New Richmond's Shane Blackman takes second place at Bi-State Classic
The strength in the lower weights of the New Richmond wrestling lineup was on full display at the Bi-State Classic in La Crosse on Friday and Saturday.
- Shane Blackman
- Derek Dowd
- Abe Anderson
The strength in the lower weights of the New Richmond wrestling lineup was on full display at the Bi-State Classic in La Crosse on Friday and Saturday.
New Richmond junior Shane Blackman took second place in the 113-pound bracket in the 53-school tournament.
Tiger senior Abe Anderson won six matches in the tournament to earn fifth place in the 132-pound bracket.
Sophomore Derek Dowd earned seventh place in the 120-pound class, winning five matches over the two days.
The Tigers earned 136 team points in the tournament, placing 16th overall among the 53 teams.
Blackman nearly ruined a piece of La Crosse history in the 113-pound title match. He was facing undefeated La Crosse Central junior Ben Thornton. Thornton was hoping to become the first La Crosse wrestler to win three Bi-State titles. Thornton is a defending WIAA?state champion who has only lost once in his high school career. Blackman nearly doubled that total. Thornton got the opening takedown, but Blackman forced the activity for the rest of the match. Blackman trailed 5-3 in the final seconds and he made a move to get the tying takedown as the third period time ran out. Tiger coach Mark Neumann said he thought Blackman had gotten the takedown that would have forced overtime. The match officials conferred, deciding that the takedown was completed after the time had run out.
Tiger coach Mark Neumann said Blackman’s efforts are getting him recognized among the elite lower weight wrestlers. His record stands at 16-3.
“Shane’s got great technique. He was right there (with Thornton),”?Neumann said.
Blackman dominated his opposition to reach the finals. In his first matches at 113 this season, Blackman earned three pins and a 15-0 technical fall victory.
Anderson is another Tiger who is getting recognized state-wide as a threat. His only loss was to defending state champion Trevor Spears of Riverdale, and Anderson was leading that match 3-1 until he was pinned in the third period. He was credited with a second loss when the coaches elected to have him sit out a consolation semifinal match due to injury. He came back to wrestle the fifth place bout, beating Ellsworth’s Brad Cain 4-2.
“It’s the best I’ve seen Abe wrestle in four years,”?Coach Neumann said of Anderson’s tournament performance. “He was lights out the entire tournament.”
Dowd was another of the Tigers who was on the attack in all of his matches. His first loss came to Cole Martin of Lancaster, who finished to Ellsworth’s Jens Lantz in the 120-pound bracket. In the seventh place match, Dowd wrestled a controlled style to defeat Hudson’s Nick Nelson 2-0.
There were other highlights for the Tigers in the tournament. John Greening won three matches in his first action of the season. Skyler Luger earned his first win of the season.
Coach Neumann liked the effort and attitude shown by the younger wrestlers.
“I hope we’re turning a little bit of a corner. The young guys are close, we’re just not quite there yet,” he said.
The Tigers resume their Middle Border Conference schedule this Thursday with a match at Amery.
Tags: sports, tigers, wrestling, prep
More from around the web
RSS Feeds