The Northfield High School wrestling team completed its regular season schedule in top order, as the Raiders earned a pair of Big 9 conference victories over Rochester John Marshall and Rochester Century Thursday, Feb. 8. Both meets were contested at Century High School in Rochester.
In the dual against John Marshall, Northfield rolled to a 69-6 victory and then added a 46-19 win over Century. Northfield (15-8, 9-1 Big 9) will now advance to the upcoming MSHSL Section 1AAA team tournament that gets underway on Thursday, Feb. 15. The Raiders are the No. 2 seed in the tournament and they will host No. 7 seed Rochester John Marshall at 6 p.m., while No. 3 seed Owatonna and No. 6 seed Rochester Century will also wrestle that day in Northfield.
The two teams will then match up on Feb. 15 to determine who will advance to the section finals at Rochester on Saturday, Feb. 17. In the other half of the section bracket, No. 1 seed Albert Lea Area will get a first round bye, while No. 5 Faribault and No. 4 Rochester Mayo will match-up in Albert Lea in the first round.
In the victory over Rochester John Marshall, Northfield established a quick lead as it gained seven forfeit win over John Marshall. In action at 133-pounds, Keith Harner posted a 19-3 tech fall win for the Raiders and Colin Staab added an 18-4 major decision win at 160-pounds. Northfield padded its lead at 172-pounds with a fall by Owen Murphy at 1:12 and Ryan Kuyper also scored a pin at 215-pounds. To finish the match, Northfield’s Noah Ackerman posted a fall at 5:50 against Rochester’s Evan Hernandez.
To open the dual against Century, Northfield’s Caley Graber charted a fall at :57 at 107-pounds. Century added wins at 114-pounds and 121-pounds before the Raiders got back on track with a fall at 5:05 by Caden Staab at 127-pounds.
The bonus points continue to flow for Northfield as Harner scored a 16-3 major decision win at 133-pounds and Zane Engels won by a fall at 139-pounds for NHS. At 145-pounds, Sam Harner won by a 10-0 major decision and Colin Staab also had an 11-0 major decision triumph at 160-pounds.
To wrap up the decision, Murphy posted a 13-2 major decision win at 172-pounds, while falls were obtained by Kuyper at 189-pounds and Ackerman at 285-pounds.
In the most recent Class AAA rankings, Northfield moved up to #11 in the state and Albert Lea is ninth. Individually, Caden Staab was ranked ninth in the Class AAA poll at 121-pounds.
GIRLS WRESTLING:
At the recent Section 1/3 girls wrestling championships that were held in Redwood Falls, Minn. on Feb. 9-10, Northfield’s Lainey Houts punched her ticket to the state meet with a first place finish in the 124-pound bracket.
Houts carded a 5-0 record at the tournament, which included four falls. She opened the tourney with a fall at 1:00 against Payton Jacobs of Stewartville. In the second round, Houts rolled with a fall at :37 against Karina Lee of GMLO and then added a quick fall at :28 in the third round against Emmalyn Carisch of Rochester Mayo.
In the semi’s, Houts posted her fourth consecutive pin with a fall at 1:26 against Claire Behle of Byron. To secure the top spot, Houts won the title bout with a 12-5 decision against Chloe Berg of Chatfield.
Northfield’s Rowan Seeley did not gain a bid to the upcoming state meet, but she did place third at the section meet in the 118-pound bracket. Seeley opened her tournament run with a 3:14 fall against Violet Ettore of Mayo in the first round. In the second round, Seeley added an 8-3 decision of Brynn Horsman of Chatfield before losing in the semi’s against Brandy Christenson of GMLOS.
In the wrestlebacks, Seeley secured a pin against Alexis Rezac of Faribault and then claimed third place with a 7-3 decision in a rematch against Horsman.
Northfield’s defending state champion in girls wrestling, Graber has opted to compete in the MSHSL boys tournament this year and did not compete at this section meet in Redwood Falls.
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