Seeding at stake at Rotary

Fargo South wrestling coach Lynn Forde views this weekend as a chance to earn position for the postseason.

Forde's Bruins will be part of the expected 25-team field at the 39th annual Bismarck Rotary tournament, which runs Friday and Saturday at the Bismarck Civic Center.

"The thing about the Rotary is you're going to see some teams that you're not going to see again until the region or state," Forde said. "That is going to be important for seeding at the state tournament."

The Bruins took a week off over the holiday break and Forde hopes that helped re-charge his wrestlers for the final part of the season.

The Bruins are hoping to finish among the top teams at the Rotary. Napoleon, Rapid City Stevens (S.D.) and Frazee (Minn.) are among the favorites in the field.

Napoleon is ranked No. 1 in North Dakota Class B, Stevens is ranked No. 2 in South Dakota Class A, and Frazee is ranked No. 2 in Minnesota Class 1A. Bismarck is the top-rated team in North Dakota Class A. The Bruins are third.

"I don't know if we are going to be able to place in the top two or three, but we would like to place up in the top half of the tournament," Forde said. "If we don't do as well as we'd hoped to, I don't think it's the end of the world."

Seniors Brian Reisenauer (103 pounds) and Justin Jones (171) and junior Jake Bruns (285) are three Bruins who have the potential to win individual titles at the Rotary.

While South should be rested, West Fargo wrestled in the 23-team Rumble on the Red at Minnesota State Moorhead last weekend. Packers coach Kayle Dangerud doesn't think that will hurt his team.

"Any time you wrestle good competition, it's going to make our kids better," said Dangerud, whose team is the defending Class A individual tournament state champion. "We came out of the tournament pretty injury-free. I think it prepared us a little better for this week. Our main goal is to get quality matches and to get better."

Austin Cassezza (119), Lex Lunde (125), Cameron Ramberg (130), Anthony Charbonneau (135) and Dusty Holmes (140) are among the Packers who have a chance to place at the Rotary.

Senior Marshall Lynnes (171) and junior Chris Skeldum (112) are Fargo North's best chances for high places. Lynnes is ranked No. 1 in Class A in his weight class. Skeldum is ranked second.

"We are so young and so inexperienced that I don't think we can compete team-wise," North coach Ken Tinquist said. "It's going to be some tough sledding for us this weekend."

Central Cass holds its Lettermen's tourney

Central Cass will host its annual Lettermen's wrestling tournament on Friday and Saturday. Four ranked Class B schools highlight the 21-team field.

Class B powers Ashley-Wishek (No. 2), Central Cass (No. 3), Hillsboro (No. 5) and Oakes (No. 7) are scheduled to compete. Moorhead is also in the tournament.

"With the competition level being as high as what we think it is, we want to see how we compete against good kids and in big tournaments," Central Cass coach Travis Lemar said. "This is our biggest field."

Readers can reach Forum reporter Eric Peterson at (701) 241-5513 or epeterson@forumcomm.com