Kinley, Lease, Thier win individual titles at MCW Invitational

SHERBURN — Worthington’s wrestling team bounced back Saturday in a big way.

After struggling in two matches during the previous week, the Trojans earned three first-place individual finishes, two second-place individual finishes and three fourth-place individual finishes en route to a third-place team finish at the Martin County West Invitational Tournament.

Blue Earth Area totaled 200 points to win the team title. MCW (150) placed second, and the Trojans (145) followed in third. Pipestone Area (130) finished fourth of the six teams competing.

“We wrestled on Tuesday and Friday and probably didn’t have our best effort in either match,” Worthington coach Mark Prunty said. “So it was really important and great as a coach to see the kids come back and have a great day on Saturday.”

Jared Kinley (103 pounds), Eric Lease (130) and Tony Thier (152) each won their first individual tournament titles of the season.

Kinley, a ninth-grader, went 2-0 with two pins, including a fall in 47 seconds in the championship match to notch his 24th win of the season.

Lease, an eighth-grader, went 3-0 with three pins, including a third-period fall in the championship match.

Thier, a senior, went 2-0. He pinned his first opponent before defeating BEA’s Dan Eckert 2-0 in the title match to improve to 17-3.

Kyle Wiese (119) went 2-1 with two pins, and Dayton Williamson (145) and Julio Casillas (171) each went 2-1 en route to runner-up finishes.

Jacob Clarke (112), Joey Kinley (125) and Ethan Peterson (135) each recorded a pin en route to fourth-place finishes for the Trojans.

Jake Steffl (215) and Jordan Schroeder (Hwt.) did not wrestle, due to minor injuries, but Prunty expects them to be ready for the Section 3AA team tournament, which begins Feb. 27.

“We need the break,” Prunty said. “We had a great day (Saturday), the kids wrestled fantastic, but we need some time to heal.”

Brandan Alfson (160) and Tyler Evans (171) each won individual titles for Pipestone Area.

John Bush (112) and Dustin Hachmann (145) added second-place finishes, Jadon Evans (125) placed third, and Brady Bos (103), Matt Haraldson (152) and Dylan Kor (189) each finished in fourth place for the Arrows.

Tags: sports, whs, worthington, trojans, pipestonearea, wrestling