MANKATO — It didn’t take much to get Mankato East wrestling fired up to face Mankato West.
The Cougars took care of business against the crosstown rival Scarlets in a 57-16 dual win Thursday.
“They never have a hard time getting up for the crosstown rival,” East head coach Jon Dierks said. “You don’t have to give a pep talk before the dual. They are ready to rock and roll right from the get go.
The Cougars, like Dierks said, did rock rock and roll from the get go. Liam Rosevold earned a pin over Liam Scutte in the night’s opening bout at 107 pounds.
They didn’t stop there.
Lincoln Rosevold pinned Max Kozitza at 127 pounds. Jackson Stensrund pinned Elliot Thompson in the 133 pound bout. Nick Rosevold pinned Asher Valimot at 139 pounds. Bennet Blom pinned Michael Hoag in the 172 pound bout. Max Morgan pinned James Engelen at 189 pounds.
Jackson Buboltz earned a 14-8 decision over Bly Mettler in the 145 pound matchup.
“We’ve been definitely building these last few weeks,” Dierks said. “I think guys are kind of starting to get to that postseason form.”
West did have their high spots Thursday. Maverick Baker continues his torrid freshman campaign with a technical fall win over Kale Rosevold.
“Maverick likes to go big,” West head coach Tyler Sorenson said. “He wrestles year round. He’s put in the work. He works hard. He has a bright future ahead of him.”
The Scarlets also got wins from Soren Ehmke’s pinfall win over Malekai Mercado and Lincoln Lundgren’s technical fall victory over Ronnie Banks.
Thursday also served as West’s third of four events this week. Multiple members sustained injuries in Wednesday’s Big 9 event, forcing West to leave 121, 215 and 285 pound matches open, giving the Cougars 18 free points.
But for what they could control on Thursday, Sorensen made it clear what the Scarlets need to learn from facing East.
“We have to fight off our back. That’s the biggest thing,” Sorenson said. “Every match we lost, for the most part, we couldn’t stay off our back.”