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The milestone wins keep on piling up for Ethan Hildebrandt.
Last week the senior wrestler gained his 150th career win against Le Sueur Henderson. Tuesday night in a triangular that pitted the Saints against Redwood Valley and a strong Sibley East team, Hildebrandt went two-for-two for his 153rd and 154th career wins. In the process, he passed 1995 graduate Troy Meyer for the all-time wins leader in Saints wrestling history.
“It was a special moment, to pass (Meyer) in wins,” states Hildebrandt. “Especially because he’s a friend and he said he’s glad it was me who broke the record.”
St. James’ match with Redwood Valley was put on hold as the announcement was made that Ethan had broken the Saints’ all-time win mark. Meyer came down from the stands and congratulated Ethan personally.
#154 was a 9-2 decision from Hildebrandt over Redwood’s Travis Gerverth at 145 lbs.
Tuesday night St. James fell to Sibley East 37-28 in their first match, but came back with a 66-3 win against Redwood Valley.
In the match against Redwood Valley, the Saints had four pins along with five forfeits and five other decisions. Redwood Valley was outmatched against both the Saints and the Wolverines of Sibley East.
The 5:00 match between St. James and Sibley East was the best matchup of the night. The Saints first were down 19-4 going into Matt Tucholke’s match at 130. Tucholke pinned his opponent in 52 seconds to close the gap to 10-19. Two matches later, Hildebrandt took on 5th ranked Adam Bates in what turned out to be the 153rd career win for Ethan, a 3-2 decision that made the score 13-22.
Three matches later, St. James found themselves in their biggest hole of the night, down 13-31 with Matt Dahl up at 171. Dahl held a 1-0 lead from the beginning of the second period to get the Saints within three points. Dale McMullen and Dylan Wright followed with pins at 2:48 and 2:49 into their respective matches to make it 28-31. Unfortunately Shawn Karau and the Saints ran up against the #1-ranked heavyweight in class A in Aaron Rose. Rose, who must have had a 30-40 pound advantage on Karau, rolled him over and pinned Shawn in 36 seconds for the win.
“The better team won last night,” says Coach Gene Hildebrandt. “We got outwrestled at some key matchups.”
Even with the close loss to #12 ranked Sibley East, St. James went 2-1 on the week and seemed poised to continue to improve leading up to their next test.
Next up for the Saints is the Rumble on the Red Tournament in Fargo on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 29th and the 30th. Saints fans can listen to 101.5 FM for updates from Jim Neid or they can personally track the action at guillotine.com, click on “Rumble on the Red.”
The milestone wins keep on piling up for Ethan Hildebrandt.
Last week the senior wrestler gained his 150th career win against Le Sueur Henderson. Tuesday night in a triangular that pitted the Saints against Redwood Valley and a strong Sibley East team, Hildebrandt went two-for-two for his 153rd and 154th career wins. In the process, he passed 1995 graduate Troy Meyer for the all-time wins leader in Saints wrestling history.
“It was a special moment, to pass (Meyer) in wins,” states Hildebrandt. “Especially because he’s a friend and he said he’s glad it was me who broke the record.”
St. James’ match with Redwood Valley was put on hold as the announcement was made that Ethan had broken the Saints’ all-time win mark. Meyer came down from the stands and congratulated Ethan personally.
#154 was a 9-2 decision from Hildebrandt over Redwood’s Travis Gerverth at 145 lbs.
Tuesday night St. James fell to Sibley East 37-28 in their first match, but came back with a 66-3 win against Redwood Valley.
In the match against Redwood Valley, the Saints had four pins along with five forfeits and five other decisions. Redwood Valley was outmatched against both the Saints and the Wolverines of Sibley East.
The 5:00 match between St. James and Sibley East was the best matchup of the night. The Saints first were down 19-4 going into Matt Tucholke’s match at 130. Tucholke pinned his opponent in 52 seconds to close the gap to 10-19. Two matches later, Hildebrandt took on 5th ranked Adam Bates in what turned out to be the 153rd career win for Ethan, a 3-2 decision that made the score 13-22.
Three matches later, St. James found themselves in their biggest hole of the night, down 13-31 with Matt Dahl up at 171. Dahl held a 1-0 lead from the beginning of the second period to get the Saints within three points. Dale McMullen and Dylan Wright followed with pins at 2:48 and 2:49 into their respective matches to make it 28-31. Unfortunately Shawn Karau and the Saints ran up against the #1-ranked heavyweight in class A in Aaron Rose. Rose, who must have had a 30-40 pound advantage on Karau, rolled him over and pinned Shawn in 36 seconds for the win.
“The better team won last night,” says Coach Gene Hildebrandt. “We got outwrestled at some key matchups.”
Even with the close loss to #12 ranked Sibley East, St. James went 2-1 on the week and seemed poised to continue to improve leading up to their next test.
Next up for the Saints is the Rumble on the Red Tournament in Fargo on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 29th and the 30th. Saints fans can listen to 101.5 FM for updates from Jim Neid or they can personally track the action at guillotine.com, click on “Rumble on the Red.”
Win vs. New Ulm, 43-27
The Saints wrestlers faced a tough competitor in New Ulm and came up with one of the most complete performances of their year so far.
Cody Hanson (103), Richard Soto (119), Ethan Hildebrandt (140), Chris Whitehead (160), and Dale McMullen (189) each had pins for the Saints. Matt Tucholke at 119 won by a 6-2 margin, Brady Stauffer had a major decision at 145, 21-10, and Taylor Berg won by forfeit to round out the Saints scoring.
The most exciting match of the night, and indeed the year, came at 119 when the Saints’ Richard Soto came back from a 6-4 deficit to pin Henry Thoreson within the last second of period 3. As Soto flipped Thoreson onto his shoulders, the home crowd’s cheering rose to a crescendo. The seconds ticked away as Soto closed the final couple inches for a pin. The referee’s whistle and hand slap came just before the clock turned to zero.
“The other kid gassed out,” says Coach Hildebrandt. “Soto was in better condition. He was just relentless going after the fall.”
The Soto win made the score 12-3; had he lost, the score would’ve been tied 6-6.
Soto’s exciting pin was one of three unexpected wins for the Saints. Both Whitehead and McMullen also came into their matches as underdogs. Coach Hildebrandt says Jamie Gieseke at 160 lbs. was New Ulm’s second best wrestler.
By the time McMullen stepped to the mat, the score was 37-15 and out of New Ulm’s reach. Still, the Comfrey kid came in and did his thing, pinning senior Adam Dauer in 1:36.
“This was probably one of the best efforts of the year so far,” says Coach Hildebrandt.
Another interesting sidenote is that on Saturday, two days after the St. James match, New Ulm won 1st place in the Maple River tournament, beating state-ranked Medford and Staples-Motley. That New Ulm performed so well against some of the top competition in the state is a good sign for St. James who handled the Eagles at home.
