Sports News

After claiming a spot in the state dual tournament, Hillsboro’s wrestling team earned three Region 2 individual championships and qualified seven more wrestlers for the state tournament this weekend in Fargo.
At the region tournament last Saturday in Carrington, Burro coaches were hoping 10 of their 13 competitors would earn berths in the state meet — and 10 did.
“We had a great tournament,” said coach Eric Ptacek. “We thought we had a good chance of qualifying anywhere from eight to 10 and we ended up getting 10. That is great!”
Besides 10 wrestlers in the individual state tournament, the Burros qualified their dual team for the state meet. The individual and dual team competitions are to be wrestled simultaneously at the Fargodome. Wrestling started Thursday morning and continues through Saturday afternoon.
Going into the state tournament, three Hillsboro wrestlers were ranked No. 2 in their weight classes — senior Gus Lee at 135 lbs.; junior Anthony Von Ruden at 140; and sophomore Andrew Grothmann at 171. Senior Lee Siegert was also seeded. He’s the No. 7 pick at 189 lbs.
Sixteen wrestlers in each of the 14 weight classes qualify for the state tournament by finishing in the top four at their region qualifying tournaments.
Lee, Von Ruden and senior 145-pounder Dan Rude were all Region champions for the Burros. Lee and Rude are repeat champions.
Lee is making his 4th trip to state, aiming higher than his runner-up finish last season. He holds a 25-2 record and is coming back strong after an injury sidelined him in January.
“Gus is looking better each week, coming back from his shoulder injury,” Ptacek noted.
Von Ruden, 36-1, is returning to state for a second year and is pushing to improve on last season’s 8th place medal.
“Anthony ended up getting stitches in his tongue (Saturday) and he still dominated the tournament,” Ptacek said, attesting to his wrestler’s toughness.
Rude is making his second trip to state and has a 26-15 record.
“Danny came out and put together his best performance of the season, upsetting two kids and winning the regional,” Ptacek said.
Grothmann finished third in the region, falling 4-3 to North Border’s Cale Benoit in the semifinals. He’s been to state three times before, placing 6th as an 8th grader and 4th as a freshman. As the No. 2 seed, the sophomore owns a 34-5 record.
Other state qualifiers for the Burros are sophomore Jake McLean, who was region runner-up at 160; 8th grader Tyler Anderson, 3rd at 112; 8th grader Josh Riendeau, 4th at 119; freshman Tanner Boeddeker, 4th at 130; freshman Garrett Burg, 4th at 152; and senior Lee Siegert, 4th at 189.
“Tyler, Josh and Garrett came through and beat some people they hadn’t before to qualify,” Ptacek said. “We were impressed with these three performances.”
Placewinners who didn’t qualify for state included 8th grader Alex McLean, 5th at 125 and junior Blake Higginbotham, 5th at 285.
Eighth grader Oakly Zink was injured in the first match of the day and was unable to compete last Saturday. He was back in the team lineup for this weekend, though.

State Qualifiers
112 - Tyler Anderson
119 - Josh Riendeau
130 - Tanner Boeddeker
135 - Gus Lee
140 - Anthony Von Ruden
145 - Dan Rude
152 - Garrett Burg
160 - Jake McLean
171 - Andrew Grothmann
189 - Lee Siegert

Additional Dual
Team Members
103 - Oakly Zink and Michael Otto
125 - Alex McLean
130 - Lee Mooney
171 - Joel Bolstad
285 - Blake Higginbotham