Wrestling: Irish looking ‘lean and mean’

• Wrestlers

The Irish wrestling team has performed well in recent meets, losing only to top-ranked Apple Valley

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During much of the year, Rosemount wrestling coach Brett Larson has acknowledged the lack of depth at certain positions in his lineup.

Being unable to fill out certain weight classes at various has limited Rosemount in close meets.

However, the Irish are still listed among the Lean and Mean in the Class 3A rankings, generally an honorable mention after the top 12 teams are ranked. And, when Larson looks back, his wrestlers have responded to the challenge.

“Outside of an early dual in mid-December, we’ve really been pleased with the performance night in and night out,” Larson said. “We’ve been in some tight ones and we’ve lacked some depth, been shorthanded in some weights and lacked some experience. But we’ve really performed at our level and been consistently good. It was no different this weekend.”

The Irish had five duals at home on back-to-back days last week. A 4-1 record will suit the Rosemount coach just fine and continues to justify how well the Irish have come along this season.

Rosemount beat Park, 36-30, and lost 45-6 to No. 1 Apple Valley on Friday night. On Saturday, the Irish earned a 39-30 win against Hopkins, a 45-33 win against Andover and a 35-30 win against Roseville.

“It was a very good weekend for us, absolutely,” Larson said. “It was probably even more than I would have expected. I didn’t know how we would fare in some of the duals. We wrestled well and came away with some good victories.”

A loss against Apple Valley, easily the state’s top team and maybe the best in the country, wasn’t going to dampen Rosemount’s spirits.

“They’re arguably No. 1 or No. 2 in the country,” Larson said. “They get four transfers from out of state and they’re all potential all-state wrestlers. No one in the state or country is at their level.”

Tyler Sandoz and Paul Domeier earned wins against Apple Valley. Garrett Bothun took his first loss of the season in a close matchup against Apple Valley’s top-ranked 140-lb. wrestler, Devin Scott.

“That’s a good test for Garrett,” Larson said. “He just came up short.”

Apple Valley boasts the top-ranked wrestler in seven of the 14 weight classes.

Against Park of Cottage Grove — a section opponent — the Irish were able to build up a strong lead and hold on.

Wins from Danny Rosa, Kwame Owusu, Steve Levine, Domeier, Tony Marthaler, Adam Jackson, Bothun and Sandoz gave Rosemount an insurmountable lead.

“Normally we’ve been able to build up a lead early,” Larson said. “We knew they were going to be stronger up top and we would be stronger in the lower weights. It was a good dual for us.”

The Irish hosted a quadrangular a day later.

Rosemount opened against Hopkins, which is also among the Lean and Mean rankings.

After earning a win against Andover, which brought a split squad, the Irish finished off the day with a comeback against Roseville.

Trailing late, after taking some unexpected falls, Jake Pruter and Mike Lewis won at 215 and 285 pounds, respectively, to finish off the comeback. It was Pruter’s first varsity win.

“Quite honestly, it was looking dismal,” Larson said. “They got a couple of pins and were way ahead. It was an emotional win for us. It was good to see Jake and Mike be a part of that and pick up the slack.”

Bothun, Sandoz, Josh Francois and Lewis were each 3-0 on the day. Jackson went 2-0 in his two matches.

Tags: sports, wrestling, rosemount, irish, minnesota, prep