Edmunds County Tribune -

The Ipswich Area Wrestling co-op competed on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Sisseton at the Region 1B Tournament, led by senior Carter Heinz's runner-up finish at 195.

To earn a trip to the State Meet, wrestlers still indeed need to place in the top four in their weight class. But new to the regional tournaments this year was wrestling-off the fifth- and sixth-place positions in each class. The top-seeded fifth-place wrestler from all the regions could compete at state as an alternate if a wrestler in their respective weight class is unable to compete at the state meet. And the Tigers' Lucas Rowland met that criteria in the 285-lb. weight class Saturday in Sisseton.

Heinz was second only to Cade Shoemaker of Webster Area, who obtained a 2:26 pin-win in their title clash. So Heinz has earned a third consecutive trip to the state meet by placing second in this year's regional action. He has been wrestling varsity four years and did not place in the state during his sophomore year. But last year as a junior, he placed eighth. His first opponent in Sioux Falls on Thursday will be Cole Pranger of Mount Vernon/ Plankington/ Corsica-Stickney. The individual placement matches of the State B will be held on Saturday, Feb.29.

Meanwhile, Tanner Frickson, Marcus Hofer and of course Rowland all placed fifth, while Darrel Yost and Kadyn Weisser placed sixth. The team brought home a ninth-place finish in the tournament with 60 team points.

The final team-point standings' leaderboard showed Redfield Area on top with 255 points, followed by Kingsbury County with 175.5 and the host team Sisseton was third with 128 points. Faulkton Area was next with 115 team points, followed by Clark/Willow Lake rounding out the Top Five with 110 points.

Coach Todd Naasz said "I felt the athletes competed very hard. We had four athletes that were close to qualifying for the state meet. I felt that this young team showed a lot of up-and-coming potential for the future."

Rowland, one of those youngsters, returned to competition for the first time since his shoulder injury way back on December 21. He lost to Ethan Skarnagel of Sisseton his first match back, but he turned around and beat Skarnagel in their fifth-place match. Freshman Brady Unser lost two of his matches in sudden-victory overtime, ending his chance to make it to state. Another freshman Tanner Frickson was unable to upset either Keaton Rohlfs of Redfield or David Knutson of Sioux Valley to get into the top four. Seventh-grader Marcus Hofer placed fifth, exactly where he was seeded.

Individual Tiger results in the Region 2B meet:

106- Brady Unser won by pin, 1:32; lost in sudden-victory OT; won 12-0 (major decision) and again lost in sudden-victory OT for six team points.

113- Parker Gill was pinned, 1:19; was pinned, 2:32.

126- Tanner Frickson placed fifth and scored nine team points. He lost 11-3 (major decision); won by forfeit; won 11-7; lost 12-6; won 10-9.

145- Darrel Yost placed sixth and scored six team points. He was pinned, :35; won by forfeit; was pinned, :27; was pinned, 1:25.

152- Kadyn Weisser placed sixth and scored five team points. He was pinned, 2:51; won 9-6; was pinned, 2:21; lost 6-3.

160- Grant Weisser was pinned, 1:44; lost by technical fall, 16-0.

182- Matthew McCloud was pinned, 1:02; was pinned, 1:50.

195- Carter Heinz placed second and scored 20 team points. He won by pin, :58; won by pin, :42; was pinned, 2:26.

220- Marcus Hofer placed fifth and scored seven team points. He was pinned, 4:47; was pinned, 2:38; won by pin, 1:18.

285- Lucas Rowland placed fifth and scored seven team points. He was pinned, 1:54; was pinned, 2:02; won by pin, 1:34.