In one of their toughest tournaments yet, the Becker Bulldogs wrestling team came through with nine place winners, five finalists and two champions at the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Invitational meet last weekend.

 

Although the Bulldogs ultimately placed fifth with 152.5 points, head coach Matt Aho was pleased with the team’s performance.

 

“In my 10 years as head coach this is the first time we have had five wrestlers make the finals in this tournament,” said head coach Matt Aho. “It’s one of the toughest eight-team tournaments around; over 20 ranked wrestlers in class A and class AA participated.”

 

Edging out the Bulldogs was Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City with 192.0 points, LPGE-Browerville Wolves with 189.0, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa with 177.0 and Thief River Falls with 170.5.

 

The Bulldogs were awarded a first place in the 170 lbs. division when Caden Dewall overcame his Atwater-Cosmos-Grove opponent in a decision, 4-0.

 

Brayden Weber (220) also received first in his division, taking down his Ottertail Central opponent in a fall at 3:34.

 

Jake Nelson (132) came in second in his division, fighting hard but ultimately losing to his LPGE-Bowerville opponent in a decision, 5-1.

 

Lukas Paulson (138) also came in second after a major decision awarded first to his Thief River Falls opponent, 11-2.

 

Another second-place win was awarded the Bulldogs after Kylen Rish (160) was edged out by the first-place winner from Ottertail Central in a decision, 4-0.

 

Ethan Anderson (120) brought home a third place, beating his opponent from Albany in a fall at 4:46.

 

Third place was also awarded to Logan Jurek (152) after he overcame his Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City opponent in a decision, 9-5.

 

The Bulldogs received a fourth-place win with Nick Goth (195) wrestling strongly but ultimately losing to his opponent from Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa in a decision, 9-3.

 

Kevin Andres (145) brought home a fifth-place win, edging out his Ottertail Central opponent in a DFF.

 

Individual rankings for the Bulldogs included Jake Nelson, No. 8AA at 132 lbs. and Lukas Paulson, No. 9AA at 138 lbs.

 

The Bulldogs wrestling team competed at home on Friday in a quadrangular against Dassel-Cokato, Delano and Mora, which will be reported in next week’s Citizen-Tribune. The team’s next meet is a triangular at Little Falls High School Jan. 17.