St. Croix Central's Malecek places third at nationals, receives Air Force Academy appointment

• Marcus Malecek

St. Croix Central senior Marcus Malecek is shown with the certificate he received for placing third at the national folkstyle tournament last week.

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Weeks don’t get much better than the one St. Croix Central senior Marcus Malecek enjoyed last week.

Malecek took third place in the 220-pound class at the USAW Junior Folkstyle National Wrestling Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa over the weekend. That followed the news that he received his appointment to the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Malecek is scheduled to be part of the Air Force Academy wrestling team, where they are projecting him to compete in the 285-pound class. The Air Force Academy is an NCAA Division 1 program.

Malecek competed with the Victory Wrestling School team out of River Falls at the national tournament, as did his Central teammate, Austin Edison.

Malecek’s smart, patient style paid huge dividends at the national tournament. He opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over a wrestler from Iowa. He faced a wrestler from Kentucky in the second round, winning 3-2. That moved him into the quarterfinals, where he scored a 3-0 win over an opponent from Indiana. Malecek suffered his only loss of the tournament in the semifinals, when he was defeated by a Michigan wrestler 6-5.

That moved Malecek into the consolation semifinals, where he scored a 6-4 win over a wrestler from Arizona. That moved Malecek into the third place match against Austin Dobson from Illinois. True to form, Malecek won another close match, beating Dobson 1-0.

Edison wrestled in the same bracket as Malecek, but had the misfortune of drawing Dobson as his opening opponent. Edison went 0-2 in the tournament.

Somerset

Somerset’s Gabe Flandrick also competed at the national championships. He competed in the 152-pound class, but was defeated in both his matches. Both of his opponents went on to finish in the top eight in the bracket.

Somerset’s Logan Peterson competed in the eighth grade level of the Cadet National Tournament, winning one of his matches.

Flandrick and Bobby LeRoy recently competed in the Dominate The Dells National Folkstyle meet at Wisconsin Dells. Flandrick won the 152-pound championship, while Leroy took fourth place in the 132-pound division.

Somerset recently held its wrestling association banquet. Here are the awards that were presented:

Most Outstanding: Gabe Flandrick, team points leader

Most Valuable: Bobby LeRoy

Most Improved: Max Praschak

Most Pins: Haydon Dvorak and Austin Bushinger, 21 each

New Record: Most Wins – Season: Gabe Flandrick 43

New Record: Most Takedowns – Season: Bobby LeRoy 123

New Record: Most Wins – Career: Haydon Dvorak 131

Tags: sports, panthers, wrestling, prep