The Maple River/United South Central Longhorns held their invitational wrestling tournament, called ‘Takedown on 22,’ on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Four of the Longhorn wrestlers placed in the top five at the tourney.

Cooper Ochsendorf claimed first place in his weight class.

He took a 9-7 decision in the first place match over Caden O’Malley of Tri-City United to claim the championship.

Ochsendorf had pinned Axel Uhlenkamp of Redwood Valley in the quarterfinals, and pinned Aidan Mattison of Marshall in the semifinals, to gain a spot in the championship match.

Two MR/USC wrestlers took fourth place at the tourney.

Isaiah Gonzalez lost to Jared Hunter of Windom-Mountain Lake by a fall in the third place match, putting him in fourth place.

He had defeated Riley Kreeger of Owatonna by a fall in the quarterfinals, but lost by a fall to Parker Jackson of Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran in the semifinals.

Braxton Simon lost by a fall in his third place match to Chris Johnson of Tri-City United, putting him in fourth place.

Simon had defeated Eli Hamberger of Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran by a fall in the quarterfinals, and lost to Thomas Freking of Jackson County Central by a 16-3 major decision in the semifinals.

The Longhorns also had one wrestler place fifth at their ‘Takedown on 22’ Invitational.

Byron Getchell took a 10-0 major decision victory over Seth Stai of Jackson County Central in the fifth place match.

Getchell had lost to Patrick Duske of Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran, 9-3, in the quarterfinals. Then he pinned Kaden Malecha of Tri-City United in the consolation round, and took a 15-0 technical fall win over Drake Payne of GMLOS (Grand Meadow/Leroy-Ostrander/Southland) in the consolation semis to get to the fifth place match.

MR/USC Triangular

The Maple River/United South Central Longhorns hosted a triangular wrestling meet on Thursday, Feb. 2, and ended up losing both of their two matches during the meet.

The Longhorns lost 42-26 to Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove, and fell 49-17 to Kenyon-Wanamingo.

While neither TMB/WWG nor Kenyon-Wanamingo are in the top 12 teams in Class A, both are on the Guillotine’s ‘Lean and Mean’ list, which is the honorable mention category.

TMB/WWG 42, MR/USC 26

With three matches to go, the MR/USC Longhorns were ahead of TMB/WWG by a score of 26-24.

However, the Panthers won the last three matches by a fall and two forfeits for the 42-26 win.

Noah Gonzalez at 106 pounds and Wyatt Walters at 113 got the Longhorns off to a 6-0 start. Gonzalez won a 3-0 decision over Logan Petersen and Walters defeated Troy Gillette 5-2.

The Panthers tied it up 6-6 when David Schuh won by a fall over Brayden Mithun at 120 pounds. The Longhorns’ Jace Ignaszewki also lost by a fall to Devin Carter at 126 pounds and the Panthers were up 12-6.

This time Longhorn Isaiah Gonzalez tied it up 12-12 with a pin of Tyler Arnold at 132 pounds. At 138 Braxton Simon took a 10-0 major decision win over Damian Alatriste and MR/USC was back in the lead at 16-12.

TMB/WWG’s Alexander Schuh got a 21-6 technical fall over Garrett Bollmann at 145 pounds and the Panthers regained the lead 17-16 in the back and forth battle. They extended the lead to 20-16 with a Jacob Meyer 12-8 decision over Longhorn Chad Schull at 152.

The Longhorns tied the score at 20-20 when Byron Getchell defeated Ashton Squires with a 10-1 major decision at 160 pounds. The Panthers went up 24-20 with a 15-6 major decision of Gage Struchen over Tyler Hollerich at 170. Then the Longhorns went back into the lead, 26-24, when Cooper Ochsendorf pinned Zachary Swanson at 182 pounds.

After that, TMB/WWG got six points for a pin at 195, of Isaiah Wolske over Max Fuller, six for a forfeit at 220 and six for a forfeit at 285, making the final 42-26.

Kenyon-Wanamingo 49, MR/USC 17

The MR/USC Longhorns were only able to win three matches when they faced the Kenyon-Wanamingo Knights.

The Longhorns lost their first three matches by decisions, so they fell behind 9-0.

At 126 pounds, Isaiah Gonzalez took a 17-2 technical fall victory over Brennan Flotterud. That cut the Knights’ lead to 9-5.

However, the Longhorns would lose the next six matches and would fall behind 37-5.

MR/USC’s Max Fuller, at 182 pounds, won by a forfeit, and Cooper Ochsendorf, at 195, won by a pin over Aidan Lindell in 1:07. That made the score 37-17.

The Knights took the last two matches by a forfeit and a pin, making the final score 49-17.