Walhalla, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—–The Carrington Cardinals wrestling team had 5 individual champions out of the 14 weight classes at the Region 2 tournament but still finished in third place with 183 team points. The Pembina County North (PCN) Grizzlies captured the team title on their home mats with 210 team points and crowned 3 individual champions. The Central Cass (CC) Squirrels finished in second place with 194.5 points and crowned 2 champions.

The Cardinals champions were junior Trace Hoggarth (113), senior Matthew Duchscherer (126), senior Brecken Lura (138), sophomore Logan Weninger (160), and senior Michael Clifton (182). Hoggarth improved to 39-8 on the season, Duchscherer 33-12, Lura 47-9, Weninger 27-17, and Clifton 49-3. Clifton pinned his way through the tournament recording his 42nd fall of the year in the title match over Anthony Houle of CC in just 26 seconds. The 42 pins currently ties the state class B record for pins in a season currently held by former Carrington wrestler Tyler Hoggarth (older brother of Trace). Clifton will enter the state tournament as the #1 seed at 182 pounds and will need just 1 pin to break the record. Lura entered the tournament with 230 career wins, just six shy of the all time wins record at Carrington High school currently held by former Cardinal Walker Carr who ended his career with 236 wins after the 2015-2016 season. Lura collected 3 wins on Saturday to bring his total up to 233 and will need 4 wins at the state tournament next week to break the record. Lura will be the #1 seed at 138.

Other Cardinal state qualifiers include Kael Kovar, junior (41-16) (152), finished in third place. Jonathon Lura, senior (22-24) (170) finished in third place. Callen Garber, freshman (25-18) (195) finished in fourth place.

Championship matches:

106—Logan Warner, Freshman (35-8) (PCN) 18-4 MD over Justin Torroll Hillsboro-CV (HCV)

113—Trace Hoggarth, Junior (39-8) (Carrington) Fall 1:02 over Kruiser Burns (Grafton)

120—Sawyer Owens, 8th (31-6) (Hillsboro-CV) 4-3 Dec over Josiah Crandall (CC)

126–Matthew Duchscherer, senior (33-12) (Carrington) 6-1 Dec over Chance Burns (Grafton)

132–Trevor Hinkle, senior (44-3) (PCN) 9-4 Dec over Cade Olson-Tinglestad (CC)

138–Brecken Lura, senior (47-9) (Carrington) 9-1 MD over Carson Brown (PCN)

145–Jake Deutsch, senior (11-2) (CC) Fall 2:28 over Henry Nelson (H-CV)

152–Colter Thorsell, junior (27-13) (Larimore) 4-2 Dec over Demetrius Avila (PCN)

160–Logan Weninger, sophomore (27-17) (Carrington) 8-2 Dec over Matthew Keena (PCN)

170–Nickolas Dossenko, senior (34-9) (Harvey-WC) 11-3 MD over Ashton Vaughn (PCN)

182–Michael Clifton, senior (49-3) (Carrington) Fall :26 over Anthony Houle (CC)

195–Carson Mertz, senior (29-1) (Harvey-WC) Fall 1:58 over Barrett Willison (HCV)

220–Eli Bjornstad, senior (45-1) (PCN) Fall :39 over Carter Engebretson (Harvey-WC)

285–Dylan Sell, junior (19-4) (CC) Fall 2:20 over Jebb Gerszewski (Larimore)

Team scores:

1.) PCN  210

2.) CC  194.5

3.) Carrington  183

4.) HWC  171.5

5.) HCV  132

6.) Grafton  98

7.) Larimore  75

8.) Mayville-Portland-C-G  31

9.) Northwood  21

The 2022 senior athlete (wrestler) of the year went to Brecken Lura (Carrington) and Trevor Hinkle (PCN).

The coach of the year award went to Kelly Hase of Harvey-WC.

All Carrington wrestling matches at the state tournament starting next Thursday at 10:00 A.M. will be aired on AM 1600 KDAK (THE CARDINAL), FM 100.1, and www.newsdakota.com