The Tigers placed in six weight classes and ranked 10th among 16 teams at the Panther Invitational held Saturday, Dec. 3, at Lakeville North. Farmignton was 10th in a 14-team field at the meet last year.
"It was a tougher tournament with more teams and we placed two more wrestlers than we did last year," Tiger coach Chad Olson said. "Overall we wrestled really well. We are light years ahead of where we were at this point last year."
Scott West ran away with the team title with 268 points. Hudson (WI) placed second at 193, followed by Henry Sibley 114, Lakeville North 112, Chaska/Chanhassen 108.5, Northfield 99, Lakeville South 90, Woodbury 89, Park of Cottage Grove 86.5, Farmington 72.5, New Richmond, WI 62, South St. Paul 57, Nicollet/GFW 57, Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony 42, Turtle Lake, (WI) 19 and Minneapolis Southwest 2.
The top Farmington finishes belonged to Kyle Benjamin and Joe Hoeve who each finished third in his weight division.
Benjamin defeated Zach Lohman of Hudson, Wisconsin 6-0 in his final match at 113 lbs. while Hoeve scored a third period fall over Woodbury's Howard Jones to claim his medal in the 160 lbs. bracket.
John Walz took fourth at 126 lbs., losing 11-5 to Hudson's Tim Feia in the fifth-place bout.
Taylor Venz lost his opening match at 103 lbs. but rallied to take fifth place with a 7-0 win over Danny Chlebeck of Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony in the consolation final.
The other Tiger points came from sixth place finishes by Jake Rudeen (138 lbs.) and Dakota Louis-Dupay (220 lbs.).
The Tigers have a tough week ahead of them with five dual meets, four against ranked teams. Friday they entertain Anoka and Albert Lea in a triangular and Saturday they compete in the Prior Lake Invitational.
