Grand Rapids senior Kellen Schauer won both of his matches Friday at the Minnesota state wrestling tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, moving within two victories of a state title in the Class AA 145-pound class.
Schauer opened the meet by pinning Minneapolis Edison's Jan Soto-Hernandez 94 seconds into the match, then edged New Ulm Area's Sean Howk 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Schauer, who improved to 53-0 on the season, faces Hutchinson's Tucker Gifferson (31-12) in this morning's semifinals.
Hibbing teammates Francis Fuenffinger (120 pounds), David Platt (138) and Zack Neuman (195) all won their first-round match before failing to get through the quarterfinals.
Likewise, Nashwauk-Keewatin/Greenway's Matthew Jeska (170) and Kole Platt (182) were successful in their first matches before getting pinned in the next round.
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Deer River's Trey Fairbanks was the only Northland wrestler to win his Class A opening match, cruising at 138 pounds, before falling short in the afternoon session.
BOYS SWIMMING
Zelen in two finals
Duluth East senior Ryan Zelen qualified fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly preliminaries Friday at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis and will swim in today's finals at the Class AA boys swimming and diving meet.
Zelen was timed in 20.77 in the 50, well ahead of his seed time, yet eight-tenths of a second behind the top qualifier in Edina's Peter Larson, who set a state record in becoming the first in Minnesota to crack 20 seconds.
Zelen then dove back in the pool in the butterfly, swimming under 50 seconds to ensure a double-podium finish today.
• In Class A, Hibbing sophomore William Stenson will swim in two finals today. Stenson finished eighth in the 100 butterfly preliminaries in 53.12 to qualify for the eight-person championship swim.
He also was a member of the Bluejackets' 200 freestyle relay, which placed seventh in the prelims in 1:29.60. Andrew Hoppe, Mark Borland and Joe Iozzo were the other relay members. Iozzo narrowly missed qualifying for the 50 freestyle as his 22.09 time was two-tenths from making the final.
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BOYS BASKETBALL
Duluth East 70, Duluth Denfeld 57
The Greyhounds swept the season series from the Hunters, receiving 15 points apiece from Isaiah Hendrickson and Noah Paulson to win at Denfeld.
Armon Freeman's 27 points led the way for the Hunters.
Cromwell-Wright 69,
Nashwauk-Keewatin 50
Junior Micah Pocernich scored a program-record 39 points to help the host Cardinals end the regular season on an 11-game winning streak.
Pocernich knocked down seven 3-pointers while slipping past the previous record-holder, Ryan Olesiak, who had a pair of 37-point outings, in 1995 and '96.
LCA 75, Fond du Lac 73
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Conner Barney's 40 points weren't enough for the Ogichidaag, who fell at home.
Jacob Easty led the Lions with 24 points, 15 of them coming from beyond the arc.
Cloquet 56, Proctor 50
Alex Leuzzo scored 17 points as the Lumberjacks won the Lake Superior Conference game in Proctor.
Northwestern 65, Spooner 46
The Tigers coasted to the Division 3 second-round playoff win in Maple.
Sam Risley's 19 points paced Northwestern, which led 37-29 at halftime and never looked back. Brody Payton added 13 points.
The Tigers host Bloomer today in a regional final.
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Hudson 83, Superior 71
The host Raiders ended the Spartans' season in a Division 1 first-round playoff game.
