Six Jackson County Central wrestlers earned medals including one champion and the Huskies were third out of 63 teams in the Rumble on the Red that concluded Friday at the Fargodome.
Class 2A third-ranked New Prague won the team title with 193.5 points, Class 3A No. 2 Stillwater was second with 146 points and Class 1A No. 1 JCC third with 135.5 points. Rounding out the top five in the 63-team field were Class 3A No. 3 Waconia (115) and Class 3A No. 11 Bemidji (113.5).
Junior Nolan Ambrose won five matches to win the 132-pound title and is one of three JCC wrestlers who have placed at the Rumble multiple times.
Ambrose, rated second in Class 1A, won all three of his matches Thursday by fall, two in the first period.
In the semifinals Friday, Ambrose won a 7-2 decision over Class 2A third-ranked Nathan Nelson of Mora.
Ambrose trailed in his championship match, but came on for a 9-4 win over Class 3A No. 3 Parker Lyden of Forest Lake. He is 17-0 on the season with 13 of those wins coming by falls.
Ambrose was the 113-pound champion in last year’s Rumble on the Red.
Caleb Vancura placed third at 220 pounds to earn a spot on the Rumble podium for the second time. He was fourth at 182 last year.
Vancura, rated second, had a bye and won two matches before losing 5-2 in the semifinals to Class 3A top-ranked Alex Riley of Waconia. He then won 5-0 over Class 2A No. 4 Marco Reyes of Tri-City United and 7-1 over North Dakota Class A (large school) Broden Muske of Valley City.
Third-ranked Thomas Freking went 5-2 at 138 pounds to finish in fifth place, recording wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked North Dakota Class A wrestlers in the tournament.
He won his first four matches including a 4-2 quarterfinal win over No. 2 Kaden DeCoteau of Bismarck Century. Freking then lost to Class 2A No. 2 Tyson Charmoli of St. Francis.
In the wrestlebacks, Freking lost 7-2 to Class 1A No. 4 Colbe Tappe of Staples-Motley before winning by medical forfeit over N.D. Class A Koye Grebel of Valley City.
At 145, second-ranked Logan Butzon placed sixth. It was his third time placing at the Rumble, finishing third at 132 in 2021 and fourth at 113 in 2019.
Butzon won his first three matches including a 5-3 win over Class 1A No. 7 Lane Fink of Canby before a loss to Class 2A No. 4 Nolan Reiter of Big Lake in the quarterfinals. Butzon then medical forfeited his final two matches.
Third-ranked Matthew Haley won his first matches at 195 before a semifinal loss to Class 2A No. 1 Joey Novak of New Prague. Haley then medical forfeited his final two matches.
Seventh-grader Kayden Eller went 4-3 to finish eighth at 106 pounds. He won his first match before losing to Class 3A No. 2 Brett Swenson of Mounds View. Eller then won three more matches before losing to Class 3A No. 4 Grayson Eggum of Stillwater (son of University of Minnesota Coach Brandon Eggum) and another Stillwater wrestler.
Jackson County Central wrestles in The Clash national wrestling duals next Friday and Saturday in LaCrosse.
JCC place winners
Listed are weight, wrestler, season record in parenthesis and tournament placing.
106: Kayden Eller (14-6) 8th
132: Nolan Ambrose (17-0) 1st
138: Thomas Freking (17-4) 5th
145: Logan Butzon (15-3) 6th
195: Matthew Haley (13-4) 6th
220: Caleb Vancura (13-1) 3rd
Team standings
Top 20 of 63
1. New Prague 193.5, 2. Stillwater 146, 3. Jackson County Central 135.5, 4. Waconia 115, 5. Bemidji 113.5, 6. Mounds View 113, 7. Albert Lea Area 106, 8. Forest Lake 89.5, 9. Bismarck 83.0, 10. Bismarck Legacy 82.
11. Mora 81.5, 12. West Fargo 78, 13. West Central Area-Ashby-Brandon-Evansville 75, 14. Crookston 73.5, 15. Tri-City United 68, 16. Valley City 62.5, 17. Big Lake 62, 18. Northfield 60, 19. St. Francis 57, 20. Woodbury 55.
JV place winners
Junior Varsity place winners for Jackson County Central
85: Dezmynd Tupper, 8th
95: Kyler Their, 2nd
95: Dallas Gossen, 7th
145: Carson Kolander, 6th
145: Quinn Landherr, 8th
Jackson County Central wrestling schedule
Sat., Dec. 3: at Don Hall Invitational, Glencoe, 1st of 9 teams
Tues., Dec. 6: vs. Luverne at Redwood Falls, W 46-21
Tues., Dec. 6: at Redwood Valley, W 72-0
Sat., Dec. 10: JCC Pizza Ranch Invitational, 2nd of 17 teams
Sat., Dec. 17: at Austin Roberts Memorial, Spencer, 1st of 11 teams
Tues., Dec. 20: Marshall at Worthington, W 54-12
Tues., Dec. 20: at Worthington, W 66-9
Fri., Dec. 30: at Rumble on the Red, Fargo, 3rd of 63 teams
Fri., Jan. 6: at The Clash, LaCrosse
Sat., Jan. 7: at The Clash, LaCrosse
Fri., Jan. 13: Adrian, 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 14: Big South Conference, Pipestone, 10 a.m.
Fri, Jan. 20: St. Michael-Albertville, Simley, Osage, 5 p.m.
Tues., Jan. 24: vs. ACGC, Holdingford and Sibley East at Grove City, 5 p.m.
Thurs., Jan. 26: Pipestone, 7 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 3: vs. Brandon Valley at Sioux Falls, 6 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 4: at Mike Fasnacht Memorial, Janesville, 10 a.m.
Mon., Feb. 6: at Windom/Mountain Lake, 6 p.m.
Thurs., Feb. 9: vs. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, BOLD and Marshall at Tracy, 5 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 10: Big South Conference championship
Thurs., Feb. 16: Section 3A team quarterfinals, 6 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 18: Section 3A team semifinals and finals, Lamberton, 12 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 25: Section 3A individual, Jackson
Thurs., March 2: State team tournament, Xcel Energy Center
Fri., March 3: State individual tournament, Xcel Energy Center
Sat., March 4: State individual tournament, Xcel Energy Center