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Honkers open wrestling season with 3 champions

Wrestling in two locations on Saturday, the Kenmare Honkers came away with the best opening-day results in recent years.

11/24/15 (Tue)

2015-16 KHS wrestlers’ season underway . . . The 2015-16 Kenmare Honkers wrestling team had some success opening the season Saturday in two venues... Back row from left; Head Coach Dan Mogren, Lexi Vandegraft, Brennit Bossingham, Peyton Witt, Trenton Kohler, Austin Manz, Clayton Lockhart, Tyler Burtch, Ty Jesz, Wyatt Bloomquist and Assistant Coach Nick Timm. Front row from left; Brandon Burtch, Nicolai Topolski, Lathan Stroklund, Michael Schlosser, Skylar Ford, Zane Miller, Levi Young and Devin Ott.

By Marvin Baker

Wrestling in two locations on Saturday, the Kenmare Honkers came away with the best opening-day results in recent years.

Three Honkers took first place in their respective weight classes, one took second, three took third and two finished fourth.
The varsity team, with only four grapplers in New Town, scored 17 team points while the junior high team wrestling in Minot, scored 87 team points.
Topping the list of excitement in high school wrestling, Brandon Burtch, at 132 pounds, went through the New Town tournament undefeated, wracking up four close wins to take the title.
To open the tournament Burtch who wasn’t seeded, took a 4-3 decision over Ethan Legge of Beulah, who was seeded first in the tournament because he was a state third-place finisher last year.
In the third round, Burtch won a 15-2 major decision over Antonio Garcia of Watford City.
In the fourth round, Burtch was matched up against the tournament’s No. 2 seed, Dakota Garmann of Watford City and this time it was a tougher match, but Burtch emerged the winner through a 2-2 tie breaker to put him in the championship against the tournament’s No. 3 seed in Shad Agard of Standing Rock.
In that match, Burtch took the title in a 6-4 decision. As a result, Burtch compiled 11 team points for the Honkers.
“Brandon wrestled in one of the toughest weight classes,” head coach Dan Mogren said. “Out of five in that bracket, four were all-state qualifiers.”
In the Minot Earlybird Tournament, Nicolai Topolski took first at 112, wracking up 17 points for the Honkers. 
In the first round, Topolski won a 9-7 decision over Josiah Marsellais of Turtle Mountain, beat Brayden Gerhardt of Devils Lake in a pin at 3:21 and took an 8-4 decision over Carter Peterson of Minot. 
For his effort Topolski picked up 16 points for the Honkers.
Wrestling at 126, Skylar Ford scored 20 team points rolling through the competition with three pins. In the opening round he beat Cody Peltier of Turtle Mountain in 3:33; pinned Austin Geyer of Minot in 59 seconds and won the championship over Everett Gunther of Devils Lake in 1:37.
Peyton Witt, wrestling at 132, took second place, picking up 12 team points for the Honkers. 
Witt pinned Damon Atkinson of Minot in 35 seconds, lost to Jason Carmicheal of Minot in a sudden decision and then won a 4-1 decision over Nathan Ferm of Des Lacs/Burlington.
Tyler Burtch, 126, Levi Young, 138 and Michael Schlosser, 145, and Clayton Lockhart, all took third place; Burtch scoring 8 team points, Young, 9, Schlosser, 9 and Lockhart, 9.
One wrestler in the Minot tournament, Zane Miller at 170, picked up 4 team points with his fourth-place.
In the New Town tournament, Lathan Stroklund took fifth place at 126, scoring 2 team points. 
Stroklund’s best match came in the third round when he pinned Braetyn Yanish of Velva in 1:12.
Nolan Ercanbrack at 170 and Brennit Bossingham at 182, both wrestled but didn’t place, even though Ercanbrack scored 1 point through a forfeit win and Bossingham picked up 3 points when he got into the quarterfinals through a bye.
“It’s not spectacular, but Brandon had a good weekend,” Mogren said. “He made a statement. And the kids did really well in Minot, Nick (Timm assistant coach) was pleased. Three champs on opening weekend, we can’t complain about that.” ... Read EVERY WORD on EVERY PAGE of The Kenmare News by subscribing--online or in print!