The Maple River/United South Central Longhorns wrestling team won both of their matches at the St. Clair-Mankato Loyola Triangular meet on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at St. Clair.

MR/USC downed the host St. Clair-Mankato Loyola Spartans 45 to 19, and also downed the Waseca Bluejays by a score of 48-22.

MR/USC 45, St.Clair-Mankato Loyola 19

The Longhorns jumped out to an 18-0 lead and never looked back on their way to the big victory over the Spartans.

Austin Niebuhr started things off with a fall at 107 pounds over Alex Isebrand. Alex Walser continued with an 8-3 decision over Albino Almanza at 114. Riley Sparks won by a fall over Braydon Won at 121 pounds and Noah Gonzalez took an 8-4 decision over Blake Shepherd at 127.

Jace Ignaszewski lost a 6-2 decision to Ty Romnes at 133 pounds, but Wyatt Walters at 145 and Brayden Mithun at 152 both won by forfeit.

At 160 pounds Kolt Bullerman won over James Stenzel by a fall and Byron Getchell took a close 4-3 decision over Chase Bade at 172 and the Longhorns were ahead 45 to 3.

Max Fuller lost by a fall at 189 pounds to Lucas Vaughn and Dizel Butler lost a 13-4 major decision to Cooper Garlow at 215 and the Longhorns forfeited at 285. That made the final score 45-19.

MR/USC 48, Waseca 22

In their second match of the night the Longhorns had little trouble with Waseca, as they jumped out to a 24-0 lead, then led 36-4 and 48-7.

Austin Niebuhr started off with a pin over Zander Rahe at 107 pounds, Alex Walser won by a forfeit at 114, Riley Sparks won by a fall over Archer O’Brien at 121 and Noah Gonzalez won by forfeit at 127 to get the Longhorns their 24-0 lead.

At 133 pounds Jace Ignaszewski lost an 8-0 major decision to Waseca’s Jacob Knutson. At 139 pounds it was Longhorn Isaiah Gonzalez winning by a fall over Deven Parpet and Wyatt Walters won by a fall at 145 over Jaiden Schafer.

At 152 pounds Brayden Mithun of MR/USC lost an 8-4 decision to Sam Selthun. Kolt Bullerman won by a fall at 160 pounds over Oliver Staloch and Byron Getchell won by a fall at 172 over Ton Bethke.

At 189 pounds MR/USC’s Max Fuller lost by a fall to Lucas Selthun and at 215 the Longhorns had a forfeit. At 285 Dizel Butler lost a 6-0 decision to the Bluejays’ Ben Hagen, making the final score 48-22 in favor of the Longhorns.

Wabasso Duals

The Maple River/United South Central Longhorns wrestling team won two matches and lost one when they participated in the Wabasso Duals on Saturday, Jan. 4, in Wabasso.

The Longhorns took down the host Wabasso Rabbits 46 to 23, defeated the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton-Westbrook-Walnut Grove Panthers 42-26 and then lost to the Owatonna Huskies 45-15.

MR/USC 46, Wabasso 23

The Longhorns exactly doubled the score that the Rabbits had during their 46-23 contest.

Austin Niebuhr got things going for MR/USC with a pin at 107 pounds. At 114 Alex Walser lost a 10-0 major decision to Lane Taylor, making the score 6-4.

The Longhorns then ripped off two wins to go up 17-4. Riley Sparks pinned Braedan Ricketts at 121 pounds and Noah Gonzalez got a 17-1 technical fall over Nathan Riley at 127.

The Rabbits came back and tied the match at 17. Jace Ignaszewski lost a 13-2 major decision to Zack Skoblik at 133 pounds, Waylon Simon lost by a pin to Mikale Goblirsch at 139 and Wyatt Walters lost a 7-4 decision to Kaysen Harms at 145.

The Longhorns then won the next four matches to take a commanding 40-17 lead.

At 152 pounds it was Isaiah Gonzalez getting an 18-2 technical fall over Tyson Lightfoot, Bryden Mithun winning by forfeit at 160, Kolt Bullerman pinning Nolan Hansen at 172 and Byron Getchell winning by a fall over Ezekiel Olson at 189.

The final became 46-23 when MR/USC’s Max Fuller lost by a fall to Mason Kampsen at 215 pounds and Dizel Butler won by a fall over Josh Timm at 285.

MR/USC 42,

TMB/WWG 26

The Longhorns dug themselves into a hole when they fell behind 23 to 6 in their match against the Panthers. But MR/USC came back to win six of the last seven matches to take a commanding 42-26 win.

Austin Niebuhr gave MR/USC a 6-0 lead to start off when he pinned Ethan Johnson in 36 seconds at 107 pounds.

However, Alex Walser lost by a fall to Logan Petersen at 114 pounds, Riley Sparks lost a 16-1 technical fall to Taylor Squires at 121, Noah Gonzalez lost a close 9-7 decision to Weston Marten at 127, Jace Ignaszewski also lost a close 8-6 match to Nolan Verlinde at 133 and Waylon Simon lost by a fall to David Schuh at 139.

That put MR/USC behind 23-6.

Then the Longhorns took over and Wyatt Walters won by a fall over Tyler Arnold at 145 pounds, Isaiah Gonzalez won by a fall over Mavrick Snyder at 152, Brayden Mithun won by a fall over Adrian Yang at 160, Kolt Bullerman pinned Nevin Marten at 172 and Byron Getchell won by a pin over Chue Fue Vang at 189.

Now the Longhorns were ahead 36-23.

Max Fuller lost a 17-4 major decision to Lawton Verlinde at 215 pounds, but Dizel Butler pinned Richer Yang at 285. The score was 42 to 27, however TMB/WWG had one point deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct during the 172 pounds match, making the final score 42-26.

Owatonna 45,

MR/USC 15

The Longhorns only had four wrestlers win during the match with Owatonna.

At 121 pounds Riley Sparks took an 18-14 decision win over Jacob Wilson, and at 127 pounds, Noah Gonzalez pinned Gabe Robb. Those two wins made the score at the time a 9-9 tie.

At 189 pounds, the Longhorns’ Byron Getchell won a very close 5-4 decision over Logan Risser and at 285 pounds it was another close match with Dizel Butler defeating Kaden Keller 3-1.