The Austin wrestling team racked up seven pins as it topped a short-handed Mankato West squad 62-8 in Ove Berven Gym Thursday on senior night.

Freshman Devon Felten got the night started with a buzzer beating pin in the first period of the 103 match and Austin cruised the rest of the way as five Packers had first period pins.

“Our kids were super-aggressive tonight,” Austin head coach Bill Kinney said. “I was particularly happy with how we wrestled right to the whistle. We scored a lot of points with a few seconds left.

Kinney was pleased with his squad’s efforts, but noted that the match could’ve been much closer.

“They’re missing a bunch of starters and this should’ve been a very close dual,” he said. “Our kids really wrestled well, but they’re missing several very good wrestlers in their lineup.”

At heavyweight, Austin’s Thomas Herrera used three takedowns to get a 6-2 win over Mankato West’s Hunter Wanderscheid.

“That was the last guy I really had to worry about in the individual section, so (beating him) should put my seeding pretty high,” said Herrera, a junior. “I’m looking forward to the section tournament, I’m aiming to get to the top two and get to state but I know I’ve still got to work hard.”

Herrera is confident in his strength, but said he needs to work on stamina and condition with just a few weeks left in the wrestling season.

In the 171-pound match, Jerrad Ryks, a senior, pinned Mankato West’s Cody Taylor in just 45 seconds. It was the first Big Nine win and second pin of the season for Ryks, a senior, had never wrestled before the season.

“It felt really good to finally get a Big Nine win. It was nice,” said Ryks. “I’ve worked pretty hard. I started from scratch and I knew nothing coming into this. I’m way better than (where I was when I started).”

With the win, Austin (6-1 Big Nine) clinched a top-three finish in the Big Nine and the Section 1AAA team tournament. Austin will take on Albert Lea on the road next Thursday with a second place finish in the conference on the line.

“As a team we work really hard during practice,” Herrera said. “We try to get better every day and our record is pretty deserved because we worked hard for it.”

AUSTIN RESULTS

103: Devon Felten (A) pinned Evan Jakes (MW) (1:59)

112: Zach Rowe (MW) 17-7 dec. over Brennen Russell (A)

119: Erick Power (A) pinned Josh Hendrickson (MW) (:57)

125: Alex Amrich (A) pinned Cody Wulk (MW) (4:51)

130: Dylan Diekmann (A) 5-0 dec. over Aaron Wall (MW)

135: Kyle Meyer (A) 10-5 dec. over Dalton Matthies (MW)

140: Lucas Akkerman (A) pinned Connor Wanderscheid (MW) (3:08)

145: Howie Underwood (A) 15-0 tech. fall over Jordan Dalluge (MW)

152: Michael Bednar (A) pinned Xavier Dahlgren (MW) (1:31)

160: Aaron Juenger (A) won by forfeit

171: Jerrad Ryks (A) pinned Cody Taylor (MW) (:45)

189: Michael Hirsch (A) pinned Thomas Williams (MW) (1:38)

215: Evan Jones (MW) 8-0 dec. over Brett Kraemer (A)

Hwt: Thomas Herrera (A) 6-2 dec. over Hunter Wanderscheid (MW)