Confident Coyotes ready to take West Region field to the mats

Sports Editor

Last year at this time, the Williston wrestling crew headed into the West Region tournament with the ability to send everyone in the lineup to state. However, it didn’t go as planned.

This year, the Coyotes again can put everyone on the bus, but this time, they believe they can send everyone, and maybe more when Williston takes to the mats at Mandan Saturday.

“This time we go in with more senior leadership and we have guys ranked in at least the top eight all the way across and that means you win one extra match, your’e in,” said Michaelson.

The Coyotes bring a lot more swagger into this year’s postseason. After missing out on the dual competition last year, the Coyotes have qualified for state in duals by finishing second in the West to the state’s top seed, Bismarck, with an 11-3 mark. “I’m a real goals guy, and our main goal was to get to state as a dual team. With making that goal, they believe in themselves,” said Michaelson.

Williston also moved up from its preseason ranking at the bottom of the rankings, getting ranked as high as third in the state and go in currently ranked third in the West and seventh in the state.

“Rankings don’t mean anything to me, but it was fuel for the fire for our guys and I hope they go in with a chip on their shoulder, because I know we’re talented enough to win the whole thing. However, you have to earn respect, it’s not given to you, so we have to go earn it,” said Michaelson.

Along with the added confidence, the Coyotes are also continuing to improve as the postseason approaches. “We had a lot of adversity and injuries to overcome, but the guys have stayed mentally focused and they are a tight knit group, we’ve been making some small adjustments and we’ve had some phenomenal work in practice this last week,” said Michaelson.

“Our mentality is to leave it all on the mat and in most cases you will be victorious and our record has shown that.”

The only real setbacks for Williston were lopsided losses to Montana powerhouse Sidney and top-ranked Bismarck, but Michaelson said they’ve learned from the defeats.

He also said Bismarck isn’t unbeatable and they have as good a shot as anyone to dethrone the defending champs.

Leading the way will be seniors Kurt Wiedrich, Adam Stenson, Aaron Roness, Nathan Jorgenson, Shawn Sneva, Mark Longanilla, Kyle Kitzenberg and Matt Neer. “I think we have a number of guys that can go after a West Region title,” said Michaelson.

Wiedrich has the best mark on the team with a 30-2 record at 189 pounds and is ranked second in the state, with West Fargo’s Chris Lundberg ahead of him.

Adam Stenson and Roness are also ranked second in the state at 152 and 125 pounds, respectively. Stenson is 26-6 and was ranked atop the state at one point this year.

Roness is 26-6 and is ranked behind Mandan’s Tyler Steinwand, who he’ll probably have to face to win a title.

Longanilla is 27-8 at 160 pounds and is ranked third in the state, while Adam Lambert, a junior, is 23-10 at 119 pounds and is ranked third as well.

Sneva is ranked fourth at 145 pounds with a 26-7 mark.

Those are probably the best chances for titles, but Michaelson believes any number of his wrestlers could place high and he expects all 14 to go to state.

Neer will go at 140 pounds, while Kitzenberg competes at 130, Jorgenson at 215, and eighth-grader Nick Schoedel is at 103, freshman Taylor Stenson is at 112, junior Zach Koelzer is at 135, junior Andrew Deichert is at 171 and junior Kyle Hallgren is at 275.

“Our goal is 14-of-14, but we’d like to do 17-of-17,” he said.

He referred to the new rule this year that alternates can qualify for state and the Coyotes have three in Luke Michaelson (135), Zach Dixon (140) and Lane Allen (171).

“I think we can have two going at some weights,” said Michaelson.

If the Coyotes can keep up their improvement and keep up the confidence, they could be in the hunt for a West Region and possible state title.

“Some of these guys had brothers on the 2001 (state championship) team and were in the seventh or eighth grade, so they know what it takes.”