Gritty CEC grapplers start season on top

Cloquet-Esko-Carlton wrestling fans may need to mark down last week on their calendars as the week the program turned the corner into a potential state contender. The 'Jacks picked up three wins and lost one match over the span of three days and served notice that this northern Minnesota team might be on the verge of big things.

Last Thursday the Lumberjacks throttled Rush City/Braham in a dual match 49-11, then on Saturday, CEC went 3-1 in the Charlie Turner Dual Meet in Richfield and finished in second place in the eight-team field that was loaded with talented Twin Cities-based teams.

Leading the charge in the Richfield Tournament was freshman Alex Peterson who went 3-0 at 113 pounds as he handled everyone in his division and did so in stunning fashion.

"He had a good day and he had a couple of matches that were real barn burner, overtime matches," recalled CEC coach Al Denman. "When the score is tied after three periods, they go to a fourth period and whoever gets the takedown wins the match and he had a couple of those types of matches on Saturday. That makes for a tough day. He has a big heart. Wimpy kids don't win those types of matches."

In their opening match of the Richfield Tournament the 'Jacks downed Bloomington Kennedy 41-36. They followed that with a 42-31 victory over Orono. CEC then fell to Sauk Rapids/Rice 48-13 in the title match.

"All of our guys wrestled tough all day and that's what we are trying to build here. We are trying to build a competitive attitude, this gritty-type of gutty-fighter attitude," Denman said. "All that takes practice. Every one of the guys did what I asked them to, and that was to go out and bring it up a notch in the aggression department."

At 182 pounds, Denman rotated two wrestlers, Hunter Senarighi and Gramm Neumeyer. Both came up with impressive pins versus Bloomington Kennedy and Orono.

"In our first match versus Kennedy, Hunter pinned his kid and sealed the deal for us. We were flipping Hunter and Gramm between 182 and 195 pounds," Denman explained. "Then against Orono, Gramm - who was wrestling at 182 - pinned his kid, sealing the win against them. It was great to see those two finish things off for us. All our guys did well, but it is the guys in the upper weights who need to finish things off for the win and they did that."

According to Denman, the 'Jacks had never before been in the finals of a tournament and had never placed higher than fourth place in tournaments of similar size.

"To finish second to a quality team like Sauk Rapids, a team that has hardly any weaknesses and has guys in every weight class, is pretty impressive," he said. "The quality of that Sauk Rapids team is impressive."

Against Kennedy, the 'Jacks won eight matches - six by pinning their opponents - and versus Orono, CEC picked up seven wins with five coming by way of pins.

Denman was quick to point out that his entire team was impressive on the weekend and also singled out Zeb Wehr for wrestling up in weight class as being an important cog in the CEC machine.

"Zeb is wrestling up at 152 pounds and is doing a great job for us despite giving up a large amount of weight," Denman said. "We also have a seventh-grader, Dylan Marciulionis, who is wrestling at the varsity level and picked up one of our wins against Sauk Rapids/Rice. Also, ninth-grader Alex Yjranson, who just started wrestling a year ago, is doing well and picked up a pin versus Orono. We have a lot of kids who are doing good things for us right now."

Denman also mentioned that Gage Stankwiecz, a sophomore heavyweight, returned after two years off and is expected to be an important part of the team as the season wears on.

"Winning these two matches against Kennedy and Orono proved to our guys that they are legitimate," said Denman. "I hope it tells them they can be competitive against anyone, and certainly they can compete in our section."

The Lumberjacks are now 3-1 on the season in dual meets and will now wrestle in a quadrangular against Princeton, Big Lake and Grand Rapids in Princeton on Dec. 21.

Just a couple weeks ago the Lumberjacks were at UMD where they went through their weight certification, which is required by the state high school league.

"The idea is to establish a minimum weight class at 7 percent body fat," explained the longtime coach. "It is done so coaches don't push kids into unhealthy weight management practices and get kids unhealthy. They measure what the current body fat is with each wrestler and then, through a series of fancy calculations with a computer, they show what your weight class should be at 7 percent body fat. It establishes a lower limit which kids are not allowed to go beyond."

Denman says he is happy with how things are going, but things can always be better.

"Like any coach we can always complain that something could be better like having more depth, more size and more older kids," laughed Denman. "However, we also know we have something pretty special going right now and we are pretty excited about what these young men can do."

The 'Jacks will hope that this Friday's quadrangular goes a long way in showing that this is a team to be reckoned with come sectional time.