Welcome to Kenmare

Feature Stories (Vol. 109 No. 8--2/21/2007)

Steven Linderleaf claims 2nd
in State at 160 lbs.

Kyle Haustveit takes 5th at 130 lbs. for K-T

By Caroline Downs

Local wrestling fans witnessed their first state championship match in more than a decade when Steven Linderleaf represented Kenmare-Tioga in the 160 lbs. championship round at the state tournament last weekend in Fargo and took second place.

The K-T wrestling squad had team members in six weight classes at the Class B individual tournament. Two of those wrestlers, Linderleaf and Kyle Haustveit, earned a place on the podium with the other top finishers.

The last time a Kenmare grappler wrestled his way to the top occurred in 1996 when K-T coach Danny Mogren won the title bout at 189 lbs. in his third appearance at the state event.

Linderleaf, ranked No. 2 at 160 lbs. for the state tournament, moved steadily through the bracket and into the championship match, where he stayed No. 2 after losing to top-rated Jordan Dewald of Napoleon.

Linderleaf entered the tournament with a 28-2 record. He first pinned Jake Mclean of Hillsboro in 4:25, then No. 7 Spencer Mairs of Lisbon in 2:35. He met up with No. 3 Steven Nash of Hettinger in the semi-finals, the third meeting of the season for the two who had split their previous matches against each other. In a tough match, Linderleaf prevailed with a 6-2 decision.

In the championship match on Saturday, Linderleaf faced fellow senior Dewald (35-0) for only the second time in his wrestling career. Dewald won the previous match, and he prevailed again with a 6-0 decision over Linderleaf.

Haustveit entered the tournament rated No. 4 at 130 lbs with a 22-3 record and finished in fifth place. He won his opening match against Jake Thomas of Watford City with a pin in 3:14, then lost a 1-4 decision to No. 5 ranked Devin DeMaine of Cavalier.

That loss sent Haustveit to the consolation brackets, where he proceeded to pin Tyler Christen of Bishop Ryan in 2:32 and defeated No. 8 Mitch Laducer of Rolla-Rock Lake-St. John 1-0. Those wins set him up against No. 2 rated Garrett Stubstad of New Town-Parshall, who topped Haustveit in a 7-4 decision.

Haustveit then met No. 6 Tanner Werchau of New Salem and pinned him in 1:26 to claim the fifth place medal.

Gary Johnston, 13-8, wrestled for Kenmare-Tioga at 119 lbs. He lost a 2-16 decision in his first match to No. 7 Nathan Kleppe of Napoleon, then defeated Josh Riendeau of Hillsboro 9-7. Johnston’s first state wrestling experience ended with a pin in 2:30 by Garrett Slater of Hettinger. Kleppe went on to earn 6th place and Slater 8th in the state tournament.

Grey Wallstrum, 25-16, lost his first match at 125 lbs. with a 1-9 decision to No. 4 Kevin Bitz of Napoleon. Wallstrum turned around to defeat Garrett Domagala of Bowman with a pin in 3:57, but he lost his next bout to a pin in 1:44 by No. 6 Josten Coleman of Oakes. Bitz won the weight division and Coleman finished in sixth place.

Paxton Perlichek, 22-18 on the year, opened with a loss at 152 lbs. when he was pinned in 4:26 by No. 7 Travis Peterson of Central Cass. In the consolation bracket, Perlichek topped Ross Norby of Watford City with an 8-4 decision, but lost the next match with a fall in 1:53 to No. 8 James Preus of MayPort-C-G. Peterson finished in sixth place, while Preus took seventh in the weight class.

Ryan Thornberg, 20-11, wrestled for the K-T squad at 171 lbs. He lost his first match to a pin in 2:39 by No. 2 Andrew Grothmann of Hillsboro, who eventually finished second in the weight class. Meanwhile, Thornberg went down in his second match with a 5-12 decision against Chase Wisness of Watford City.

The Kenmare-Tioga squad finished the tournament with 41 points, tying with New Town-Parshall exactly halfway among the 32 teams in the event. The only Region 3 teams to finish with higher point totals were Velva-Garrison-Max and Rolla-Rock Lake-St. John.

Napoleon finished with the top point total at 219.0, followed by Lisbon 131.0, Hettinger 97.0, Ashley-Wishek 93.0, Oakes 93.0, Central Cass 92.5, Velva-Garrison-Max 88.0, Cavalier 76.5, Watford City 76.0, Hillsboro-Central Valley 74.5, Rolla-Rock Lake-St.John 73.5, Beulah-Hazen 69.0, Ellendale-Edgeley 63.0, Linton 57.0, Harvey 55.5, Kenmare-Tioga 41.0, New Town-Parshall 41.0, New Salem 40.0, Des Lacs-Burlington 39.0, Killdeer 38.0, North Border 33.0, MayPort-C-G-FN-H-N 29.0, LaMoure-L-M 23.0, Beach 17.5, Carrington 16.0, Kindred 16.0, Minot Bishop Ryan 13.0, Stanley-PL 10.0, Rugby 9.0, Larimore 7.5, Bowman Co. 0.0, and Standing Rock 0.0.

The former Kenmare and Tioga squads have just completed the first year of a three-year co-op under coaches Mogren and Randy Pederson.

As seniors, Linderleaf and Thornberg capped their athletic careers at the state tournament. However, the performances of juniors Haustveit, Perlichek and Wallstrum and freshman Johnston indicate a bright future for K-T wrestling fans.