Wrestling: Venz leads Tigers to 27th at Rumble

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The Farmington wrestling team made its mark at the largest prep tournament in the nation last weekend.

The Tigers moved up 25 spots from a year ago to place 27th out of 65 varsity teams with 69 points at the Rumble on the Red at the Fargo Dome in Fargo. Albert Lea and West Fargo (N.D) tied for the team championship with 166.5 points apiece.

Returning state qualifier Taylor Venz led five Farmington wrestlers who made it to the second day of the varsity tournament. He ended up going 5-2 to place fourth at 106 pounds. Venz, ranked second in the state at 106 pounds, won his first five matches to improve his record to 17-0 before falling 6-5 in the semifinals to a second-ranked wrestler from Nebraska and 7-6 in the third-place match to a No. 1-ranked wrestler from Fairmont/Martin County West.

“Taylor had a great tournament and proved he is capable of wrestling with the best,” Farmington coach Chad Olson said.

Brayden Chapman entered the tournament with four wins on the season and went 3-2 to make it to the second day in the 138-pound bracket. Joe Hoeve, Jacob Gabbard and Godfrey Mpetey each finished with records of 2-2.

“The Rumble is a great experience for our team,” Olson said. “We are looking forward to next year since we only had one senior wrestle in the tournament this year.”

The Tigers also found success in the JV portion of the meet with three wrestlers making it to the finals. Jamin LeDuc finished first out of 72 wrestlers in the 106-pound bracket with a 6-0 tournament, John Walz went 5-1 to place second at 145 and Victor Gliva earned second by going 5-1 at 95 pounds.

The Tigers are back home tomorrow night for the Battle of the Programs. Faribault comes to town for a youth dual, middle school dual, JV dual and varsity dual beginning at 5:30. On Saturday the Tigers will open with ninth-ranked Lakeville North at the Tiger Duals.

Tags: high school, sports, farmington, tigers, prep, wrestling