Sparta sent seven wrestlers to the finals and came back with five champions en route to winning the Rochester Invitational for the second year in a row. Sparta’s 190 points were just enough to surpass Lakeville South’s 180.5 points. Cannon Falls came in third at 149 points in the eight team tournament.
The Spartans were led by individual champions Tristan Zurfluh, Derek VonRuden, Nick Winchel, Paul Vantassel and Mike Murnane while Dylan Winchel and Tom Tourdot finished as runner-ups on the day. Tourdot lost a close battle in the final to Lakeville South’s Zane Peterson who won the Bi-State Classic back in December by pinning Aquinas’ Lucas Shappell in 5:40 in the finals. Shappell took Tourdot to triple overtime and won just a couple weeks ago.
Other placewinners for the Spartans included Bryce Nowaczyk in 6th, Toby Mosley in 3rd, Greg Skon in 6th, Xavier Lopez in 5th, Kyle Burkhalter in 5th, Ben Schaitel in 4th and Chris Beeler in 5th.
Team scores were as follows: Sparta 190, Lakeville South 180.5, Cannon Falls 149, Fairmont 108.5, Rochester Century 105, St. Claire 100, Southland 74, La Crescent 46.5
I will have full summarized results for each wrestler and hopefully more in-depth individual results later this week.
