Three Britton-Hecla wrestlers placed among the top four in the Central Cass Tournament held in Casselton, ND, on Friday and Saturday, and the Braves finished 13th in the 30-team event.
Hawkinson, now 17-5, placed third at 145 pounds, going 6-1 for the day and avenging his only loss in the third place match. Collin Beaner, who boosted his season mark to 11-6, finished fourth at 152 and was forced to forfeit the third place match after suffering a deep muscle bruise in his calf in the prior match. Tucker Hardy improved to 13-9 with his fourth place finish in the 285-pound bracket.
“I thought we wrestled really well, ending up in 13th place and just a point behind Webster, who finished 12th,” said B-H boss Josh Hawkinson. “I’m really happy with that. A lot of the brackets had 30 guys in them, and we had three placers along with a lot of other guys that picked up wins up to the placing rounds that all helped our team points. We put up nearly 80 points which I don’t think we’ve done since I’ve been coaching. I think we’re moving in the right direction.
“Max Suther came into the tournament as a seventh grad- er with one win on the season, and after he lost his first match he won three in a row,” noted Hawkinson. “I can’t say enough about how good a tournament he had. Ben Suther was also close to placing.”
Hawkinson feels his squad is showing steady improvement.
“We were quick off the bottom and are making better choices on our feet. We did have a couple of instances when we gave up a point with only about 10 seconds on the clock, and we need to have more mat awareness and know where we are at in the period.”
In addition to Beaner, Colton Chapin also hyper-extended a knee in the tournament. Hawkinson said both Beaner and Chapin were questionable for this week. Conner Glines is also still nursing a rib injury.
The Braves are back in action in a triangular with Kindred and LaMoure in Kindred on Thursday
TEAM POINTS: South Border, ND, 250, Lisbon, ND, 199, Frazee, MN, 198.5, Northern Lights, ND, 152, Oakes, ND, 136, Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm, ND, 129.5, Carrington, ND, 103.5, Central Cass, ND, 100, Fertile-Beltrami, MN, 100, Deslacs-Burlington, ND, 91, New York Mills, MN, 86, Webster Area 80, Britton-Hecla 79, LaMoure, ND, 78.5, Kindred, ND, 78, Harvey-Wells County, ND, 76.5, Bishop Ryan, ND, 72, Hillsboro-Central Valley, ND, 71,Napoleon, ND, 57, Roseau, MN, 55, Barnesville, MN, 53, Grafton, ND, 41.5, Pembina County North, ND, 35, Rugby, ND, 33, United Clay Becker Badgers, MN, 33, West Fargo Sheyenne, ND, 29, Northern Cass, ND, 26, May-Port-CG, ND, 18, Larimore, ND, 17.5, Northwood, ND, 14
107 POUNDS: Lincoln Kilker (BH) pinned by Blake Amb (May-Port-CG); pinned by Jack Clemenson (West Fargo Sheyenne) :43
114 POUNDS: Max Suther (BH) pinned by Jared Schilling (South Border); pinned Brayden Krank (Roseau) :29); pinned Trevor Whipple (United Clay Becker Badgers) 4:30; dec. Grady Larson (Northwood) 17-12; pinned by Carson Henningsen (Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm) 2:50
133 POUNDS: Bryce Heitkamp (BH) pinned by Bryce Schneider (Napoleon); pinned by Gabe Gruba (Lisbon) 1:44
139 POUNDS: Colton Chapin (BH) pinned by Haeden Jorgenson (Webster Area) 2:43; pinned Connor Matz (West Fargo Sheyenne) 1:27; lost dec. to Zeke Symington (Pembina County North) 6-1
145 POUNDS: Bryce Hawkinson (BH) pinned David Botelho (Larimore); pinned Ben Nelson (Hillsboro-Central Valley) 2:42; lost dec. to Harrison Schwartz (Deslacs-Burlington) 8-2; dec. Trace Shoemaker (Webster Area) 14-0; dec. Carson Glaesman (South Border) 4-3; dec. Fisher Johnson (Kindred) 82; dec. Harrison Schwartz (Deslacs-Burlington) 3-1
152 POUNDS: Collin Beaner (BH) dec. Elijah Geiser (New York Mills) 15-3; pinned Jeremy Knight (Kindred) 1:46; pinned by Brody Hoffman (South Border) 3:30; dec. Riley Lacina (Lisbon) 5-0; dec. Max Tjernlund (Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm) 5-2; dec. Ayden Thummel (Central Cass) 5-1; lost by medical forfeit to Tyler Moe (Frazee)
160 POUNDS: Ben Suther (BH) pinned Lucas Copenhaver (Harvey-Wells County) 1:00; dec. Carter Iverson (Hillsboro-Central Valley) 4-1; pinned by Mason Weigel (Napoleon) 1:03; pinned Jack Erickson (Fertile-Beltrami) 3:59; lost dec. to Cole Stock (South Border) 7-3
172 POUNDS: Dashel Davidson (BH) pinned by Cael Hebl (LaMoure) 1:15; pinned by Madden Schwab (Lisbon) :27
285 POUNDS: Tucker Hardy (BH) pinned Seth Irey (Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm) :31; pinned Porter Johnson (Harvey-Wells County) 3:44; pinned Grady Roberts (New York Mills) 3:45; pinned by Jack Leiser (Fertile-Beltrami) 4:09; pinned Max Cline (Oakes) 3:21; pinned by Xander Kohler (Frazee) :19
