seitz of North Fayette to take fourth place. Derek Hebrink of Fillmore Central was first, and Blake Livingood of Decorah took second place.

At 160 pounds, Chris Weigert won an 8-4 decision over Mark Krause of DeSoto, and he lost by fall to Jake Ellenz of Caledonia at 2:46 in the semifinals. Weigert lost by fall to Nick Holm of North Fayette at 3:10 and he lost a 9-6 decision to Mark Krause of DeSoto to take sixth. Ellenz took first, Tyler Dohlman of Riceville was second and A. J. Gregg of Decorah placed third.

At 171 pounds, Eric Pedretti won by fall over Darrin Louvsteun of Decorah at 1:19, won a 7-4 decision over Darrick Schultz of North Fayette and lost a 5-3 de-cision to Billy Link of Fillmore Central in the finals. Schultz took third and Louvsteun was fourth.

In the 189 pound class, Dustin Watt won by fall over Tyler Christen of Decorah at 2:52, and he lost by fall to Kevin Meiners of Caledonia at 1:37 in the semifinals. Watt won an 8-5 decision over Nate Lansing of North Fayette to take third place. Meiners won first place and Mike Phillips of Fill-more Central took second.

At 215 pounds, Adam Lueschow lost by fall to Matt Erickson at 3:44 in the first round. Lueschow lost a 5-0 decision to Aaron Mit-chell of Caledonia, but he came back to win a 7-5 overtime decision over Shannon Cline of Decorah to take fifth place. Mike Standafer of North Fayette took first, Collin Byrnes of Riceville was second and Matt Erickson of Fillmore Central placed third.

In the heavyweight class, Steve Hughes received a first round bye. Hughes lost by fall to Nick Boyle of Riceville at 1:30. In the consolation round, Hughes won by fall over Josh Trogrim of Decorah and won by fall over Mike Kenyon of DeSoto at 1:08 to take third. Boyle earned first and Nick Steffens of North Fayette was second.