Nick Bronstad and Noah Strantz will be continuing their wrestling seasons with Okoboji/HMS after finding success at the Class 2A Sectional Wrestling Tournament held February 6 at Spirit Lake. Bronstad won both of his matches at 285 pounds to finish first. Strantz earned second place at 152 pounds. Both earned spots in the District Wrestling Tournament to be held February 13 at Humboldt beginning at 12 noon.
Bronstad received a bye into the semifinals where he met Spirit Lake Park’s Sawyer Thompson. The HMS junior got the pin over Thompson in 1:18. The first place match brought on Logan Meendering of Algona. Again Bronstad was able to get a win by fall, this time in 2:40. Bronstad will enter the District Tourney with a record of 32-11.
Strantz also got a bye in the quarterfinals. His opponent in the semifinals was Jace Nelson-Brown of Emmetsburg. The Okoboji sophomore won an 11-7 decision. The first place match saw Strantz on the losing end of a decision. Spirit Lake Park’s Zach Jensen won the match 7-1. When Nelson-Brown won his third place match, Strantz was guaranteed second and a trip to Districts with a record of 28-13.
HMS had another grappler competing and that was Chayton Faulkner, wrestling at 170 pounds. The senior lost his quarterfinal match by fall to Spirit Lake Park’s Bryan Leathers. He received a bye in the consolation semis which moved him into the fifth place match. There Christian Alcala of Humboldt was the winner by fall in 1:07. Faulkner closes out the year at 14-29.