BISMARCK, N.D. -- Aberdeen Central won seven of the 10 matches it wrestled on Saturday to finish fifth in the Bismarck Rotary wrestling tournament.
"I was pretty happy with it. The goal was to try to crack into the top five," said Central Coach Rocky Burkett. "Top five in a pretty tough tournament."
Bismarck won the event with 199 points. The Golden Eagles finished with 121-1/2 points.
Griffin Hieb was Central's top finisher, taking second at 138 pounds. Hieb suffered his first loss of the season to the number-one ranked Class A wrestler in North Dakota, 4-2 in the finals.
"Really we just made one mistake," Burkett said. "I thought we controlled a lot of the match. I thought he wrestled pretty well."
Mitchell Johnson at 145 and John Frisco at 152 both finished third at their respective weights.
"They did really well for us," Burkett noted. "Mitchell really opened up and scored a lot of points today. He was really aggressive which is what we want to get him to do more of. John looks for takedowns and was able to go out there and score quite a few takedowns in both (of his) matches."
The Eagles also received wins from Sam Schaunaman and Trevor Hieb on the day.
Schaunaman was fifth at 220 and Hieb was seventh at 120.
"Sam had some good matches," Burkett said. "It was good for his confidence to get some of those wins."
While Hieb lost his first match of the day, he closed with a pin to give the Eagles extra bonus points.
"That definitely helped us jump into the top five," Burkett said.
Central will be home for the first time this season when it hosts Brookings at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and then Brandon Valley on Saturday at Golden Eagles Arena.
Team Points: Bismarck 199, Bismarck Century 184-1/2, Rapid City Central 173, Sidney, Mont. 133, Aberdeen Central 121-1/2, Sturgis 117-1/2, Williston 114, Fargo Davies 112-1/2, Belcourt Turtle Mountain Community 96, Grand Forks Red River 94, Glendive Dawson County 93, Jamestown 92, Dickinson 87-1/2, Rapid City Stevens 87, Napoleon 84, Mandan 82-1/2, Minot 75, Grand Forks Central 71, Fargo North 70, Wahpeton 69, Fargo South 67, Valley City 64, Bismarck St. Mary's 45, Beulah-Hazen 27.
|Aberdeen Central Results|
120 Pounds -- TREVOR HIEB: pinned by Tate Barnhardt, Bismarck St. Mary's, 1:36; pinned Rodell Johnson, Grand Forks Red River. SEVENTH PLACE.
138 Pounds -- GRIFFIN HIEB: lost to Cole Mehring, Fargo Davies, 4-2. SECOND PLACE.
145 Pounds -- MITCHELL JOHNSON: defeated Wyatt Meyer, Wahpeton, 7-4; defeated Tyler Kinn, Glendive, 12-5. THIRD PLACE.
152 Pounds -- JOHN FRISCO: defeated Shane Undem, Valley City, 14-7; defeated Michael Lehmann, Wahpeton, 9-4. THIRD PLACE.
220 Pounds -- SAM SCHAUNAMAN: defeated Chris Sickler, Dickinson, 3-1; pinned by Brandon Sandberg, Williston, 3:30; defeated Trace Moravec, Bismarck Century, 4-2. FIFTH PLACE.