Hillsboro, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—The Carrington boys wrestling team finished in third place tied with Harvey-WC with 169.5 points. Central Cass (CC) won the Region 2 tournament with 230 points and the Pembina County North (PCN) Grizzlies finished in second place with 215 points. The Cardinals had 8 wrestlers qualify for next week’s state tournament including 4 champions. Seniors Trace Hoggarth (120) and Kael Kovar (152), sophomore Corbin Clifton (138), and eighth grader Skye Kramlich (106) all captured individual titles. Hoggarth, who won last year’s state crown at 113, will enter this years state event as the number 1 seed at 120 pounds. Hoggarth received a first round bye and then defeated Hillsboro-Central Valley’s (HCV) Carson Kozojed by fall in :42 seconds before taking a 7-0 victory in the title match over Kruiser Burns (36-6) of Grafton. Hoggarth improved his season record to 40-3. Kovar would pin his way through the 152 pound weight class with falls over Lucas Copenhaver from Harvey-Wells County (HWC) at :31 seconds and Brayden Chenault (HCV) at :46 seconds in the quarterfinals and semifinal matches. Kovar, who controlled the title match, would pin Ethan Stegman (36-11) of PCN at 5:13 of the third period to capture the 152 crown. Kovar improved his record to 39-11. Clifton would pin Reed Volden of Northern Cass (NC) at 1:45 and Jaylen Harstad of Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg (MPCG) at 1:16 in the quarterfinals and semifinals to reach the title match. Clifton would defeat Carson Brown (31-8) of PCN 5-1 for the title and improved to 36-15. Kramlich would receive a first round bye and then defeated Brody Jones of HWC by pin at 1:49 in the semifinals. Kramlich defeated Oscar Martinez of PCN in the finals 4-2 to capture the 106 pound title and improved to 28-13.
Max Ciubotereanu (sophomore) finished in second place at 170, receiving a first round bye before defeating Denton Kaercher of PCN 8-4 in the semifinals. Ciubotereanu (21-21)would lose in the finals to the top seed Stone Thornton of CC by fall at 2:37 of the second period.
Other state qualifiers include Dru Carr (sophomore) at 113 pounds. Carr defeated Drew Urbach (CC) 3-0 in the third place match and improved to 28-21. Callen Garber (sophomore), defeated Layne Anderson of MPCG by fall at 1:24 of the second period and has a 25-20 overall record. Nic Garber (8th grader), finished in fourth place, falling to Brock Freer of PCN in the third place match by pin at 2:34 of the second period. Garber (32-19) lost a tough match in the semifinals to the top seed Brady Peterson of CC 10-7. Garber was leading 7-6 with under 10 seconds to go in the match when Peterson threw Garber down and onto his back for a takedown and 2 near fall points as time expired.
Other champions included Logan Werner (113), Levi Hinkle (132), and Kayden Rose (182) all of PCN. Stone Thornton (170) and Dylan Sell (285) of CC. Sawyer Owens (126) and Henry Nelson (145) of HCV. Colter Thorsell (160) and Eric Hoffmann (195) of Larimore. Carter Engenbretson (220) of HWC. The Carrington wrestling team will compete next week at the individual state tournament on Thursday and Friday and all Cardinal matches will be aired on AM 1600 KDAK (THE CARDINAL), FM 100.1, and www.newsdakota.com