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Published February 08, 2012, 01:10 PM

Injuries, illnesses hold back Tiger wrestlers

With five starters out of the lineup, the Farmington wrestling team lost four of five duals last week.

By: Matt Steichen, The Farmington Independent

  • Photo: Wrestling
    • image
    Farmington senior heavyweight Bret Hoffman takes down his opponent during last Thursday's dual meet against New Prague. The Tigers lost four of five duals last week as five players were out with injuries and illnesses.

Injuries and illnesses left the Farmington wrestling team without five starters during a pair of meets last week.

The Tigers fell to New Prague (57-19) and Chaska-Chanhassen (54-12) in a Missota Conference double dual last Thursday at Tiger Gym, and then lost to Lakeville North (45-25) and New Richmond-HEG (57-21) before defeating a JV team made up of wrestlers from various teams Friday night at the Panther Duals in Lakeville.

“We gave Lakeville North the best dual of the tourney, despite missing five starters. They will be the No. 3 seed in our section,” Farmington coach Chad Olson said. “We took the weekend off in hopes of getting healthy. All the starters should be back next week.”

The Tigers close out the regular season with a meet tonight at St. Agnes, then don’t compete again until they host the Section 1AA championships Feb. 18 at Tiger Gym.

Jacob Gabbard went 3-0 at Lakeville North, with major decision wins against Lakeville North and NRHEG. Teammate Brian Cervantes added a 2-0 day.

Taylor Venz, Joe Hoeve, Jake Rudeen, John Walz and Bret Hoffman all went 2-1 for the Tigers. Kelvin O’Brien added his first career varsity victory against Lakeville North.

Three Tiger wrestlers went 2-0 in Thursday’s night’s home double dual.

Venz scored a major decision at 106 pounds against New Prague and came back to win 6-1 over a previously-ranked Chaska-Chanhassen wrestler in the second dual. Gabbard won a decision against the Trojans before locking up the No. 2 seed in the section with a 3-2 decision against the StormHawks. Hoeve scored a pair of pins, including one over the state’s third-ranked 152-pounder from Chaska-Chanhassen.

Hoffman added a win at heavyweight against New Prague.

“I had hoped to be more competitive, but we are not quite to the point where we have quality back-ups or back-ups at all to fill in,” Olson said.

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