The Big Lake wrestling team opened the season with a third place finish at their 10-team home invitational last Friday.
The Hornets had two individual champions.
Nolan Reiter was the 152-pound champion. He opened with a pin of Parker Peichel of Sartell at 1:10. He beat John Mead of Pine City/Hinckley Finlayson (PCHF), 13-3 in the semifinals, then beat Sawyer Simmons of Royalton, 6-3 in the title match.
Carson Gellerman won the title at 170 pounds and pinned all his opponents. He pinned Joe McAnally of Minnetonka at 4:46 in his first match. He pinned Xander Johnson of Minnewaska Area (MA) at 1:48 in the semifinals, then pinned Jake Leners of Royalton at 0:46 in the finals.
Seven other Hornets finished in the top four spots in their respective weight classes.
Beau McCrone placed third at 113 pounds. He opened with a pin of Adonijah Ripple of Royalton at 4:18. After losing by fall to Brendan Burke of Amery, he pinned Isabella Heaney of Minnetonka at 2:32 in the semifinals. He pinned Cole Froehlich of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (KMS) at 2:11 in his final match.
Cash Stortz took fourth at 120 pounds. He opened with a 13-0 win over Tucker Simmons of Royalton. After a 4-2 loss to Lane Anderson of Amery, he beat Isaiah Nelson of New London-Spicer, 2-0 in the semifinals. He lost, 10-3 to Chase Smith of MA in his last match.
Dallas Sibbet was third at 132 pounds. He opened with an 8-1 win over Zaccory Anderson of Sartell. After a loss by fall to Derek Stangl of Pierz , he beat Frank Betters of PCHF by tech fall in the semifinals. Then he beat Caleb Nelson of New London-Spicer, 13-4 in his last match.
Cooper Cusick finished third at 138 pounds. He lost by pin to Josh McAnnaly of Minnetonka in his first match. He pinned Hunter Beese of Amery at 4:41 in the semifinals, then beat Brayden Melby of Pierz, 12-4 in his final match.
Zach Smith placed second at 145 pounds. He pinned Nicholas Blaiser of PCHF at 1:27 in his first match. He pinned Noah Johnson of KMS at 4:35 in the semifinals. He lost, 16-11 in the championship match to Will Gorecki of Royalton.
Trajan Mussehl took third at 195 pounds. He opened with a pin of Logan Klecki of PCHF at 1:55. After a loss by pin to Wyatt Ingram of Amery in the semifinals, he pinned Logan Klecki again at 1:21 in his final match.
Kane Lapointe finished fourth at 285 pounds. After a first round bye, he lost by 5-2 decision to Brandon Mugg of Royalton, then lost by pin at 4:20 to Tucker Mugg of Sartell in his last match.
Final team scores were:
1. Royalton 218.0; 2. Pierz 170.0; 3. Big Lake 161.5; 4. Amery 156.0; 5. Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 135.0; 6. Minnewaska Area 134.0; 7. Pine City/Hinckley Finlayson 74.5; 8. Minnetonka 71.5; 9. Sartell 59.0; 10. New London-Spicer 56.5.
The Hornets held home triangular meets Tuesday and Thursday, results to follow next week. They compete at the Maple Grove Invitational 9 a.m. Saturday (today).
