Fargo, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—The Carrington boys and girls wrestling teams finished the opening day of the 2026 state tournament in Fargo with 11 of the 14 wrestlers advancing to the second day of the tournament. Nick Garber (160–3 seed) was the only Cardinal to make the finals on Friday going 3-0 and finished his day with a 11-5 decision over Kale Hase of Harvey-WC in the semifinals.  Garber started the day with a fall over Andy Pulak of Grafton at 3:10 of the second period before taking a 16-4 major decision over Joseph Keller of South Border in the quarterfinals. Garber, a junior, improved his overall record to 19-3, will square off against top seeded and undefeated Kash Brown of Williams County in the title match.

Gabe Clifton (152–2 seed) went 2-1 on the day with a pair of wins by fall in his first 2 matches before losing his semifinal match to Ryan Enge (6 seed) from Lisbon. Clifton, junior, will enter Friday’s action with a 41-13 record . Skye Kramlich (121–5 seed), junior, went 2-1 and lost in the semifinals to top seeded and undefeated Tristan Miller of Williams County by fall at 3:18 of the second period. Kramlich won his opening round match by fall and won his quarterfinal match 8-4 over Walker Miller of EEK.

Gabe Inglish (107), Mason Cook (114), Jaxson Wilson (133), and Charlie Jorgenson (285) all went 1-1 on the day and advanced to Friday’s consolation bracket. Landin Clifton (127–7th) went 0-2 and finished the year 26-9. The Carrington boys were sitting in 9th place overall with 54 team points. There were 31 teams competing in the class B division with Lisbon leading the field with 113 points. Velva (78), South Border (77), Valley City (69), and Hettinger-Scranton (65.5) rounded out the top 5 teams.

Khendra Garcia (148), senior, was the only girls wrestler to make the semifinals. Garcia defeated Nancy Ugboke of Bismarck Legacy by fall at :45 seconds in the opening round and also pinned Kenley Hamley of Turtle Mountain Community at 3:52 of the second period. Garcia, the top seed would fall in the semifinals to the 4 seed Maycee Boyce of Minot 4-2. Grace Inglish (100), Alayna Gussiaas (106), and Madalina Ciubotareanu (142), all went 1-1 on the day and advanced to Friday’s consolation round. Juliet Davis (118) and Nevaeh Sosrenson (190) went 0-2 and were eliminated from the tournament. The Carrington girls were in 21st place after day one of the 39 team field. Minot was leading with 96 points followed by Bismarck Legacy (94.5), Bismarck (92), Pembina County North (69), Grand Forks (68), Lisbon (65), Kenmare-Bowbells-Burke Central (50), Williston (48), South Border (46), and Dickinson (43) rounding out the top 10.

All Cardinal wrestling will resume at 10:00 A.M. on Friday morning with live broadcast on AM 1600 KDAK THE CARDINAL, FM 100.1, and www.newsdakota.com