Following a weekend of tough dual competition at The Clash, the Governor Wrestling program traveled north to compete in the Bismarck Rotary in dominating fashion. Coming off a strong 238 point performance in 2016 where the Governors produced nine placers, including five finalists and three individual champions, the team was favored as it took on the ND #1 ranked Bismarck Century program. The Rotary represents all of the North Dakota Class A wrestling programs, a handful of the top North Dakota B schools, three teams from Montana, along with six of the top twelve teams from South Dakota. "Once we got past the first day of The Clash the team got back on track with the goals that we set in place at the beginning of the year," said assistant coach John Wayne Kalda. "We were humbled a bit in Rochester and it set up a great week of practice. Wrestlers were focused going into the weekend, and knew they had to be to repeat their performance from last year."
Levi Stoltenburg works to pin Valley City's Jaden Oestern during their fifth place match at the Rotary. Stoltenburg went on to earn the pin :49 seconds into the second period.
In the 38 team field, the Governors advanced eight into the semifinal round including Lincoln Turman, William Turman, Michael Lusk, Austin Senger, Aric Williams, Maguire Raske, Spencer Sarringar and Levi Stoltenburg. "Putting eight in the semifinals was a difficult task," said head coach Shawn Lewis. "This has to feed into our kids heads to let them know that any kid in our lineup can compete in every match every time out. Hopefully this continues to build as we look to repeat this feat in February." During this final round on Friday evening, four Governors eventually advanced to the finals for the afternoon session on Saturday, and then finished four-for-four during championship matches. At 113lbs Lincoln Turman maintained his undefeated season with a 4-1 win over ND #1 ranked Jeremy Leintz from Beulah/Hazen. Turman was able to advance to the finals with a 12-4 major decision over Mandans' Will Kleinknecht. Michael Lusk advanced to the finals following a 3-1 win over Dawson Zerr from Turtle Mountain, then defeated Napoleon's Braydin Jangula 6-0 to finish as the Rotary champion. Both Turman and Lusk earned their second straight Rotary titles with the wins.
Michael Lusk maintains control of Braydin Jangula from Napoleon during the closing seconds of their championship match.
At 145lbs, Aric Williams advanced into the championship match with a 12-6 semifinal win over Jacob Mortensen from Minot, then scored a take down in the closing seconds against Isaac Berger from Mandan to secure a tight 5-4 win. Lewis noted "Williams was tested at the Rotary. He proved to himself that he has work to do as he got sloppy at times. He also showed he can battle back and when he trusts in his offense good things will happen. Finally, Spencer Sarringar continued with a dominant performance earning two pins and a major decision to advance to the semifinals where he won by pin in the first period against Horswill from Williston. In the finals, Sarringar faced off against returning state champion Jacob Rader from Bismarck Century and won 9-1 for a major decision. Sarringar had pinned Rader at The Clash the previous week and the wins by both Williams and Sarringar marked their first championship during their final Rotary appearance. "Sarringer wrestled as well as I have ever seen him," said Lewis. "He scored bonus in every match he wrestled, and he only gave up one point throughout the tournament and that was an escape in the finals. His performance was dominant." As was noted by ND Headlock in their preliminary coverage of the tournament "Sarringar has been down right filthy [as in fifthly good] this season."
Spencer Sarringar attempts to turn Jacob Rader from Bismarck Century during their championship match at 195lbs. Sarringar went on to win by major decision 9-1.
Despite a semifinal appearance, William Turman lost 3-2 in a rematch from the Rapid City Invitational against Cody Bevier from RC Stevens, then came back through the wrestle backs and defeated returning Montana state champion Christian Dean to finish third overall. Austin Senger lost a close 5-4 match against Napoleon's Garrett Jangula in the semifinals, earned a pin in the consolation semifinals before winning 3-1 against Voorhees from RC Stevens to also finish third.
During his quarterfinal round, Levi Stoltenburg defeated ND #1 ranked Hunter Swartwout from Minot 19-8, before being pinned in the semifinals. Following a wrestle back loss, Stoltenburg finished 5th with a pin over Oestern from Valley City. After winning this first three matches to advance to the semifinals, Maguire Raske lost to eventual champion Jared Franek from West Fargo, then lost his two remaining matches to finish sixth following a 9-2 loss to Aberdeen's Collin Haar. Lucas Stoltenburg also finished sixth with an overall 4-3 record at the tournament. Stoltenburg lost to Rants from Bismarck Century in the quarterfinals, then following two wins in the wrestle backs he faced Rants again and lost 5-3 during the fifth place match. Lastly, Ty Paulsen finished the day with a seventh place finish with key wins over in-state rivals Spencer from RC Central and then won with a 4-0 finish against Baguma from Fargo Davies. When reflecting on the overall performance of their 10 placers Kalda stated, "Confidence is the word that comes to mind. There's not a doubt in their mind, no matter who is stepping on the mat that they will come out on top. The wrestlers do a really good job of taking these tourneys one match at a time. But they also take the time to study their opponents throughout and make really good adjustment. With those strategies and maintaining their weight properly they have found a recipe that has worked."
Ty Paulsen works to turn Andre Baguma from Fargo Davies during their 7th place match which Paulsen won 4-0.
Three Governors failed to place at the event with Jack Van Camp finishing 2-2 on the weekend, and Riley Kruger filling in for an injured Garrett Leesman went 1-2. Following a strong 3-3 performance at The Clash the previous weekend, Cade Hinkle lost a close match-up against Valley City's Parker Larson, then lost by pin in the first round wrestle-backs. Individual performances by the Governors at the Rotary include:
- 106lbs - Jack Van Camp - DNP (2-2)
- 113lbs - Lincoln Turman - Champion (5-0)
- 120lbs - Will Turman - 3rd (5-1)
- 126lbs - Cade Hinkle - DNP (0-2)
- 132lbs - Michael Lusk Champion (5-0)
- 138lbs - Austin Senger - 3rd (5-1)
- 145lbs - Aric Williams - Champion (5-0)
- 152lbs - Maguire Raske - 6th (3-3)
- 160lbs - Riley Kruger - DNP (1-2)
- 182lbs - Lucas Stoltenburg - 6th (3-3)
- 195lbs - Spencer Sarringar - Champion (5-0)
- 220lbs - Levi Stoltenburg - 5th (4-2)
- 285lbs - Ty Paulsen - 7th (3-2)
- 285lbs - Pryce Dyk - DNP (1-2)
The Governor Wrestling Team following the conclusion of the Bismarck Rotary.
Throughout the two day event the Governors racked up 222 points and out paced the South and North Dakota competition by more than fifty points. "Repeating as champions at the Rotary was good for our team confidence," said Shawn Lewis. "We wrestled well and fixed some things, and are headed in the right direction." Kalda concluded noting "This is one of the few times throughout the year that from top to bottom we looked like a team on a mission. Even in our losses we were in the matches. Obviously in a big tournament like this you need your guys in the finals but where the points started to rack up, were from the guys on the back side of the bracket. Every win, every bonus point could be the difference between a title and second place. We are starting to see everyone buy into that."
Update: Following their successful performance in Bismarck the Governor Wrestling team was recognized as the High School Team of the Week by The Open Mat, a respected Online Wrestling Forum based out of Culver City, CA.
Individual champions for the Governor Wrestling program include Michael Lusk, Aric Williams, Spencer Sarringar and Lincoln Turman.
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