A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Cloquet junior Jordan Allen wrestles his way to a win over Deer River's Brady Long during Tuesday's triangular meet against Deer River and Aitkin.
Cloquet junior Tyler Harms-Synkiew is pronounced the victor in his match against Deer River's Ronald Roy, who he pinned during Tuesday's meet, held in the small gym under the spotlight. Harms-Synkiew won both his matches Tuesday.
The Cloquet-Esko-Carlton wrestling team is seeing much success, with credit going to a youth movement on the team. With only two seniors on the roster, six juniors and three sophomores, CEC has had to look to wrestlers in grades 7 through 9.
"We don't have a lot of numbers in from the upperclassmen," longtime head coach Al Denman said. "It's been the younger core which has really stepped up and made this season one of the best we have ever had."
CEC is coming off a second-place finish last Friday in the Chisago Lakes "Take down Cancer" meet in Lindstrom. It was the mixture of youth and experience which gave the Lumberjacks the finish right behind Anoka, who won with a score of 181.5, while the Lumberjacks finished with a total of 117. Becker came in third with 105 points with Chisago Lakes, Henry Sibley, and Richfield finishing behind.
"This team is still learning and getting better meet by meet," Denman said. "The fact that we are winning and being competitive shows what hard work can do."
On Tuesday, the 'Jacks hosted a triangular meet at home against Aitkin and Deer River. They lost to Aitkin 44-15 and beat Deer River 39-34.
Notable wins in Tuesday's triangular include Alex Peterson at 120 pounds, Jordan Allen at 132, Sam Bolling at 145, Hunter Senarighi at 182 and a forfeit win by heavyweight Gage Stankiewicz. Grapplers with two wins each in the meet include Tyler Harms-Synkiew, Griffin Fjeld and Reese Sheldon. The team had a total of five pins against Deer River Tuesday.
It all makes Denman very optimistic.
"The future looks so promising for the wrestling program that I'd like to think we are going to take that next step soon and make a trip as a team to the state tournament," said Denman.
In the Chisago Lakes meet last week, the Lumberjacks performed well. Freshman Deeken Fjeld took home top honors in the 120 class. Junior Tyler Harms-Synkiew was the winner at 138 while Reese Sheldon was CEC's third first-place finisher as he took home the top prize for the 170-pound weight class.
Other Lumberjack finishers included second-place finishers Sam Bolling and Cooper Abbett, along with third-place finishers Griffin Fjeld, Zeb Wehr, Gramm Neumeyer, Alex Peterson and Jordan Allen.
Following Tuesday's meet, the Lumberjacks are now 16-6.
