Eagle wrestlers 12th at Big Bear Tournament

By news@perhamfocus.com

December 15, 2007 at 11:00 PM

By John George

The Big Bear Tournament in Cass Lake last weekend sure lives up to it's title. Big is the only way to describe the 33-team individual tournament, which is among the biggest early season wrestling events in the state.

The New York Mills Eagles worked their way through the tournament with a 12th place finish, gathering 112 points. Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus emerged as team champ with 180 points. No. 21-A Aitkin was second with 168.5 points, followed by No. 20-AA Fergus Falls with 151.5.

The Eagles had three wrestlers make their way through the brackets to place. The top individual performance was turned in by Jordan Novak. The 135-pounder advanced to the championship semifinals, where he lost to No. 2-AA Mark Erickson of Roseau, 4-2. Erickson went on to win the 135-pound title.

Novak was bumped to the consolation bracket, where he had a win by fall and a 12-11 decision to take third place overall.

At 171 pounds, Brendan Frost won his first two matches with pins, then dropped a 17-0 decision to eventual champ, No. 2-A Matt Christenson of Aitkin. Frost bounced back to win his next match by fall, but he ended up getting pinned in the 3rd place match by No. 1-AAA Brandon Bahr of Bemidji.

Heavyweight Andrew Frost cruised through his first two matches with first period pins, then advanced to the championship semi's with a 7-3 decision. He lost his semifinal match to No. 6-AA Detroit Lakes' Jon Tolbert, 5-2, but advanced to the third place match with a pin in the consolation semi's. In his final match, he lost a tough 7-6 battle to No. 8-A Kyle Willett of Red Lake County Central to finish in fourth place.

Full individual brackets from the tournament can be found online at www.theguillotine.com/highsch/results/0708/071215bigbear.html .

Hornets coming to town

The Eagles have another big test ahead of them tonight (Dec. 20) as they host No. 4-A Frazee at the Sports Center. Mills narrowly lost last year's dual with the Hornets, 34-30.

Frazee was the Class A runner-up last year, losing to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in the finals. They currently have two ranked wreslters in Mike Lucero (#5-125), and Andrew Lockrem (#2-152 pounds).

December 13-14

Big Bear Tournament (Cass Lake)

1. Pequot Lakes/Pine River/Backus 180, 2. Aitkin 168.5, 3. Fergus Falls 151.5, 4. Little Falls 143, 5. Thief River Falls 139, 6. Badger/Greenbush/Middle River 135.5, 7. Bemidji 131.5, 8. Hutchinson 125.5, 9. Brainerd 121, 10. Hibbing 120.5, 11. Wadena/Deer Creek 117.0, 12. New York Mills 112.0, 13. Crosby/Ironton 108.5, 14. Crookston 97.5 , 15. Barnesville 90.5, 16. Roseau 89, 17. Dilworth/Glendon/Felton 78,18. Detroit Lakes 75.5,19. Deer River 74, 20. Black Duck/Cass Lake/Bena 56, 21. West Central Area 55.5, 22. Park Rapids 55, 23. Morris Area 53, 24. 50.0 Red Lake County Central 50, 25. Fosston Bagley 44.5, 26. East Grand Forks 44, 27. Moorhead 43, 28. United North Central 40.5, T-29. Warren/Alvarado/Oslo, Fertile/Beltrami 31,31. Virginia 22, 32. Walker/Hackensack/Akley/Nevis 20, 33. Nashwauk-Keewatin-Grennway 17.

103--Josh Bernu (2-2)

112--Myron Bell (1-2)

119--Brian Schornack (3-3)

125--Mike Dittmann (2-2)

130--Mike Kumpula (1-2)

135--Jordan Novak (5-1) 3rd Place

140--Jordan Vaughan (2-2)

145--Jake Johnson (1-2)

152--Brian Fischer (2-2)

160--Ryan Lee (0-2)

171--Brendan Frost (3-2) 4th Place

189--Andy Hendrickx (1-2)