Valley City, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—The Carrington boys wrestling team finished in fourth place competing in a field of 18 teams in the 2026 individual class B east region tournament at the Hi-Liner Activity Center in Valley City. The Cardinals scored 140 team points with Lisbon taking the title with 234 points easily outpacing runner-up Kindred with 189. South Border finished third with 181 and Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm finished fifth with 138.5. Oakes (131.5), LaMoure-Litchville-Marion (106), Napoleon-GS (105.5), Valley City (104), and Hillsboro-CV (83) rounded out the top 10 teams.
The Cards had 11 wrestlers competing out of the 13 weight classes leaving the 172 and 189 pound empty. Eight of the 11 wrestlers advanced to the state tournament finishing in the top 8 of their weight class. Gabe Clifton (39-12), the number one seed at 152 pounds went 4-0 on the day that included 3 wins by fall. Clifton would pin Carson Kzojed of Hillsboro-CV in the title match at 1:27 of the first period. Clifton’s toughest match was in the semifinal with Bryce Schneider of Napoleon-GS that ended in a 7-3 decision.
Nick Garber (16-3) finished second at 160 pounds going 3-1 on the day. Garber, seeded fourth, defeated the top seed Cruz Reinke of Lisbon in the semifinals 4-1 in sudden victory overtime. Garber started the day with 2 wins by fall before losing in the finals to second seeded Myles Thielges from Kindred 4-3.
Charlie Jorgensen (25-13) would only wrestle 2 matches on the day going 1-1 to take home second place. Jorgensen received a first round by before winning a close 2-1 decision in the quarterfinals over Hunter Thorvilson of Larimore. A semifinal win by medical forfeit over top seeded Seth Irey of EEK put Jorgensen into the final against second seeded Owen Hunt of Valley City. Hunt got a quick throw in the finals and ended the match by fall in just 9 seconds.
Gabe Inglish (36-8), 107 pounds, Mason Cook (31-11) at 114 pounds, and Skye Kramlich (27-6) at 121 pounds all finished in third place. All three lost in the semifinal round and bounced back to win their final 2 matches of the day for third place.
Jaxson Wilson (30-14), 8th grade, finished sixth at 133 pounds and 7th grader Landin Clifton (26-7), moving up 3 weight classes finished in 7th place at 127 pounds. Michael Vandehoven (139), 7th grade, Kallen Wolsky (145), Fr., and Jacob Hinrichs (215), Sr. also competed and did not qualify for the state tournament going 0-2 on the day. The eight qualifiers will compete next Thursday and Friday at the state tournament in Fargo and the entire team will compete in the dual tournament on Saturday with Hettinger-Scranton there first opponent in the quarterfinals. All state tournament action will be aired on AM 1600 KDAK THE CARDINAL, FM 100.1, and www.newsdakota.com