On Tuesday, Feb. 17, the A-ML Lightning wrestling team turned in yet another impressive performance. The Lightning beat the Watertown-Mayer Royals 34-20 at the section 5AA quarter-finals at Waconia. The win advanced them to semi-finals-finals on Friday, Feb. 20, at Litchfield. Spencer Witter started off the meet against Matt Farber (W-M) at 103. Farber won by a fall at 1:41 of the first period. Teammate Charlie Christen said, “Spencer is the kid who works darn hard. He deserves a lot of credit. The team appreciates how hard he tries.” At 112, Nick Clemence scored the Lightning’s first points, winning by a decision of 5-1 over Brandon Henrich. Following the match was a Watertown-Mayer decision win of 3-2 by 119 Brandon Shanahan over A-ML’s Tyler Wadman. At 125, ninth-ranked Ben Anderson didn’t disappoint the team as he won by fall against Andy McCain at 1:25 of the first period. The 130-pound match was won by Watertown-Mayer’s Matt Burns with a major decision (11-2) over Aaron Hempel. Claiming a major decision (12-1) at 135 was Phil Roemer of the Lightning over Justin Krammer. Stephen Pilgram racked up another crowd pleaser, winning a 9-3 decision over Chad Kubasch of W-M. Matt Schultz struggled to score against WM’s Eric Reinert at 145. Reinert won by a major decision (14-5). One of the highlights of the night was the match up of A-ML’s Nate Roemer and W-M’s fourth-ranked Matt Schrupp at 152. They last met up on Dec.16, with Schrupp winning by a close score of 3-1. Nate started the match off scoring a take down and a near fall in the first period. He led the two remaining periods, winning by an 8-4 decision. Nick Demarias had a close match at 160. He out-wrestled Justin Wymore of W-M for the win by decision (5-3). Brad Salveson won by a fall at 1:55 of the first period over Pat Swartzer at 171, giving the Lightning six more points. W-M’s Tyler Geyen came back with a 10-3 major decision over Scott Christen at 189. The final two matches of the meet were close. At 215, A-ML’s Adam Michalski won by a 4-2 decision over Allen Kasheimer. At 275, Dusty Nicka pulled off a 3-2 decision over W-M’s Branden Bury. The win over Watertown-Mayer led the Lightning to the semi-finals in Litchfield. A-ML faced Waconia once again, and the Lightning turned in possibly their best performance of the season, winning the match by a point over the Wildcats with a final score of 30-29. The meet started with the Wildcats’ scoring the first points at 103 when Josh Artman posted a 7-0 decision over Zach Stumpf. Nick Clemence tied the score at 112, turning on the power against Joey Larson with a two-point win at the end of the third period. The final score was 9-7. The 8-5 decision win at 119 by Tyler Wadman over W-ML’s Kevin Bullis pushed the Lightning ahead by three points. Ben Anderson continued the push at 125, winning by a fall (2:59) early in the second period over T.J. Selvey. At 130, Aaron Hempel dropped a tough match to W-ML’s Keagan Stangret, who he beat earlier this month. Keagan won a 9-8 decision. With the team scores A-ML 12; W-ML 6, Phil Roemer increased the Lightning lead with his second huge win over Brock Hegr this season. In this match, he won by a fall at 2:55 of the second period. Stephen Pilgram at 140 chalked up his third victory over 10th- ranked Aaron Cook for this season, winning by a 5-3 decision. Also repeating a win was Nate Roemer. Nate scored a two-point take down in the first period, the only two points scored in his match against W-ML’s Chris Bullis at 145, giving him a 2-0 decision. The Lightning’s Matt Schultz took on 8th-ranked Jared Duske at 152. ‘Duske dominated the majority of the match until Matt scored an impressive reversal in the second period and held on to only lose by a major decision (15-2). At 160, A-ML’s Nick Demarias had a rocky start to a tough match with fourth-ranked Jon Priess. Demarias also held on through all three periods to only lose by a major decision (11-3). At this point, the team scores were A-ML 24, W-ML 14. With four matches left to go, the Lightning’s Brad Salveson came through with one of the biggest wins of his career and the meet. At 171, it was a rematch between Brad and W-ML’s Ben Timm. They met up earlier in the season at Mora, where Timm had been leading until Salveson pinned him in the last seconds of the third period. Timm once again led the physically aggressive match 5-0 at the end of the second period. Not even a minute into the third period, Salveson scored a two-point take down, then pinned Timm, winning by a fall (4:36). The Lightning fans went wild, knowing that the last two matches were crucial for the Lighting to keep their lead. The team scores were now A-ML 30, W-ML 14, and the Wildcats had three of their top wrestlers left to wrestle. At 189, another rematch, A-ML’s Scott Christen was meeting up with Dan Hoernemann again. Christen worked hard and lost by fall at 2:57 of the second period. With the team scores A-ML 30, W-ML 20, it was all up to the last two matches. At 215, Adam Michalski of the Lightning took on eighth-ranked Joe Nord. It was a tough match that was dominated by Nord, but Michalski kept the score down, only allowing him to win a 12-5 decision. With the outcome of this match, Michalski had clinched the win for the Lightning. The W-ML crowd was stunned. When asked later how he felt about clinching the win for the team, Adam said, “I didn’t realize what had happened till I left the mat and had a chance to look at the scoreboard. I felt ecstatic! I wanted this win for the team real bad.” With the pressure for the team win off his shoulders, Dusty Nicka wrestled W-ML’s top-ranked Dan Pohl at 275. Nicka lost by fall at 2:42 of the second period. A-ML had won the semifinal match and went on to wrestle in the finals against the returning Section 5AA champions, the Litchfield Dragons. With multiple hits on “The Guillotine’s” web site forum supporting the victory of the underdog A-ML wrestling team over the defending Section 5AA champs from Litchfield, the Lightning suffered a very disappointing 53-13 loss. Zach Stumpf wrestled Reed Wimmer of Litch at 103, and lost by fall at 3:10 of the second period. At 112, Nick “The Crusher” Clemence took on Litchfield’s Dan Klapotz. Clemence came through with a big win by decision (4-2) for the Lightning. At 119, Tyler Wadman had a close matchup with Litchfield’s David Malpsy. Tyler wrestled strong through the whole match but lost in a 9-6 decision in the last seconds of the third period. At 125, A-ML’s ninth-ranked Ben Anderson met up again with fourth-ranked Beau Penk. It was a strong, physical matchup, with Beau winning by a decision (6-0). Phil Roemer wrestled hard at 130, but lost by a fall to Litchfield’s Chase Piepburg at 2:59 of the second period. For sections, second-ranked Joe Buschette was back in Litch’s lineup. (He was on their injured list the last time A-ML met up with them). Buschette wrestled at 135 against Aaron Hempel and won by a fall at 5:04 of the third period. Stephen Pilgram’s match at 140 was against Litchfield’s Dan Smith. The match was the second highlight of the meet for the Lightning. Stephen won by a decision (6-3), bringing his season record to an impressive 28 wins-1 loss. Nate Roemer, at 145, brought in the third win of the meet for the Lightning. He won by a major decision (13-4) over Blayne Johnson. The next two matches were lost to Litchfield by falls. Frank Koch defeated Matt Schultz at 152 (:47); and at 160, fifth-ranked A.J. Werner won over Nick Demarais (1:08). At this point in the meet, the team scores were A-ML 10, Litchfield 36. The outlook for the section championship was grim for the Lightning. At 171, Litchfield’s Cory Schlack won over Brad Salveson by a technical fall. At 189, Scott Christen wrestled against Litch’s Aaron Kromann, ending the first period in a stalemate. Early in the second period, Kromann won by fall (2:42). A-ML’s Adam Michalski went up against second-ranked Bryar Johnson at 215. Bryar won by a fall at :44 of the first period. Dusty Nicka went in at 275 for the final match of the meet. Nicka went up against Litchfield’s Tony Gustormson. It was a very close matchup, but Nicka pulled through for his team and won in over-time with a final score of 4-2. The final team scores were Litchfield 53, A-ML 13. Litchfield, for the second year in a row, had won the 5AA Section Championship and was headed for State. A-ML took second place, which happened to tie the 1997 record for the highest team ranking in the nine-year history of the combined Lightning program. Other class AA teams headed for state are Stewartville (1AA), Scott West (2AA), Adrian (3AA), No. 1-ranked STMA (4AA), Milaca (6AA), Perham (7AA) and Detroit Lakes (8AA). Some interesting trivia about the Section 5AA finals was noted: Jason Bartels, son of head coach Bruce Bartels who also served as Lightning assistant coach this year, was a member of the 1996-97 squad, which also placed second in the section finals. That team and this year’s team tied as the highest-placing squads in the combined A-ML program history. And Shennon Hempel, father of Aaron Hempel, was on the 1977-78 Annandale squad, which also placed second in the section finals. Shennon wrestled at 132 pounds and Aaron wrestles at 130. In addition, three A-ML wrestlers went undefeated through the 5AA team sections. They were Nick Clemence at 112 pounds, Stephen Pilgram at 140 and Nate Roemer at 145. – The Section 5AA Individual Tournament will be held at Rockford High School on Friday, Feb. 27. Round one will begin at 4:30 p.m., quarter-finals at 6 p.m., and first round wrestlebacks at 8 p.m. The tournament will continue Saturday, Feb. 28, with individual semi-finals, and second and third round wrestlebacks starting at noon. The Parade of Champions will take place at 5:50 p.m., and the individual first- through sixth-place matches will start at 6 p.m. Following the matches will be true seconds and award presentations around 9 p.m.
