East Ridge wrestling: Royals, Wolfpack too much for Raptors

After battling in the District 833 Triangular and the Trinity at River Ridge Invitational, it’s evident the East Ridge wrestling team is improving, but still hasn’t reached the level of its intra-district rivals from Park and Woodbury.

At the much-anticipated District 833 Triangular on Thursday, Dec. 8, at Park High School, East Ridge fell 63-18 to Woodbury and 61-15 to Park. The Raptors are still looking for their first wins against Woodbury and Park.

To start the third-annual Suburban East Conference match Woodbury took down East Ridge 63-18, but then Park beat the Royals and the Raptors to win the triangular’s traveling trophy – and bragging rights.

Three years ago, Park won the first-ever District 833 triangular, however, Woodbury won last year’s match.

“Overall we wrestled OK,” East Ridge head coach Hans Horning said. “We looked a little sluggish but that is to be expected for the first match of the season.”

Against Woodbury, East Ridge’s Reid Lyden won by pin at 113 pounds, Jake Trevis won with a pin at 120 pounds and heavyweight J.C. Hassenauer earned a pin at heavyweight. Against Park, Lyden won with a pin, senior Jon Balagot won a 10-8 decision at 170 pounds, and Hassenauer won with a pin at heavyweight.

Lyden is ranked eighth in Class AAA at 113 pounds.

“Reid was looking very good at 113 pounds and JC Hassenauer also looked good at heavyweight,” Horning said. “Also, M.J. Okada worked very hard at 106 against two good wrestlers and John Chatterton had a great match at 138 against Park only to lose on a mental error.”

At the 10-team Trinity at River Ridge Invitational, East Ridge finished in fourth place with 176 points – its highest ever point total as a team.

Pine Island took first place with 212 points, Eden Prairie was second with 204.5 points and Trinity took third place with 180 points.

Individually, Balagot took first place at 170 pounds and was the Raptors’ only champion.

“Jon Balagot had a great tournament with three pins,” Horning said. “He looked very good.”

Three East Ridge wrestlers earned runner-up honors, however – Lyden at 113 pounds, Trevis at 120 pounds and Hassenauer at heavyweight. Taking third place was M.J. Okada, going 3-1 at 106 pounds, Nate Tigges, going 3-1 at 182 pounds and Kyle Siemers, going 1-1 at 195 pounds. Also, Bodie Shehan (126 pounds), Emilio Huerta (132 pounds) and Kevin Siemers (152 pounds) earned fourth place finishes, while John Chatterton took fifth place at 138 pounds, going 2-2 and Josh Stensgard finished in sixth place at 145 pounds.

“It was our best tournament to date,” Horning said. “A great tournament. Kids had a completely different attitude than on Thursday. They came out to win today and were aggressive. It was fun to watch.”

East Ridge was at Minneapolis Southwest on Tuesday, Dec. 13, after the Bulletin went to print. Next, the Raptors take on Minneapolis Washburn and St. Paul Central in Minneapolis on Thursday, Dec. 15.

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