Devils Lake wrestlers take home accolades in offseason tournaments

A group of Devils Lake wrestlers recently competed in the USAW ND State Folkstyle Championships and Black Hills/AAU Folkstyle Nationals.

The Devils Lake wrestling program shared the results on Facebook.

State highlights:

• Quinton Dahle (14U 225): Four pins on the way to a state title.
• Max Volk (16U 144): State champion.
• Gage Bundy (14U 105): Third place after a huge run through the backside.
• Rustyn Ness (14U 110): Fourth place with multiple falls.
• Alexander McLaurin (14U 75): Fourth place.
• Jeremiah Pollestad (16U 113): Fourth place.
• Ty Volk (16U 88-94): Second place with a strong finish.

National highlights, with four All-Americans:

• Gregor Samuelson (14U 110): National champion. Dominant run to the championship, including two pins, a technical fall and a gritty 2-1 finals win.
• Rylan Samuelson (HS 126): National champion. Rolled through the bracket with two technical falls, a sudden-victory semifinal and an 8-4 win in the finals.
• Ty Volk (HS 98): Second place. Strong tournament with big wins early, finishing as the national runner-up.
• Max Volk (HS 1440: Seventh place. Battled back through the consolation rounds to take seventh, highlighted by a 16-second pin and a major in the placement match.

Devils Lake seventh-grader AJ McLaurin also competed in the Heartland National Duals for the North Dakota middle school state wrestling team. The team placed third in the duals, with McLaurin given the “heart” award.

McLaurin is a member of the Devils Lake Shooting Starz Wrestling Club.