Eighth place winner at 145 lbs.
After competing in a couple of relatively mid-sized tournaments and a pair of dual meets to start the season, the young and mostly inexperienced Farmington squad stepped into another world with an appearance at the 56-team tri-state Rumble on the Red tournament held Dec. 29-30 at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.
Not surprisingly, the Tigers didn't challenge for team honors, but according to coach Chad Olson other than getting stranded in Fargo for an extra day due to weather, the experience was a valuable one.
"We had some our kids wrestle national team wrestlers and all-americans," Olson said. "Our inexperienced wrestlers learned a lot by just watching."
Senior Carl Elmer provided 12 of the 16 Farmington team points with an eighth place finish in the 145 lbs. class. Elmer split six matches to move his record to 15-5 heading into the 2011 portion of the season.
"The last four guys Carl wrestled were state-ranked, two were state place-winners, one was a state champion and the other was a state qualifier," Olson said. "It really helped show Carl what he needs to improve on for the rest of the year."
The other Tiger points came from Kyle Benajamin who went 1-2 in the 103 lbs. weight class.
Other Tigers wrestling in the varsity meet included Matt Rustad (112), Joe Liden (125), Josh Iverson (130). Chris McCue (140), Joe Hoeve (152) and Tyler Beckett (171).
The Tigers open the post-holiday part of their schedule Thursday, Jan. 6, when they travel to Faribault for a dual meet with the Falcons.
