The standard setters

Their exploits may not be memorialized with a red championship banner, but it's hard to imagine the trajectory of Carrington Cardinal wrestling becoming what it has been without the hard work of the pioneering 1973-74 team to demonstrate what is possible.

Led onto the mats by legendary CHS Coach Al Larson, the Cards achieved what was by far their greatest season in the young program's existence, bringing home the second place trophy in the Class A division with 57 points.

Since then, Carrington moved to the Class B ranks beginning in 1981, and has achieved eight state individual tournament championships as a team (1987-88, 1991-92, 1994-95 and 2015-16), two state dual crowns (2015-16), numerous top five finishes, and has had 62 individual champions since that year.

Kelly Hagel was crowned state champion at 126 pounds that year, and later went on to coach the Cardinal program on two separate occasions. His first stint was highly successful, resulting in four team individual titles in a five-year span covering the years of 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1995.

Several members of the Cardinal team returned for a reunion earlier this year to honor the 50th anniversary of the team.

Fun memories from that season, recounted by then-assistant coach Ron Humphrey in the dedication published in the Carrington Wrestling Club's annual history book last season, included Virgil "Percy" Purcell's alleged plot to toss Larson into the motel swimming pool.

Larson, the second coach in program history following Melvin Panjkovich, exerted an outsized influence on the Cardinals during his tenure at CHS. He coached from 1964 to 1979, led the team to a 184-53-4 dual record with seven North Star and 10 regional championships, and served for 33 years at Carrington Public Schools as a biology and physical education teacher, later becoming principal and athletic director.

He would eventually be selected to the North Dakota Coaches Hall of Fame in 1985.

Larson passed away in May 2010, and the Al Larson Memorial Tournament is held every December in his honor. He was assisted in 1973-74 by Humphrey and Pete Kostelecki.

The 1973-74 season roundup/Region 2

CHS competed in 17 dual matches during the year, finishing with a 12-4-1 record against the competition. Included in that total were lopsided victories over Harvey, Langdon and Larimore, a 29-29 tie with Jamestown after falling to the Blue Jays earlier in the season, and a thrilling two-point win over the Devils Lake Satans, 32-30.

The Region 2 tournament was held in the CHS Gymnasium (now known as the West Gym) on February 16, 1974. Larson's boys, going for their third straight region title, closed out with a vengeance, taking 102.5 points to the Satans' 75 in what the coach termed a "super day." The two Grand Forks schools, Red River and Central, were third and fourth with 65.5 and 63 points.

Six champions were crowned for the Cards, those being Ken Sebastian (98 pounds), Gary Lemert (119), Hagel, Dan Zink (132), Purcell (138) and Hallwachs (167). Don Caylor (105) finished as regional runner-up, and third place went to Richard Zink (145) and Neil Heiden (155). Pat Copenhaver (185) finished in fourth.

A total of 10 wrestlers out of 12 weight classes qualified for the state tournament, which was held at the newly-built Bismarck Civic Center.

Other members of the varsity team who did not make the state tournament were Ken Haman (112) and Robert Kile (heavyweight).

State recap

Optimism was high around the Cardinal camp coming into the tourney. According to the February 20, 1974 edition of the Independent, Larson felt that the team had a chance to do better than any previous Cardinal squad had before with their 10 qualifiers.

Going into the tournament with a 25-0 record, Hagel took relatively-easy wins over Tim Strehlow of Bowman, 7-0, and Duane Falcon of Belcourt, 6-1, in his first two rounds.

That set up a clash of the titans in the semifinals between the Cardinal wrestler and also-undefeated Doug Weisz of Bismarck High.

Weisz was certainly a daunting opponent, remembered Hagel. The previous season, he set the national record for most takedowns in a season, 156.

The two were deadlocked at 1-1 headed to overtime, and Hagel's defensive excellence kept Weisz from securing victory. In the ultimate tiebreaker, or third overtime, Hagel would get an escape and get a 2-1 win to advance to the finals.

He would hold on to defeat Dana Ludwig of Fargo North by that same 2-1 score in the finals to finish at 29-0. It was the fourth championship for a CHS wrestler up to that time, following Roger Zink (1966), Bob Galt (1967) and Kevin Lura (1970).

Two other Cardinals had spectacular tournaments in reaching the finals round.

Sebastian won a major decision over Rick Berg of Hettinger in round one, 12-2, and defeated Bruce Adam of Wahpeton and Robin Johnson of Fargo South by pin (1:46 and 4:39). In the championship, he fell behind Bismarck's Tim Pudwill by a 4-0 score before getting three points to close to within 4-3 and finish his season at 19-2.

One of the enduring images of Sebastian's tournament run was his mask, which he was compelled to wear following a broken nose earlier in the season.

Dan Zink automatically advanced to the quarterfinals on a forfeit, and won an 11-3 decision over Fargo North's Paul Marquart in the quarters. He then defeated Bruce Pulkrabek of West Fargo, 9-2, to advance to the finals where he fell to Ron Meyer of Minot Ryan, 10-2. He would finish 19-5-1.

Maybe the most emotional tournament journey belonged to Lemert. Like Hagel, Lemert was unbeaten in 25 matches (including one tie), and was leading his semifinal match with Mark Reinke of Fargo South, 3-2, before a stalling penalty tied the match. Reinke took advantage in overtime, getting a 5-3 win to send the Cardinal wrestler to consolations.

In what Larson termed in the February 27 edition as "the championship match, as far as I was concerned," Lemert faced 119-pound co-favorite Lon Brew of Bismarck. Brew was also unbeaten going into state, but was disqualified for an illegal hold in his semifinal match.

Lemert sent Brew to defeat for third, 5-4, and finished the season at 27-1-1.

Purcell had three wins at 138, and would have placed if not for bad luck in the consolation round. With a commanding 14-6 lead over his opponent, he slipped, and was pinned to end his bid for the consolation final.

Also earning three victories in the 1974 tourney and contributing points were Caylor and Copenhaver. Richard Zink, Heiden and Hallwachs all were eliminated with first round losses.

At the end of the tournament, Bismarck High reigned supreme with 88.5 points, followed by CHS, Fargo South (51), Fargo North (47) and Minot (44).

In his post-tournament analysis, Larson said, "Barring two matches [the Lemert and Purcell losses], we got everything we could expect to get."

Other awards/aftermath

Larson's leadership of the Cards during that 1973-74 season earned enough notice for Class A Coach of the Year honors. He was also honored with the District 7 Coach of the Year, an award presented to the best coach in a seven-state area.

The CHS cheerleading squad even got in on the trophies. Julie Haen, Lynda Guenther, Pam Sylling and Lynelle Lutman were presented with the "Sportsy" Pep and Spirit Award, presented by the North Dakota Sports Review.

On their way home from state, a caravan met them in Sykeston. Deputy Jim Dunn led the caravan back east to Carrington from his patrol car, and the team was treated to a celebration at the Chieftain.

Post-high school, several wrestlers went on to compete in college and beyond, including Copenhaver, who would eventually become a medalist at the Pan-Am Games, served as a CHS assistant coach, and was selected to the North Dakota Wrestling Hall of Fame along with Hagel.