The Blugold wrestling team picked up a win Friday when they defeated Itasca Community College (Minn.) 26-16.

It is the first official win for the Blugolds, although their secondary players did defeat St. John’s College (Minn.) in a dual meet a few weeks ago.

Friday’s win was decisive for the Blugolds, as they won matches in six of the nine weight classes.

“Our wrestlers were really pretty good for such a long trip,” coach Don Parker said. “It’s four hours one way. We had some guys who got out there and got the win.”

Sophomore Andy Johnston won by technical fall over his opponent, with a score of 22-6 in the 149 weight class. Junior Andy Miller competed in the 133 weight class, and got the only pin of the evening.

“It was exciting,” Miller said. “We were in the second match of the night, so it was good to get momentum, especially with us forfeiting the next match. We needed to get off to a good start.”

Miller now has three pins on the season.

Sophomore Matt Sisbach defeated his opponent in the 125 weight class with a score of 12-7. Sophomore Jon Ames narrowly beat his opponent by a score of 4-3 in the 157 weight class. Junior Josh Holforty won in the 197 bracket with a score of 9-3. Senior Joey Miller won his match by forfeit.

“Our veterans really stepped in and led us to a pretty good victory,” Miller said. “Guys in the lower weight classes really wrestled well.”

Parker said that the team is stronger, but not as strong as they can be.

“We’re getting there,” he said. “We have some new people, and some people waiting in the wings. We’re getting to where we need to be.”

The team will head to St. Cloud, Minn. on Saturday to take part in the St. Cloud Open. The match begins at 9 a.m.

“It’s going to be a real tough tournament,” Parker said. “Augsburg, Iowa and St. Cloud will all be there. We took part before, and then we stopped, and now we are back again. It’s going to be a really strong tournament.”

Miller said the team is preparing for the challenge during practice this week.

“We are going to be practicing pretty hard,” he said. “We want to be mentally strong so we have to be in that room and working hard.”