College Sports: Tucker Hugg paces Ridgewater Warriors wrestling team at Rochester
Nov. 5—ROCHESTER — The Ridgewater wrestling team got three athletes in the top eight of their respective weights in the season-opening Yellowjacket Open on Saturday at Rochester Community and Technical College.
The Warriors entered the season ranked fourth in the NJCAA preseason wrestling poll with 37 points. They are behind Western Wyoming (90), Pratt (59) and Iowa Western (43).
Ridgewater's top wrestler on Saturday was freshman Tucker Hugg. The heavyweight from St. Cloud took second in the 285-pound freshman/sophomore division with a 3-1 record, including a pair of falls. In the championship match, he lost to Southwest Minnesota State's Kody Marschner in a 5-1 decision.
Sophomore Cole Holien placed sixth in the freshman/sophomore 141 bracket. The sophomore from Atwater went 5-1 with three falls. He hit his six-match limit for the tournament prior to the fifth-place match.
Austin Schlangen finished 2-2 with a pair of falls for the Warriors in the freshman/sophomore 285 bracket. He is a sophomore from Watkins.
Ridgewater is in Mitchell, South Dakota next weekend. It faces Dakota Wesleyan for a dual on Friday, followed by DWU's open tournament on Saturday.
Other wrestlers in the tournament with local ties:
* St. Cloud State's Tyson Meyer went 2-1 and placed second in the 184 open division. Meyer is a three-time state champion from Minnewaska and is a redshirt sophomore for the Huskies.
* Wisconsin-La Crosse freshman Eddie Simes also finished second after a 3-1 record in the 174 open division. Simes wrestled for Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield before transferring to Amery (Wisconsin).
* Minnesota West's Joe Kallevig was 2-2 for an eighth-place finish in the freshman/sophomore 165 bracket. A Willmar High School grad, Kallevig is a redshirt freshman for the Bluejays.
* Coy Gunderson was 0-2 in the 174 open division. From Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, Gunderson is a redshirt freshman at Augustana University.
Seven Ridgewater players scored in double figures in the Warriors' season-opening victory over Free Lutheran Bible College and Seminary Friday in Willmar.
Leading Ridgewater's efforts was Aiden Wichmann. A freshman from Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Wichmann went 7 of 8 from the field for 17 points in 14 minutes.
Another starter, Marwan Abdi, had double-digit points with 14. Abdi is a sophomore from St. Peter.
Manny Hernandez (14), Que Long (13), Keegan Shrider (12), Maxwell Mobley (12) and Caleb Kyzer (11) all reached double-digits off the bench.
The Warriors have back-to-back games at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Worthington on Friday and Saturday. They face the Dordt College JV at 4 p.m. Friday, followed by the Northwestern College JV at 2 p.m. Saturday.
