Whitehall School District

1970-1971

1970-1971 Whitehall Norsemen Wrestling Team Photo

Back Row (L to R): Head Coach Ron Rumpel, Gary Peterson (So), Jim Ritland (Sr), Greg Jurowski (Jr), Bob Shanklin (Sr), Jim Johnson (Sr), Bill Miles (So), Dave Jarstad (Jr), Bob Speerstra (Sr), Manager Larry Miller (So).

Front Row (L to R): Brian Borreson (So), Ron Bautch (So), Brian Knutson (Fr), Kevin Ewing (So), Ralph Lyon (So), Alyn Knudtson (Sr), Tom Ritland (Fr).

Not Pictured James R. Johnson, Donald McRae, Ronald Paulson, Dave Tomten.

Head Coach: Ron Rumpel

Team Manager: Larry Miller

Wrestlers: Gary Peterson (So), Jim Ritland (Sr), Greg Jurowski (Jr), Bob Shanklin (Sr), Jim Johnson (Sr), Bill Miles (So), Dave Jarstad (Jr), Bob Speerstra (Sr), Brian Borreson (So), Ron Bautch (So), Brian Knutson (Fr), Kevin Ewing (So), Ralph Lyon (So), Alyn Knudtson (Sr), Tom Ritland (Fr), James R. Johnson, Donald McRae, Ronald Paulson, Dave Tomten.

Cheerleaders: Barbara Bensend, Jeanne Woychik, Emily Christopherson.

Overall Record: 12 Wins - 2 Losses

Notable Performers: Alyn Knudtson, Dave Jarstad, Bob Speerstra, Brian Borreson, Ralph Lyon, Bob Shanklin, Jim Ritland.

All Conference Wrestlers: Bob Shanklin, Bob Speerstra.

Coach Rumpel

Cheerleaders: Top to Bottom: Barbra Bedsend, Jeanne Woychik, Emily Christopherson.

Duels:

Whitehall 6 vs Arcadia 42

Whitehall 33 vs Trempealeau 25

Whitehall 33 vs Mondovi 21

Whitehall 36 vs Gale-Ettrick 14

Whitehall 44 vs Gilmanton 8

Whitehall 43 vs Eleva-Strum 11

Whitehall 44 vs Gilmanton 8

Whitehall 28 vs Osseo-Fairchild 20

Whitehall 43 vs Eleva-Strum 9

Whitehall 28 vs Blair 12

Whitehall 16 vs Independence 34

Whitehall 31 vs Augusta 16

Whitehall 24 vs Cochrane-Fountain City / Alma 18

Whitehall 28 vs Alma Center-Lincoln 16

Tournaments:

Dairyland Invitational Tournament @ Independence: Podium: Alyn Knudtson, Dave Jarstad, Bob Speerstra, Brian Borreson, Ralph Lyon.

Season Notes:

50 Seasons Ago: "Draggin' the Line" 1970-1971.

After a tough 2 and 5, 1969-1970 season the Norse went from almost the bottom of the heap to nearly the top. First year head coach Ron Rumpel takes the steering wheel for the Norse as Coach Berg steps back into a support role.

An excellent recruiting campaign saw numbers swell to fill all weight classes with several wrestlers in reserve. The team consisted of wrestlers Gary Peterson (So), Jim Ritland (Sr), Greg Jurowski (Jr), Bob Shanklin (Sr), Jim Johnson (Sr), Bill Miles (So), Dave Jarstad (Jr), Bob Speerstra (Sr), Brian Borreson (So), Ron Bautch (So), Brian Knutson (Fr), Kevin Ewing (So), Ralph Lyon (So), Alyn Knudtson (Sr), Tom Ritland (Fr), James R. Johnson, Donald McRae, Ronald Paulson, Dave Tomten.

The injury bug stayed away from the team to allow it to flex maximum effect on their competition. The 1970-1971 team was a nice mix of older veteran wrestlers and young talented wrestlers. Anchored by veteran wrestlers Bob Shanklin, Alyn Knudtson, and Jim Ritland the young guns like Brian Borreson and Tom Ritland were able to operate with reckless abandon. An important addition was landing the help of Bob Speerstra to free up Dave Jarstad in the line up to roam and cause havoc.

We had a great cheerleading crew of Barb Bensend, Jeanne Woychik and Emily Christopherson. Barbara and Jeanne had several seasons helping the wrestling team in their roles.

The season started out rough with a pretty bad beating from Arcadia. This was the spark the team needed however and it should this team's character early. The gang bounced back and went on a 9 game winning streak, handing teams in three of the duals a double digit thumping. The conference title dual came with four duals left in the season against archrival Independence. The Norse fought hard but they were short of the firepower needed to keep up to the Indees this season. Whitehall took second in the conference with a 16 to 34 loss.

In the culminating area event the Dairyland Invitational held at Independence, Whitehall had shown their team was high caliber in Alyn Knudtson, Dave Jarstad, Bob Speerstra, Brian Borreson, and Ralph Lyon attaining the podium. Bob Shanklin and Bob Speerstra both earned Dairyland All Conference honors.

Overall this was a great season for the Norsemen. The team had a lot of firepower and many young wrestlers in the hopper. With the numbers of wrestlers high on the team that would indicate a competitive wrestling room with people pushing on each other to get better. This is a pivotal time in the history of the program. The trajectory of the program had the makings to really fire off and take over the area. But there is a bit of a cloud coming. Coach Berg had been at the helm of the Norse the two seasons prior to Coach Rumpel taking over. There are a few wrestlers with an institutional memory of long serving Coach Linse and for the most part the last of Linse's guys left the season before. This first season of the 1970's is the ushering of a new time. It will be a bit of a chaotic decade as this will be the era of a new head coach every year for the next eight seasons. Had there been a steady hand at the wheel for several seasons in a row it would have been interesting to speculate what the program could have done in this new decade of the 1970's.