Kolt Bullerman of the Maple River/United South Central Longhorns lifts Owatonna’s Williiam Frantesi before taking him to the mat. Bullerman pinned Frantesi in the first round at the Takedown on 22.

The Maple River/United South Central Longhorns hosted the Takedown on 22 Wrestling Tournament on Jan. 31 in Mapleton. Fifteen schools competed in the tournament including one school from Powers, Michigan.

Winning the tournament was the Watertown Mayer-Mayer Lutheran Royals with 201.5 points. Claiming the runner-up spot was Mankato East with 149.5 points. Jackson County Central was third with 144.5 points, the host Longhorns were fourth with 128, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial was fifth with 103.5, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf Pemberton was sixth with 97.5, the Martin County Red Bulls were seventh with 93.5, Owatonna finished eighth with 86, Blue Earth Area was ninth with 73, Tri-City United was 10th with 72.5, New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva was 11th with 66, Sibley East took 12th with 37.5, Powers was 13th with 26.5, Chaska/Chanhassen was 14th with 26 and Mankato West was 15th with 4.

MR/USC had seven wrestlers finish in the top six in their individual weight bracket.

Two wrestlers, Austin Niebuhr at 107 pounds and Alex Walser at 114, each brought home second-place finishes while two other wrestlers, Shaune Peterson at 145 pounds and Kolt Bullerman at 172, each finished in third place. Jace Ignaszewski was fourth at 152 while Austin Sanders at 121 pounds and Riley Sparks at 127 each finished in sixth place.

Niebuhr began his day by pinning Mason Sorensen of Owatonna in 1:16. Next, the Longhorns’ 107-pounder won be a fall in 1:40 over Otto Root of WEM/JMP.

Niebuhr advanced to the championship match by pinning Kale Rosival of Mankato East in 3:04.

In the match for first place, Micah Donahue of WM-ML won by a fall in 4:43 to give Niebuhr second place.

The 114-pound bracket was different than every other weight category in that it was wrestled as a five-man round-robin bracket.

Walser won his round one match over Logan Leiter of Watertown Mayer-Mayer Lutheran by a 10-0 major decision. Walser then defeated Brock Jagodzinske of the Martin County Red Bulls in the second round by a fall at the 5:56 mark.

Walser did not have a match in the third round. In round four, Walser won by a medical forfeit over Reid Carter of Jackson County Central.

In the fifth and final round, Walser was defeated by Grahm Jacobson of NRHEG in a 5-2 sudden victory. Leiter was awarded first place while Walser finished in second and Jacobson was third.

Peterson won his first match at 145 pounds by a 15-0 technical fall over Brock Stauffer of Martin County.

Peterson then defeated Geovany Munoz of Jackson County Central by a pin in 3:49 to advance to the semifinal round against Tucker Skluzacek.

Skluzacek defeated Peterson by a 15-1 major decision.

In his next match, Peterson pinned Levi Gilman of LCWM in 1:45 to gain third place.

Bullerman’s journey to a third-place finish at 172 pounds began with a pin over William Frantesi of Owatonna in 3:16.

Bullerman lost his next match to Colton Stehr of Mankato East by a pin in 1:12 to move to the wrestlebacks.

Bullerman defeated Gianny Lopez of Sibley East by a fall in 32 seconds and then won his next match over Austin Newcombe of Martin County by a fall in one minute.

Next, Bullerman advanced to the third-place match by pinning Austin Stein in 1:59.

Bullerman earned his third-place finish by pinning BEA’s Will Weerts in 2:29.

Ignaszewski received an opening-round bye at 152 pounds and then won his next match by a medical forfeit over Keegan O’Meara of TCU.

Ignaszewski lost his semifinal march to eventual runner-up Torrey Paplow of Martin County.

Ignaszewski finished fourth when Dallas Gossen of JCC defeated the Longhorns’ wrestler by a pin in 55 seconds.

Wrestling at 121 pounds, Sanders received a bye in the first round and then lost to Jacob Wilson of Owatonna by a fall in 1:24 in the second round.

Now in the wrestlebacks, Sanders won by a fall in 2:01 over Allen Hollie of Powers and then defeated Charlie Tufte of NRHEG by a 9-8 decision.

Brenden Masson of WEM/JWP pinned Sanders in 1:53 to send the MR/USC wrestler to the match for fifth place where Sanders was defeated in an 8-2 decision by Owen Delander of TCU.

Sparks lost his first-round match at 127 pounds before battling back to take sixth place.

Trey Richards pinned Sparks in 17 seconds in the first round but Sparks rebounded with a pin of Jack Hargan of JCC in 4:37.

Sparks then lost to Lincon Rosevold of Mankato East by a 13-9 decision. In the match for fifth place, Sparks was defeated by Jackson Buss of LCWM by a 10-7 decision which gave Sparks sixth place.

The Section 2AA Team Tournament begins on Feb. 12 with preliminary matches. The tournament will conclude on Feb. 14 with the semifinal and championship matches being held on Maple River High School.

Delano will be the site of the Section 2AA Individual Wrestling Tournament and will be held Feb. 20-21.

The Minnesota State Tournament will be held Feb. 26-28 in St. Paul.