Three seemed to be the number for the Pipestone Arrow wrestling team Saturday at the Subway of Sherburn Invitational Wrestling Tournament.
The Arrows had three champions and three runnersup, and also finished third overall in the tournament, wrestling without standout heavyweight Travis Plahn. Brandan Alfson, at 140, Adam Bullerman, 145, and Andrew Larson, 171, all finished first in the tournament at Sherburn Saturday, while 103-pounder John Bush, 119-pounder Jadon Evans and 135-pounder Dustin Hachmann racked up second-place finishes.
And that wasn’t all. Taylor Aaland (130) and Jared Purdin (160) were third in their weight classes, and Ryan Miessen picked up a fourth-place finish at 125, winning his first two matches of the season.
Pipestone was shut out in only three weight classes in the tournament, much of that the result of juggling the lineup because of the illness to Plahn and the injury to Sean Ennen late last month. But on the good news front, Coach Brian Bos said Monday that Ennen will return to the team, wearing a shoulder harness, to continue his quest to get to the state meet, and help the team down the stretch. Bos expects Ennen to take the mat this Thursday night in a triangular at Minneota.
The return of Ennen, 20-7 this season, will be a boost to the Arrows, who are 17-5 overall and who can make a run during the section tournament later this month. He is one of seven wrestlers in the lineup with more than 20 wins; two more wrestlers have 19 wins for PAS.
Bos is pleased with how the team has responded from the two losses at Windom on Jan. 24. The Arrows, boosted by a strong crowd, wrestled well against a very strong Fulda/Murray County Central team last Thursday night, and repeated that performance Saturday at Sherburn.
“We weren’t full strength,” Bos said. “But we jostled the lineup and tried to put ourselves in the best position.” The Arrows, he said, would have done much better with a full contingent of wrestlers.
As it was, St. James won the tournament at 195 ½ points while Blue Earth Area finished second with 173 ½. The Arrows were next with 158 ½ while Lakeville South finished fourth with 154 points. Martin County West was fifth at 88 points, followed by Redwood Valley (75 ½), Fairmont (48), Luverne (18) and Nicollet (14).
All three Arrow champions had big moments in going undefeated in the tournament. Alfson, unbeaten in six matches since coming back from a mid-season injury, continued his strong wrestling, going 3-0, including a 14-7 win over Kevin Bright of Lakeville South in the finals. Bright had to retire late in the match because of a nosebleed which forced the official to call the match.
Earlier, Alfson had been impressive in pinning Garett Schmidt of Nicollet in the first period, and decisioning Jack Hedberg of Fairmont in the semifinals, 11-6.
Alfson now stands 17-5 on the season, his last loss in the Pipestone tournament a month ago.
At 145, Adam Bullerman continued his great season with three more wins, giving him a team-leading total of 27 (against five losses) for the season. Bullerman also came up with a huge win in the finals, scoring a takedown and nearfall in the final 20 seconds to edge Daniel Eckhardt of Blue Earth Area, 5-4 for the championship.
Bullerman earlier had won a major decision over Blake Wilking of Nicollet, 13-5, and pinned Joredan Gilmore of Lakeville South in 4:53.
Andrew Larson was also impressive in winning the 171-pound championship with a fall and technical before before avenging a loss suffered earlier this year to Jared Schiller of Redwood Valley, 9-3 in the finals. Larson is now 25-4 on the season.
Three additional Arrows were a move or two from joining their three teammates. At 103, John Bush lost a 4-3 decision to Jake Wirtjes of Blue Earth Area in the finals, and Jadon Evans gave Ethan Hildebrandt of St. James a tough battle in the 119-pound finals before losing, 5-1. At 135, Dustin Hachmann lost an 8-4 decision to Chris Whitehead of St. James in the finals.
Taylor Aaland and Jared Purdin came back to place third in their respective weight classes. Aaland pinned his first opponent but then lost a 7-6 decision to Mark Bartley of Blue Earth Area. He rebounded with a pin over Caleb Krusemark of Martin County West and a 7-2 decision over Ethan Pierson of St. James to take third.
Purdin also went 3-1, losing only by 5-3 decision to eventual champion Taylor Swenson of St. James in the semifinals. He rebounded to win by major decision over Jake Harzin of Redwood Valley and by 5-1 decision over Richard Michels of Nicollet.
Miessen came back from a first-period loss to Tim Sparks of Martin County West to score a major decision and a pin before losing the third-place match to Mason Buesgens of Lakeville South.
One of three Arrows who didn’t place, Tyler Evans at 152, held an 8-4 lead in one of his matches before being felled by an upper-body throw. Jon Gorter, who wrestled 189 on Thursday night, jumped up a weight class and ran into some tough competition. Both he and Brandon Moeller, who also jumped from 215 to 285, went 1-2.
Milestones were reached by three Arrow wrestlers Saturday. Larson and Bullerman both passed the 60-win mark for their career, while Aaland posted his 75th win. Jadon Evans picked up his 60th win Thursday night against Fulda/Murray County Central.
Pipestone won 24 of 37 matches they wrestled during the tournament. Champions at the various weights included Wirtjes, Blue Earth Area, 103; D.J. Gronewald, Blue Earth Area, 112; Ethan Hildebrandt, St. James, 119; Brady Stauffer, St. James, 125; Eric Hensel, Lakeville South, 130; Chris Whitehead, St. James, 135; Hilario Alvarado, St. James, 152; Tayler Swenson, St. James, 160; Ethan Hoppe, St. James, 189; Matt Willner, Blue Earth, 215; and Jake Lee, Blue Earth Area, 285. Hensel is ranked 10th in the Guillotine Class AAA at 130 pound rankings while Alvarado is rated sixth in the latest Class A rankings at 152. Two ranked wrestlers, seventh-rated Ethan Hoppe of Stames, and eighth-rated Brady Myers of Redwood Valley, met in the 189-pound finals, with Hoppe winning.
For the season, the Arrows had outscored their opponents in all major categories: team points, 906-446; decisions, 43-26; falls, 116-57, and technical falls, 4-2.

ARROW RECORDS: John Bush 24-9; Jadon Evans 23-12; Ryan Miessen 2-6; Taylor Aaland 25-10; Dustin Hachmann 19-12; Brandan Alfson 17-5; Adam Bullerman 27-5; Tyler Evans 19-14; Jared Purdin 15-10; Andrew Larson 25-4; Jon Gorter 8-7; Brandon Moeller 17-16; Travis Plahn 25-4; Sean Ennen 20-7; Chane Amdahl 4-4; Nathan Dubbelde 1-6; Said Gamil 1-2; Scott Gorter 0-1; Dylan Kor 0-1; Nate Monger 4-10; Cole Nordmeyer 3-0; Alex Ossefoort 1-0;
Cayce Swenson 4-10; Nic Weber 5-8

RESULTS:
103 POUNDS: John Bush bye; Bush pinned Ryan Behne, Martin County West, 2:07; lost by decision to Jake Wirtjes, Blue Earth Area, 4-3
112 POUNDS: No Arrow wrestlers
119 POUNDS: Jadon Evans pinned Chad Millhausen, Redwood Valley, :29; won by decision over Joe Franta, Blue Earth Area, 4-3; lost by decision to Ethan Hildebrandt, St. James, 5-1
125 POUNDS: Ryan Miessen lost by fall to Tim Sparks, Martin County West, 5:09; won by major decision over Nick Anderson, Redwood Valley, 8-0; pinned C.J. Xiasongkham, Luverne, 4:50; lost by fall to Mason Buesgens, Lakeville South, 4:38
130 POUNDS: Taylor Aaland pinned Derek Wilking, Nicollet, 2:14; lost by decision to Mark Bartley, Blue Earth Area, 7-6; pinned Caleb Krusemark, Martin County West, 2:41; won by decision over Ethan Pierson, St. James, 7-2
135 POUNDS: Dustin Hachmann pinned James Hady, Fairmont, 3:06; won by decision over Travis Gewerth, Redwood Valley, 9-8; lost by decision to Chris Whitehead, St. James, 8-4
140 POUNDS: Brandan Alfson pinned Garett Schmidt, Nicollet 1:25; won by decision over Jack Hedberg, Fairmont, 11-6; won by decision over Kevin Bright, Lakeville South, 14-7
145 POUNDS: Adam Bullerman won by major decision over Blake Wilking, Nicollet, 13-5; pinned Joredan Gilmore, Lakeville South, 4:53; won by decision over Daniel Eckhardt, Blue Earth Area, 5-4
152 POUNDS: Tyler Evans bye; lost by decision to Corey Maus, Lakeville South, 8-3; lost by fall to Sinjin Belt, Blue Earth Area, 3:05
160 POUNDS: Jared Purdin pinned Cameron Hansen, Martin County West 3:01; lost by decision to Tayler Swanson, St. James, 5-3; won by major decision over Jake Harzin, Redwood Valley, 11-1; won by decision over Richard Michels, Nicollet, 5-1
171 POUNDS: Andrew Larson won by technical fall over Kyle Gens, Nicollet, 15-0; pinned Rhys Tiedeken, St. James, 5:20; won by decision over Jared Schiller, Redwood Valley, 9-3
189 POUNDS: No Arrow wrestler
215 POUNDS: Jon Gorter (P) won by decision over Julio Zelaya, St. James, 5-2; lost by technical fall to Matt Willner, Blue Earth Area, 18-3; lost by fall to Brennan Hagert, Redwood Valley, 5:13
285 POUNDS: Brandon Moeller pinned Chris Forbrook, Nicollet, 2:52; lost by major decision to Jake Lee, Blue Earth, 14-5; lost by fall to Ede Madolimov, Lakeville South, 1:51