Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Area’s Winsten Nienhaus wrestles with Windom/Mountain Lake’s Damien Davidson during a Section 3AA prep wrestling dual Thursday at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — First-seeded New Ulm Area had no problem advancing in the Section 3AA Wrestling Tournament Thursday, cruising past fifth-seeded Windom/Mountain Lake Area 53-7.

Windom/MLA defeated fourth-seeded Worthington earlier Thursday night to advance and take on NUA but were unable to get past the Eagles, who saw a strong finish from their heavier weight wrestlers.

“Windom’s tough down low,” NUA head coach Kevin Briggs said. “Those first six matches, there was no pins. That’s fun wrestling, getting bonus points and not giving them up. We did a good job of that. Windom’s a little weak in the middle, and then we ran away with it like we should have. Now we need to gear up, get better and give her a run on Saturday.”

Saturday will be the team’s next matchup against Marshall in the semifinal round of the section tournament.

“They’re a really good team,” Briggs said. “Marshall beat us earlier this year. There’s going to be four teams in that final four that have a realistic shot, and we’re going to have to wrestle really well. Maybe get a break or two, get a little luck, get the flip, and we’ll see what happens.”

Regan Johnson started out the dual with a win for NUA at 107 pounds over Jacob Lopez, getting a handfull of takedowns and a 3-point near fall to get a 9-1 major decision. Windom/MLA’s Matthew Voehl took a decision over Braydon Miller at 114 before NUA’s Kane Johnson won a close match over Preston Xayachak at 121, earning a 4-3 decision.

NUA’s Tegan Kral faced off against Carson Wall at 127. Kral started off the match with a takedown, holding onto Wall until the second period. Kral got an escape and another takedown in the second, followed by a 2-point near fall to make it 7-0. Wall managed an escape before Kral took him down one final time for a 9-1 major decision and a 11-3 lead for NUA.

Elijah Rieser earned a 10-4 decision for NUA over Kameron Koerner at 133, getting three takedowns and a 3-point near fall. At 139, Tucker Renquist defeated NUA’s Braxton Miller for a 10-4 major decision before Winsten Nienhaus got NUA’s first pin in 2:39 over Damien Davidson at 145.

This started a run for NUA, who began to pull away with a pin by Lane Ruch over Waylon Winters in 56 seconds at 152, Noah Engle accepting a forfeit at 160, Wyatt Pollard getting a pin in 1:08 over Graycen Hansen at 172 and Jamisen Frederickson pinning John Bergman in 1:10 at 189. This put NUA in a great position, up 44-7 with two matches to go.

NUA’s Tilken Fruhwirth at 215 matched up with Sam Hernandez next and took a close 7-5 decision before Evan Thompson accepted a forfeit at 285 for NUA to wrap up the dual.