Park Hill finished 11th out of 32 teams in a multi-state dual tournament this past weekend featuring some of the best high school lineups in the country. Ranked No. 41 in the nation according to InterMat Wrestling, Park Hill finished third in its bracket at The Clash XIV at University Center Rochester Field House in Rochester, Minn. and then third in the third place pool. Overall, the Trojans went 3-3 including a loss to No. 11-ranked St. Michael-Albertville (Minn.) in the semifinals of the Group D bracket. The top eight finishers at the tournament were all ranked in InterMat’s top 50.
Canten Marriott (170 pounds) and Weston DiBlasi (126) went a perfect 6-0 for Park Hill, while freshmen Devin Winston (160) and Blake Hopson (145) finished with four wins apiece.
Park Hill opened with a 36-24 win against Hermiston (Ore.) Bracket D with Winston and Marriott scoring pins in the final two matches to break a 24-all tie. The loss to St. Michael followed with the Trojans falling behind 15-3 after five matches, including a 6-2 decision loss at 106 for Kelvin Eblen — a third-place state finisher at that weight as a freshman who went 3-2 at The Clash. Pins for Austin Kolvek at 120 and DiBlasi briefly tied the score at 15, but St. Michael took the lead for good with Cody Schoen’s 7-1 win against freshman Carter Goslee at 132.
In the third-place match for Bracket D, Park Hill overcame an early deficit to beat Farmington (Minn.). Eblen and Josh Steele (113) both scored bonus points in back-to-back wins to put the Trojans ahead 10-6. Kolvek’s major decision loss tied the score at 10, but wins for DiBlasi (decision), Goslee (major decision), Hopson (pin) and Lucky Brockman (decision at 152) in the next five matches helped the Trojans to a 36-28 win.
The pool pitted Park Hill against the other three third-place finishers in the other three brackets.
The Trojans won just one of those matchups, opening with a 34-27 loss to Anoka (Minn.) followed with a 37-18 loss to Kenyon-Wanamingo (Minn.). Anoka and Park Hill split the 14 matchups in the opener, but major decisions for DiBlasi, Winston and Marriott and a forfeit for Nate Smith at 220 weren’t enough bonus points to overcome Anoka’s four pins and one major decision.
Park Hill lost five of the first six against Kenyon and only won five matches total.
In the final dual, Park Hill moved to .500 by beating Simley (Minn.) 41-28, winning eight of the 14 matchups. Eblen also didn’t wrestle in that dual, but DiBlasi, Brockman, Winston and Landen Brown (285) scored pins while Goslee and Marriott added technical falls.
Park Hill was also without two-time state champion Sean Hosford, who did not make the trip due to illness. He has spent most of the season at 145.