Last week started out frustrating for the Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus as they missed two wrestling events because of illness. But the week ended on a positive note as the Road Crew won the nine-team Lake Audubon tournament Saturday, Jan. 15, in Lake Park.
“We dealt with illness (not Covid) that pretty much wiped out the team for the week,” Road Crew coach Travis Hoffarth said. “We pulled out of both our Tuesday (Jan. 11) and Thursday (Jan. 12) events, and didn’t even practice for a few days.
“We then had our Friday (Jan. 14) tournament at Lake Park postponed one day since some schools were canceled because of the weather. We finally wrestled Saturday with most of our starters, plus other guys who filled in and did an outstanding job.”
The Road Crew dominated the tournament with 249.5 points while United Clay Becker was second with 114. The key to success was eighth first-place finishes by the Road Crew: Park Zutter (106), Caleb Ruhl (126), Owen Carlson (138), Brady Ruhl (138), Chance Abraham (152), Connor Tulenchik (170), Austin Staricha (220) and Riley Peters (heavyweight). Abraham and Saricha pinned all three of their opponents while Zutter also finished 3-0.
“The team did a great job of showing perseverance throughout the week,” Hoffarth said. “We capitalized on our tournament at Lake Park as the kids won their third individual tournament of the season. We still have plenty of growth, and some healing to focus on for next month’s tournaments.”
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The Road Crew are scheduled to compete at the Mid-State Conference tournament at 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at Staples-Motley.
