Grapplers fall to Apple Valley; move on to individual competition

The New Prague Trojan wrestling team finished its dual meet season Friday, Feb. 15, at the Section 2AAA meet. New Prague defeated Eastview in the quarterfinals before losing to Apple Valley in the semifinals.

New Prague finished the regular season with a 20-4 record, with all four losses coming to state-ranked teams. The Trojans were rated No. 7 in the most recent state Class AAA poll.

Trojan Coach Dan Wagner said it was a great night of wrestling. “We came into the event with a couple of untimely injuries that played a huge factor in our dual with Apple Valley,” he said.

Trojans 49, Lightning 19 New Prague got off to a fast start and finished strong in taking a 49-19 win in the quarterfinals.

In the opening match, the Trojans sent Colton Bornholdt out to start the meet at 106 pounds, moving their three state-ranked wrestlers up a weight. Bornholdt, who had 11 varsity wins on the season, made it 12 with a first-period fall.

Colby Dunkel, ranked No. 3 at 106 pounds, pinned his opponent at 113 pounds in 36 seconds. Joey Novak, No. 4 at 113, moved up to 120 and scored a major decision, and Nick Novak, No. 3 at 120 pounds, scored a 5-3 decision at 126 to give the Trojans a 19-0 lead.

But Eastview came back with....

To see more on this story pick up the February 21,, 2019 print edition of The New Prague Times.