Journal Sports

This meet was an awfully lot like a Charles Dickens novel, say “A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Park vs. Eagan wrestling was that kind of night. The Wolfpack stormed through the first six matches, racking up a 32-0 lead.

From then on, however, the Wolfpack won just once again – a forfeit at 170 pounds– and fell to the visiting Wildcats in a dual meet, 42-37.

The Wolfpack racked up three pins, a forfeit win, a technical fall and a decision in the first six matches. The worm turned in the match after the 138-pound match. Eagan scored five pins and had two forfeit wins in the final eight matches.

Gaining pins for Park were ninth-ranked Gunner Mullen at 106 (4:30), Joey Chilton at 120 (:32) and Dylan Wiebusch at 138 (1:22). Damian Mencacci at 126 and Nate Murphy at 170 had forfeit victories. JJ Bachtle had a tight 8-7 win in the 113-pound match.

Junior and fifth-ranked Zach Silvis of the Wolfpack put on a fall show at 132 pounds with a whopping nine takedowns and two near falls in a 25-7 technical fall. Silvis is closing in on 100 match victories and likely to get them in the next week, most likely in an away meet at Maple Grove Wednesday, Feb. 10.

“Zach Silvis is on a roll, as you can see,” said Park head coach Jim LaBrosse. “And then Gunner Mullen’s been doing a really good job at six and JJ at 13. Dylan Wiebusch at 138 is starting to do some nice things.

“We’re getting the guys there, but we’re just so depleted in the upper weights it makes it very difficult to try and get some wins, dual wins,” LaBrosse continued. “The kids are fighting, showing up every day in practice. We knew this was going to be a rebuilding year. We’re just going to try and get through this and get our individuals to state.”

The Minnesota State High School League announced tentative plans for tentative section and state tournaments Thursday, including wrestling. A state wrestling tournament is scheduled for March 25-27 for both teams and individuals at locations to be determined. The individual tournament will feature eight qualifiers in each weight class. Nothing is finalized however.

Park hosts a home meet Thursday, Feb. 11, starting at 5 p.m.