Bryce, Miner capture conference titles for Indians

A pair of underclassmen stole the show for the Spirit Lake Park wrestling team as the duo of Dylan Bryce and Doug Miner earned their first -ever Lakes Conference crowns Friday, Jan. 29, at the Spencer Fieldhouse.

Bryce, a sophomore, and Miner, a freshman, both finished the tournament unbeaten at their respective weight classes. The Indians had 12 total place-winners, including four finalists and two third-place performers to finish fourth in the conference with 158.5 points.

Spencer rolled to the Lakes Conference team title behind the strength of eight finalists and five champions. The Tigers scored 228 points to sweep the regular season and tournament crowns. Emmetsburg placed second with 213.5 while Storm Lake was third with 159 and Le Mars rounded out the top five with 120 points.

Bryce went 3-0 in the 125 pound bracket to improve to 20-11 on the season. In the opening round, Bryce pinned Matt DeWild of Western Christian in 3:10. He won a 10-1 major decision over Emmetsburg's Nick Schany in the semifinals and defeated top-seeded Quinton Vore of Le Mars 9-0 in the title round.

Miner, the top-seed, improved to 21-4 on the season with two victories. The SLP freshman needed a minute, 32 seconds to pin Murray Scott of Spencer before capturing a 19-4 technical fall over Tyler Leuer of Emmetsburg in the finals.

Earning conference runner-up honors were Rick Maris (145) and Rick Wilson (171).

Maris was 2-1 with two pinfalls. He upset top-seeded Austin McCartan of Emmetsburg with a pin in 3:17 in the semifinals, and then lost by fall in 3:54 to Spencer's Jack Randall. Wilson boosted his record to 21-9 overall with two wins in the meet. Wilson scored a pin in 1:08 over Manny Bustos of Cherokee and won a 9-4 decision over Ross Hoksbergen of Western Christian in the first two rounds. In the championship round, Storm Lake's K.J. Besch spoiled a perfect day for Wilson with a fall in 1:42.

The other SLP place winners were C.J. Kent (112) and Shae Heinrichs (285), who placed third, Brandon Griffin (152) and Adam Dreeszen (215), who came in fourth, and Sam Bosma (119) and Andrew Broocks (160), who finished fifth. Brandon Sundall (135) and Jacob Welch (140) also placed sixth overall in the tournament.

Heinrichs rebounded from a disappointing loss to Spencer's Nate Benson with three consecutive quick falls. The senior heavyweight grappler needed a total of a minute and a half to capture pins over John Ruddy of Emmetsburg, Josh Munger of Le Mars and Miah Back of Cherokee.

Lakes Conference Tournament

Team scores -- 1. Spencer 228; 2. Emmetsburg 213.5; 3. Storm Lake 159; 4. Spirit Lake Park 158.5; 5. Le Mars 120; 6. Western Christian 99; 7. Estherville Lincoln Central 61; 8. Cherokee 58.

Individual results

103 -- 1. Doug Miner. 112 -- 3. C.J. Kent. 119 -- 5. Sam Bosma. 125 -- 1. Dylan Bryce. 135 -- 6. Brandon Sundall. 140 -- 6. Jacob Welch. 145 -- 2. Rick Maris. 152 -- 4. Brandon Griffin. 160 -- 5. Andrew Broocks. 171 -- 2. Rick Wilson. 215 -- 4. Adam Dreeszen. 285 -- 3. Shae Heinrichs.