Skip to content

Best finishes second at Northern Badger

RIVER FALLS — Although the Bloomer/Colfax wrestling squad had just five competitors at the 2017 Northern Badger Wrestling Classic, three of them placed and made the awards podium at the two-day event.

Colfax’s own Sawyer Best led the way for the Blackhawks’ team when he finished as the runner-up in the 120-pound weight class. Fellow Colfax sophomore Mitchel Harmon placed sixth at 138 pounds while Ike Kramschuster took 12th at 126 pounds at the 33rd Annual Northern Badger Classic held December 28 and 29 at River Falls High School.

Those three performances accounted for Bloomer/Colfax’s 57 team points and  12th place finish in the Division 1 (large school) Standings. Overall, the Blackhawks 27th in the highly competitive 44-team tournament which featured the most teams and wrestlers in the tournament’s three plus decade history.

Best, who improved to 17-2 after the event, tallied 38 of the team’s points and went 4-1 in the tournament with three pins. The sophomore’s lone loss came in the final where he was beaten 18-3 on a technical fall by Javyn Freeman of Phillips. Best registered falls over Carson Lunde of Baldwin-Woodville, Tyler Hantsbarger of Somerset and Amery’s Jordan Penard. He also nipped Zach Foley of Cochrane-Fountain City , 8-6.

Mitchel Harmon improved to 15-7 after a 4-2 record in this year Northern Badger with a pair of pins and two close decisions – a 6-5 and 3-1 wins against the same opponent, Tim Coyne of Hayward/Northwood.

Two other Colfax wrestlers did not place. Trey Hovde, a 132-pound sophomore, and 106-pound freshman Julio Hernandez were both eliminated after losing their first two matches on the opening day of competition.

Ike Kramschuster tallied a 3-4 mark at this year’s tournament to finish 12th at 126 pounds.