Chase Gambell sizes up his opponent during a match earlier this season at the Blue Earth Area gymnasium.

Blue Earth Area participated in the 13-team Wabasso Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 18, and three of the wrestlers came home with fourth-place finishes.

The host Wabasso Rabbits edged Redwood Valley for the team championship 171.5-162. BEA finished in 11th place with 50 points.

Wrestlers Drake Engelby, Timmy Nagel and Chase Gambell were the three BEA wrestlers who made it to the podium stand with their fourth-place finishes.

Engelby received a first-round bye before pinning Carlos Rankel of Springfield in 1:19.

Next, Engelby was defeated by eventual champion Lane Taylor of Wabasso by a technical fall with Taylor outpointing Engelby 20-4.

The Buccaneer wrestler earned his way into the third-place match by defeating Bryson Marsh of Red Rock Central by a pin in 44 seconds.

The match for third place saw Albino Almanza of St. Clair/Mankato Loyola score the opening takedown to go ahead 3-0. Engleby earned a 2-point reversal but Almanza got an escape to make the score 4-2 in Almanza’s favor at the end of the first period. Following a scoreless second period, the two wrestlers exchanged reversals in the final two minutes which resulted in Almanza winning by a 6-4 decision.

At 127 pounds, Nagel had a first-round bye before losing a 9-7 decision to Zach Skoblik of the Rabbits in the second round.

Nagel had a bye in the first round of the wrestlebacks before defeating Jose Luna of Windom-Mountain Lake by a fall in 1:27 in the next round.

Nagel won his next match by a pin over Gavin Olson of Benson with just six seconds remaining in the match.

The win by Nagel earned him a spot in the match for third place where once again he met Wabasso’s Skoblik.

Skoblik was able to put Nagel’s shoulders to the mat in 1:43 which gave the BEA wrestler fourth place in the tourney.

Chase Gambell’s road to a fourth-place finish began with a bye before the Buccaneer 285-pounder was defeated by Breck Martin of Quad County by a pin 58 seconds into the second period.

In his first wrestleback match, Gambell won by a pin in 1:14 over Williard Spence of St. Clair/Mankato Loyola. Gambell won his next match by a fall in 4:22 over Josh Timm of Wabasso.

Gambell made it three pins in a row when he pinned Ryan Szafryk of the Martin County Red Bulls in 2:20.

Gambell hooked up with Quad City’s Martin for the second time of the tournament in a battle for third place.

Once again it was Martin who came out on top, pinning Gambell in 4:28 to give the Buc wrestler fourth place.

Other BEA wrestlers who participated in the tournament were Jason Casey, Collin Alfson, Layden Bassett, Colton Tolzmann, Will Weerts and Jacob Gambell.

Blue Earth Area

Quadrangular

The Bucs hosted a quadrangular meet on Thursday, Jan. 16. In addition to host BEA, the other teams participating were the Martin County Red Bulls, St. James-Madelia Saints and Worthington.

Since the Saints and Bucs had previously wrestled about one week prior to the quadrangular, they did not wrestle at this meet.

Martin County 53,

BEA 24

The Bucs won the first four matches when they faced the Red Bulls while the visitors won the last nine.

At 107 pounds, BEA’s Jason Casey pinned Jace Wiemers in 3:13.

BEA received a forfeit at 114 pounds to take a 12-0 lead.

Drake Engelby put the Bucs ahead 18-0 when he won by a fall over Adam Denson in 1:32 in the 121-pound match.

Timmy Nagel’s pin of Leadro Ramirez Briseno at 127 pounds gave the Bucs a 24-0 lead.

BEA forfeited at 133 pounds and 172 pounds and Martin County won six matches by fall and one by a technical fall.

Worthington 47, BEA 23

The Bucs also won four matches against the Trojans.

Timmy Nagel defeated Christian Dailey by a 19-4 technical fall at 127 pounds.

Layden Basset received a forfeit at 145 pounds.

In the 172-pound match, BEA’s Will Weerts pinned Brayden Raymo in 5:08 and Chase Gambell received a forfeit at 285 pounds.

In other contests during the quadrangular, St. James-Madelia defeated Martin County 38-35 and Worthington downed St. James-Madelia 42-20.

After traveling to New Ulm for a triangular meet on Jan. 23, the Bucs will host a triangular meet with Luverne and Waseca on Jan. 28.