FARGO -- Pat Tangen put himself in position to win a state championship, but the Dickinson High wrestler came up just short.
"Did we get beat? Yeah," Midgets head coach Cody Wolf said. "But he really went out there gave everything he had in the tank and left it out there one more time."
No. 1-seeded senior Drew Spaulding of Bismarck High picked up his second state title in three years, defeating Tangen in a 5-0 decision in the Class A 145-pound title match Saturday at the Fargodome.
Spaulding had takedowns in the first and third periods and added an escape in the third after choosing the down position going into the period.
Wolf said Tangen wrestled about as well as he had all season.
ADVERTISEMENT
"He went out there and really represented himself well," Wolf said.
Dickinson senior Ryan Yates ended his career with a third-place finish at 215 pounds, and he did so in exciting fashion.
Yates edged Williston's Brandon Sandberg with a 3-2 decision in the consolation semifinals and pinned Devils Lake's Chris Sommer 22 seconds into overtime in the third-place match.
"That was close to the best match I've seen Ryan wrestle all year long," Wolf said. "He pushed himself out of his safety zone a little bit."
Adam Grimsley wound up sixth at 189 pounds.
The senior won his consolation quarterfinal match against Williston's Adam Stevens via a 7-3 decision but was pinned by Bismarck's Tayln Johnson in 4:33 in the semifinals and lost a 10-2 major decision to Belcourt's Skyler Poitra in the fifth-place match.
"I would say the tournament of the weekend would have to go to Adam Grimsley," Wolf said.
Junior Ryder Peterson finished seventh at 135 pounds.
ADVERTISEMENT
He was pinned by Mandan's Alex Koppy in 4:20 in his consolation quarterfinal match but turned around to beat Jamestown's Alek Dallman by a 2-0 decision in the seventh-place match.
"He went out and wrestled tough," Wolf said.
Dickinson finished with 63.5 team points to take 13th. Bismarck High won its 12th state title in 13 years, scoring 194 and edging runner-up West Fargo by 2.5 points.
