Posted: 3/5/03

Rangers fall in early wrestling matches

Berk Brown
Sports Editor

When things are left up to a draw of the hat, you sometimes come up on the wrong end of a bracket.

Such was the case with a majority of Forest Lakeís wrestlers at the 2003 Minnesota State High School League Wrestling Championship at the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul last week.

Aside from Brandon Engel, no Rangers were able to medal at the state meet. Thatís not to say they didnít wrestle well.

ìAlex (Behling), Jordan (Kolbow), John (Denney) and Brandon (Girtz) all had great years,î Forest Lake coach Rich Elliot said. ìThey all qualified for state, and that in itself is a great accomplishment.î

Of the four, Kolbow was the only one to win a first-round match. He defeated Mike Giglio of Woodbury 11-6 before falling to Drew Hruska of Rochester Mayo 17-4 in the quarterfinals.

In the consolation bracket, Kolbow beat Chris Koob of New Ulm 5-1 but was pinned by Mike Wallraff of Centennial before he could reach the medal rounds.

Even though Kolbow certainly would have liked to get into the medal rounds, Elliot said the experience the freshman gained in his first state meet will do nothing but better prepare him for future runs at a state championship.

ìJordan wants to win (a title) at state eventually,î Elliot said. ìThe first time down there, you need to get that experience and prepare yourself. Ranking donít matter much down there. You find out that itís usually the guy who shows up that day that walks away with (the championship).î

Brandon Girtz never had much of an opportunity to show his ability at state despite being ranked No. 3 in AAA at 140 pounds.

Girtz met No. 1-ranked Michael Fessler of Apple Valley in the first round and lost 3-1 when Fessler got a third-period takedown in a championship-caliber match.

Instead of being able to fight his way back through the consolation round, Girtz was forced to watch the rest of the tournament when Fessler was upset in double overtime by Brad Kallman of Woodbury in the quarterfinals.

That upset ment Fessler took Girtzís spot in the consolation bracket and denied one of the best in the state a chance to prove it.

At 135 pounds, Forest Lakeís No. 6-ranked John Denney suffered a 17-3 loss to No. 2-ranked Adam Elseth of Albert Lea in the first round. The Forest Lake junior then lost 7-2 in the consolation bracket to Dan Chapman of Rosemount.

At 215 pounds, Alex Behling bounced back from an opening round 6-4 loss against Rochester Mayoís Dan Goodson to beat St. Cloud Apolloís Blake Schwegel 10-3 in the consolation bracket.

Behling, however, was eliminated for the tournament in the next round with a 7-3 loss to Nick Rydberg of Simley.

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