The Forest Lake wrestling team remains undefeated in the Suburban East Conference at 7-0, putting them within reach of an outright SEC title with just one conference dual remaining this season.
The Rangers clinched two SEC wins last week at a triangular at White Bear Lake, where they defeated the host team, 49-16, before dominating Roseville, 65-3.
Forest Lake next traveled to the East Ridge Ruckus on Saturday, where they earned third place out of 16 tough teams at the event.
Waconia, ranked fourth in Class AA, took home the team title with 256 points, followed by St. Michael-Albertville in second place with 191 points. The Knights are currently the No. 2 team in Class AAA standings. Forest Lake took third with 156 points to edge out Mahtomedi (96 points) and Chaska/Chanhassen (94.5).
Head coach Joe Kunshier said the third-place team finish was impressive.
“That was a big step for us,” Kunshier said. “We were on the last day of a three-day stretch of beating Maple Grove, White Bear Lake and Roseville, where we wrestled really well. I was a little worried we would let up, but they rose to the challenge, won a lot of close matches and kept the momentum going, especially among our younger guys.”
Senior Nic Norem got the job done at 170 pounds with a first-place finish. Norem, currently ranked No. 8 in Class AAA, went 3-0 on the day, starting with a pin over Nolan Schmitz of St. Michael-Albertville in the third period. Norem went on to pin Ryan Larson of St. Croix Central in 27 seconds before taking care of Logan Peterson of Somerset, Wisconsin in the finals with an 8-6 decision for the title.
Sophomore Tanner Wiese also made it to the championship match, where he finished in second place with a record of 3-1. Wiese’s lone loss came against No. 7 wrestler Isaac Loosbrock of Chaska/Chanhassen in a 6-4 decision.
At 113 pounds, eighth-grader Troy Pleski took third place by finishing his day with an 8-6 win over Quinn Christopherson of South St. Paul. Pleski’s only loss came in the second round to eventual champion and Class AA No. 2 wrestler, Garrett Vos, of Waconia.
Ninth-grader Grant Parrish also took third place at 152 pounds. After losing in the quarterfinals, Parrish came back to win by pin over Josh Reich of Waconia just 1:15 into the first period.
The Rangers had three fifth place finishers on the day, starting with seventh-grader Derrick Cardinal going 4-2 at 106 pounds. Eighth-grader Grant Yearling took fifth at 120 pounds after falling to the eventual weight champion in the second round, then fighting back to pin Zac Schoen of St. Michael-Albertville in the final match of the day. Senior David Jankowski stepped up again at 285 pounds, having to take over for senior Pat Kasl, who broke his collar bone in a tournament over the holiday break. Jankowski is doing his part, having placed fifth at East Ridge by going 2-2 on the day.
Senior Jason Delgado earned sixth place at 126 pounds, while junior Hunter Nolan took sixth at 182 pounds. Senior Leo Janssen and junior Alex Grunnhofer earned seventh place at 160 pounds and 182 pounds, respectively.
Forest Lake next faces Mounds View in their final SEC dual of the year. If the Rangers, 7-0 in conference matches, win, they will win their first conference title since 2005. However, with Mounds View and Stillwater both sitting at 6-1, the race is on. If Mounds View wins while Stillwater loses in their final match, the Mustangs claim the title after beating Forest Lake in the head-to-head battle. However, if Mounds View wins and Stillwater wins, the SEC championship is split between the Rangers, Mustangs and Ponies.
“We just need to come out like last Friday and believe we are going to win,” Kunshier said. “The only thing that would hold us back is ourselves.”
Kunshier said the main reason this 2015-16 is in the running for a conference title is team unity.
“The guys this year completely bought in to one style set in the basics of good positioning, being in better shape than their opponents and supporting each other,” he said. “There is a different level this year of firing as one unit rather than a bunch of individual units. We are all in the same boat paddling in the same direction.
The Rangers are 7-4 overall, with their last dual loss taking place in early December. All of Forest Lake’s losses come from the top 23 teams in the state, including Cambridge-Isanti, Coon Rapids, No. 9 Hastings and No. 3 (Class AA) Albert Lea.
Next, the Rangers take on Mounds View at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21.