The Kimball wrestling team competed in the Section 5A wrestling team tournament last Monday. The Cubs took on St. Croix Lutheran in the first round of the tournament. The Cubs were led off by seventh-grader Travis Schiefelbein with a pin at 112 pounds. Following Travis was eighth-grader Mitch Pramann, at 125, with a pin, giving the Cubs the lead. That pin led to Derek Orbeck at 130, pinning his opponent in the first period. Junior Robbie Antiel picked up his second pin of the year at 135 pounds, giving the Cubs a comfortable lead. After a few close losses and the Cubs lead dwindling, sophomore Luke Schiefelbein kept on his winning ways by pinning his opponent at 160. Senior John Hanley went up against their toughest wrestler at 171, however, John prevailed in a close 5-4 decision, setting up for the final match. The Cubs needed one win in the last two matches to pull out the victory. This is when it came down to 215-pound sophomore Josh Algren. Josh was down after two periods by a score of 10-0, but in the third period osh dug down deep and turned his opponent over for the pin. The pin gave the Cubs the lead and eventual 39-35 win. The win advanced the Cubs into the quarter-finals against the #1 seed ACGC. Although the top-seeded Falcons (ranked No. 4 in Class A) were a tough team to wrestle, the Cubs did sneak out a couple of wins. At 112, Travis Schiefelbein got a major decision to put the Cubs on the board, along with junior Derek Orbeck, picking up a major decision at 130-pounds. The loss eliminated the Cubs from the team competition and ACGC eventually advanced to the state tournament. Up next for the Cubs is the Section 5A Individual Tournament held at Kimball on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 23-24. Wrestling should start around 4 p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday. Come cheer on the Cubs as they try to earn a spot into the state tournament.
