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N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—–The Carrington Cardinal wrestling couldn’t quite pull off the three-peat, but did finish in second place behind heavy favorite Lisbon in the 2017 state class B individual wrestling championships at the Fargo Dome. The two-time defending state champion Cardinals pushed the Lisbon Broncos all the way into the championship matches before finally falling by a final team score of 150 to 139.5. The Cards sent 12 grapplers to the individual portion of the state tourney, with 8 of the 12 placing. Senior Bradee Schroeder (285) was the lone state champion in 2017, the top seeded heavyweight had little trouble securing his first ever crown with a decisive 11-1 major decision over South Borders Tyler Kuntz (7th seed). The Cardinals sent 2 other wrestlers into the finals, top seeded Lucas Geiszler (126), lost a tough match to New Salem-Almont’s Chauncey Dittus 7-4. Both Geiszler and Dittus are sophomores and split 2 regular season meetings with Geiszler winning the last meeting in the East-West Classic championship match. Cardinal Junior Zach Broadwell (138), the number 2 seed was defeated in the championship match by Napoleon-GS standout freshman Garrett Jangula 12-2 major decision. Broadwell had a great state tourney, finishing 6-1 overall including 2 wins over the number 3 seed Elijah Hackman of Velva. Broadwell pinned Hackman on Thursday in the dual victory and defeated Hackman 4-2 in OT on Friday in the semifinal round.
Other Cardinal placers included seventh grader Brekken Lura (106), seeded 6th, Lura finished in fourth place, becoming the first 7th grader in Cardinal wrestling history to place at the state tourney. Lura finished the year with a 49-21 record. Austin Hendrickson (132), was seeded 7th and took 6th place. Hendrickson lost a hard fought 3-1 decision to Tanner Urlaub (4th seed) of Pembina County North, that put Hendrickson in the 5th place match against Josh Irwin (3 seed) from New Salem-Almont. Tyler Hoggarth (7 seed) finished in fourth place, finishing up his Cardinal career with his highest placing ever. Hoggarth defeated the 5th and 6th seeded wrestlers before falling to third seeded Jacob Bitz of Napoleon in the third place match. Kaden Wolsky (170), was seeded 5th and finished in 5th place in a tough 170 pound weight class. Only 2 of the top 8 seeded wrestlers in this weight class were seniors, Tyrel Melmer (6 seed), finished in second place and Carson Canfield (7 seed) from Williams County finished in 7th place. Jarrett Bauer (182), was not seeded but finished his Cardinal career with a 7th place finish. Bauer really came on late in the season, seeded 6th at the regional tourney, he defeated both the 2nd and 3rd seeds to finish in second place. Other Cardinals wrestlers who didn’t place all went 1-2, Trevor Hoggarth (113), Michael Clifton (120), Brady Davis (152), and Colton Buskness (195).
Joe Kern (Lisbon) was awarded the 2017 coach of the year and Luke Hastings (160) from Hillsboro-CV was awarded the 2017 senior wrestler of the year for class B. Cardinal head coach Josh Kerbaugh had won the coach of the year award the previous 2 years and did a phenomenal job this year rebuilding a young Cardinal team into the 2nd place finish. Carrington will return 10 varsity starters next season and will be in the hunt for another title in 2018.