Bluejay Wrestling
Six Medalists for Bluejays at Conference
After missing school for countless days due to weather, the Pierce Bluejay wrestlers were able to be in action at the Mid-State conference meet on Saturday, January 20, at Cedar Catholic where Pierce finished the day with six medalists, including conference champion at 150, Brenden Bolling.
Bolling received a bye his first round, then pinned Max Bruce of Crofton-Bloomfield in the quarterfinals, and won in a 6-1 decision over Brady Hochstein of Cedar Catholic in the semifinal round. The conference championship was won in a 10-3 decision over Pryor Matthew of O’Neill.
Another medalist for the Bluejays, Bryce Lindstrom (144), finished third. Lindstrom started his day pinning Jonah Ash of Norfolk Catholic. In the quarterfinals Lindstrom fell to Oliver Schluns from O’Neill. Wrestling back, Lindstrom pinned Dylan Schinstock of Guardian Angels Central Catholic (GACC), Chase Rasmussen of Pierce and Walker Robertson of Boone Central. In the third place match, Lindstrom won a 4-0 decision over Hunter Kuchta of Cedar Catholic.
Wrestling at 132, Elijah Streff earned third, winning in the quarterfinals over Ty Opfer of Cedar Catholic in a 14-6 major decision. Easton Hochstein of Cedar Catholic then won by fall over Streff in the semifinals. In the consolation semifinals Streff pinned Crofton-Bloomfield’s Evan Hollander, and in the finals Streff pinned Opfer.
Adding points to the team score with his fourth place medal, Draydin Gossman (126) started in the quarterfinals by pinning Tavious Pinkelman of Cedar Catholic. Gossman lost in an 18-5 major decision to Robbie Fisher of Crofton-Bloomfield in the semifinals, but rallied back in the consolation semifinals to pin Blaise Kann of Norfolk Catholic. Gossman ended his day with the fourth place medal after losing in a 6-4 decision to Brody Kleinschmit of Cedar Catholic.
At 157, Peyton Kruntorad placed fourth for the Jays. Kruntorad received a bye his first round, the won in a 13-11 decision over Anthony Miller of O’Neill. During the semifinals, Kruntorad lost in a 6-2 decision to Zander Liston from Wayne. The consolation semifinals had Kruntorad winning over Trey Tramp of Crofton-Bloomfield in an 8-6 decision. In the third place match, Kruntorad then fell to Miller.
Pierce’s final medalist was Kaiden Fritz at 175. Fritz pinned Maddox Hammerlun of O’Neill in the quarterfinals but lost in an 11-10 decision to Brek Thompson of Battle Creek in the semifinals. During the consolation semifinals Fritz pinned Anthony Castillo of Pierce. The third place match saw Fritz falling to Jordan Timmerman of GACC.
Wrestling at 285, Boston Krueger received a bye his first round, then won a 3-2 decision over Connor Heiderman of Battle Creek. Krueger then fell to Mason Planer of Battle Creek in the semifinals. The consolation semifinals had Owen Kuchar of Crofton-Bloomfield winning by fall over Krueger.
Christian Nordby at 215 lost in an 8-4 decision to Casey Jennoutot of Crofton-Bloomfield. Nordby then won by fall over Xavier Miller of Pierce, but lost by pin in the consolation semifinals to Dahkota Zlomke of Battle Creek.
Also at 215 was Miller, who received a bye his first and third rounds. Miller fell to Hank Hudson of Boone Central in the quarterfinals, and then to Nordby in consolation round three.
Wrestling at 190, Logan Gubbels fell to Nicholas Coleman of Cedar Catholic. Then Gubbels pinned Riley Crosley of Crofton-Bloomfield in consolation round one but fell to Lakin Stange of Crofton-Bloomfield in consolation round two.
Clayton Carlson (190) pinned Jaime Ramirez from Wayne in his first round but fell to Matias Jimenez from O’Neill in the quarterfinals. Carlson recovered and pinned Alan Ramirez from Wayne in consolation round two. Then Carlson won in a 13-3 major decision over Antony Steffen of Crofton-Bloomfield, but fell to Tyson Sanger of Crofton-Bloomfield in the consolation semifinals.
At 175, Castillo received a bye in his first round. He then fell to Brock Jennoutot of Crofton-Bloomfield. In consolation rounds two and three Castillo pinned Skyler Jessen of Crofton-Bloomfield and Brody Coulter of Pierce. During the consolation semifinals Castillo fell to Fritz.
The other 175 wrestler for Pierce, Coulter, also received a bye his first round. Coulter then fell to Jordan Timmerman of GACC in the quarterfinals. In consolation round two Coulter had a bye, and in consolation round three Coulter fell to Castillo.
Pierce had two wrestlers at 165, Kaiden Ronnfeldt and Jackson Fischer. During Ronnfeldt’s first round he fell to Evan Schuetz of GACC. Ronnfeldt received a bye his second round and then fell to Clayton Carney of Norfolk Catholic in consolation round two. Fischer won his first round in a 6-0 decision over Max Guenther from Crofton-Bloomfield. In the quarterfinals, Fischer fell to Casey Schnebel of Battle Creek. Then in consolation round two, Fischer won by decision, 7-2, over Rilee Sellin of Battle Creek, but in consolation round three, Fischer fell to Schuetz.
In the 157 weight class, Kyle Kueher lost in a 14-4 major decision to Miller of O’Neill, and then received a bye in his second round. During consolation round two, Kuehler fell to Dominic Johnson of GACC.
Also wrestling at 144 was Rasmussen, who pinned Ryan Owen of O’Neill in his first round, but Rasmussen fell to Hunter Kuchta of Cedar Catholic in the quarterfinals. During his consolation rounds, Rasmussen pinned Devin Hassler from Battle Creek but fell to Lindstrom.
Pierce’s Cole DeBoer, at 138, received a bye in his first round and fell to Braeden Kleinschmit of Cedar Catholic in the quarterfinals. DeBoer then had a bye in consolation round two and fell to Daron Dozler of Boone Central in consolation round three.
At 120, Corbin Pfeil started his day pinning Keaton Buhlmann of Boone Central and winning in a 10-1 major decision over Brayden Rolf of GACC. In the semifinals Pfeil fell to Ryan Stusse Jr. of Battle Creek. Then during the consolation semifinals, Pfeil lost in a 13-0 major decision to Gavin Mauch of Boone Central.
Senior Zakary Abler (113) lost by an 8-3 decision in the quarterfinals to Kamden Showalter of Battle Creek, then received a bye in consolation round two, followed by a loss by fall to Kanon Warneke of Battle Creek in consolation round three.
The full Bluejay team finished fifth out of the nine conference schools.
The Bluejay wrestlers are in action again on Saturday, January 27, at Boone Central.
The Bluejays Dominated at the Norfolk Catholic Dual.
By Alanna McKeown
The Pierce Bluejays beat the Norfolk Catholic wrestling team by 41 points, with the final team score being 53-12.
Head coach Tyler Legate states, “I really liked their effort, and we look forward to finishing January on a high note this week at Boone Central Invite.”
Starting at the weight class of 106 both Norfolk Catholic and Pierce had no wrestlers at this weight resulting in a double forfeit.
Zakary Abler won his match because Norfolk Catholic did not have a wrestler at 113, giving Pierce six points.
Wrestling at 120 for Pierce, Corbin Pfeil won against Zachary Foecking by a 7-2 decision, giving Pierce three points to add to the team score.
Draydin Gossman (126) pinned Blaise Kann, giving Pierce six team points.
On to 132, Elijah Streff won his match, pinning against Carter Fisher and adding six points for the Pierce team.
At 138, Cole DeBoer lost by fall to Oliver Daniel, which gave Norfolk Catholic six team points.
Bryce Lindstrom, wrestling at 144, won his match against Jonah Ash by decision, 8-1, gaining Pierce three points.
Wrestling at 150, Brenden Bolling won by tech fall over Noah Morland, 19-4 and winning Pierce five team points.
Peyton Kruntorad (157) won by a 7-2 decision against Mason Dusek and adding three team points for Pierce.
At 165, Jackson Fischer won by decision, 11-4, against Clayton Carney and contributed three points for the Pierce team.
Kaiden Fritz (175) won his match due to the other team not having an opponent for him to wrestle and gained Pierce six points.
At 190, Clayton Carlson beat Edwin Alarcon by fall, allowing the Pierce team six more points.
Christian Nordby, at 215, was unopposed, and gave Pierce six team points.
The last weight was 285, and Boston Krueger fell to Sam Johnson.
There were two extra wrestling matches, which included Kaiden Ronnfeldt defeating Daniel Vuchetich in a 15-0 technical fall and Kyle Kuehler beating Bo Bomar, defeating him by fall 0:58.
Journey with the Bluejays to the Boone Central Invite on Saturday, January 27. Wrestling starts at 10 a.m.
