By Tom Westman, Staff Writer:
The Annandale-Maple Lake Lightning wrestling team traveled to New London-Spicer High School to kick off the 21-22 Wright County Conference season Thursday, Dec 16, with a dual against the Wildcats. They came out victorious after a hard-fought marathon that began at 6 p.m. and didn’t end until after 9 p.m. Junior varsity and junior high included, said Lightning Head Coach Ben Youngs.
There were 21 non-varsity matches for the Lightning before varsity started after 7:30 p.m. After dropping a close match at 106, Ayden Fitzgerald won by the slimmest of margins at 113 to even the score. Then, Xavier Jones put the Lightning ahead 6-3 with a decision that set up the night’s match. In the match of the night, Lightning 120-pounder Noah Gindele bumped up to 126 to take on state-ranked Luke Ruter, Youngs said. In an action-filled match between state-ranked opponents, Gindele lost on a controversial last-second 5-4 decision.
For more details on the matches, pick up a copy of the Messenger today! To keep up to date on future matches, subscribe to the Messenger today!