North Dakota
Central’s Flores rides fifth seed to North Dakota state title match
FARGO — Grand Forks Central’s Gabe Flores III, ranked No. 5 in his 127-pound weight class, will wrestle for a state championship on Friday at the North Dakota state tournament.
The championship match run came behind a wild development.
Flores beat Bismarck Legacy’s No. 1-ranked Nick Enzminger in the semifinals 8-3.
Enzminger suffered a possible broken ankle in practice leading up to the state tournament.
“(Enzminger) is nationally ranked and blew up his ankle last night and was literally carried to and from his mat by his teammates,” Central coach Garrett Litzinger said. “Not the way you want to have to wrestle someone. Props to Nick for biting down and being willing to compete and basically try to cement his legacy as one of the best North Dakota wrestlers of all time.
“Gabe didn’t let that affect him. (Enzminger) beat two kids on one leg. Even hurt, Nick isn’t a guy you want to mess around with. Gabe handled the uncomfortable situation and just went out and did what he planned on doing. He wrestled hard and got the win.”
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Flores will wrestle Dylan Mosset of Bismarck St. Mary’s in Friday’s 4:30 p.m. title match. The No. 2 seed in the bracket beat Flores 11-9 in the Grand Forks Sertoma tournament earlier this season and has two prior wins over Flores.
But Flores appears to be at his best, as he beat West Fargo Sheyenne’s Grady Olafson in the quarterfinals. Olafson had beat Flores three times before Flores beat Olafson in both the region final and Thursday.
“Gabe has a shot against anybody,” Litzinger said. “Gabe lives for this. He’s a dude with ice in his veins. He’s ready to go in the big moments and loves it.”
As a team, the Knights have 12 wrestlers remaining in the individual tournament. With two wrestlers facing off against each other, Central has the chance of 11 state placers. The Knights’ school record for state placers in a season is nine in 2015.
Devils Lake’s Rylan Samuelson also advanced Thursday to Friday’s title matches. Samuelson will go up against Jake Glaser of Dickinson at 121 pounds.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
In the Class B division, Sawyer Owens of Hillsboro-Central Valley advanced to the 145-pound title match. Owens will face Lisbon’s Griffin Greenley.
David Samson / The Forum
In the girls’ field, two Grand Forks wrestlers reached the finals in training partners Kyah Wiley and Sky Kopp.
Wiley will face Alexis Storsved of Mandan at 170 pounds, while Kopp faces Cambree Anderson of Bismarck High at 190 pounds.
Wiley beat Kolbi McElwain with a pin in the semifinals to advance. McElwain had beat Wiley at state last season in a third-place match.
“(Wiley) has gotten so much better this year,” Grand Forks coach Matt Berglund said. “She got behind with a takedown (in the semifinals) but dominated the rest of the match before getting a pin.”
David Samson / The Forum
Kopp will be an underdog against Anderson, who’s a three-time state champion. Anderson and Kopp haven’t faced this season.
“It’s her senior year and is excited for another shot,” Berglund said. “She’s also got a lot better from last year and now has a chance in the title match her senior year.”
For the first time in Grand Forks’ four years as a program, the KnightRiders saw every wrestler win at least one match on the opening day of the tournament.
Among other competitors from the Herald coverage area in the girls division, Pembina County North’s Charlotte Crowston will face Bismarck Legacy’s Alicia Kenfack in the 112-pound title, while Grafton’s Alyssa Hoyles will face Bismarck Legacy’s Aleiya Cullinan at 130 pounds and Pembina County North’s Jaelyn Forrey faces Bismarck Century’s Mekayla Stordalen at 250 pounds.
Staff reports and local scoreboards from the Grand Forks Herald Sports desk.
Kalamazoo — There’ll be a new champion in the NCHC.
Will Zellers scored the game-winning goal in the third period as No. 3 North Dakota downed No. 4 Western Michigan, 5-3, Friday night at Lawson Arena. The Broncos never led and trailed all of the third period, though a late push nearly tied the game with the net empty.
“Overall in the game, I thought it was a pretty tightly contested effort. I thought they just scored too easy,” Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “You know, for us, we had a couple breakdowns, and they’re so talented, so good, they took advantage when we broke down.”
The teams finish the regular season Saturday night. Western Michigan came into Friday’s game tied with Denver in standings points and five points behind North Dakota, needing that many to get a share of the Penrose Cup it won last season en route to an NCAA championship, too.
As far as regular season results go, the Broncos will play for second seed in the NCHC Tournament, needing to outpace Denver, which plays Arizona State this weekend.
Western Michigan (23-9-1, 15-7-1 NCHC) goaltender Hampton Slukynsky made 16 saves on 20 shots in the loss while North Dakota’s Jan Spunar stopped 22 of 25 shots. It was a battle of two of the NCHC’s top netminders, and each made key stops in a tight-checking, physical game.
Zellers put North Dakota (25-7-1, 17-5-1) up 4-2 4:42 into the third period off an assist from Detroit Red Wings draft choice Dylan James.
“He kind of made a play out of nothing there,” said North Dakota coach Dane Jackson, who is in his first season as head coach after being on the coaching staff since 2006. “And that was a really nice kind of moment where you go OK, we got a little got a little leeway here, and we can just kind of play a little bit more free.”
North Dakota took a 3-2 lead into the third period with goals from defenseman Sam Laurila alongside forwards Ollie Josephson and Josh Zakreski. Defenseman Zach Bookman and forward Liam Valente scored for Western Michigan.
One too many times in the second frame, Western Michigan’s blue line let a North Dakota forward in all alone to face Slukynsky, who stopped a couple of rushes in the opening minutes of the period.
With four minutes until the intermission, the Broncos finally got burned. On a feed from linemate Anthony Menghini, Lakreski cut to the glove side of a sprawling Slukynsky and beat him with the backhand. The goal gave North Dakota the 3-2 lead, after a seeing-eye shot from Bookman along the right wall had tied it up two apiece 8:10 into the period.
“I actually thought the second period was our best period,” Ferschweiler said. “… We started to take over. We got the goal, tied 2-2, and are kind of just humming along. Four minutes left, we just hand them a goal. Blown coverage. That was inexcusable, honestly, with some of our better players on the ice.”
The opening period played out as a back and forth track meet through the neutral zone as each side settled in. Laurila put North Dakota up 1-0 with his first career goal. After Slukynsky denied him on a trio of tries earlier in the shift, he fired a shot to beat the Western Michigan netminder 4:40 into the game.
It took just a minute and 34 seconds after Laurila’s opener for Western Michigan’s top line to get it right back. A blue-collar shift from captain Owen Michaels fed linemate Will Whitelaw along the left boards, and he sprung Valente for a breakaway goal that evened up the score.
“I thought we gave it to them too easy a couple times tonight,” Whitelaw said. “And I think when you’re playing a team like that, obviously they’re gonna put it in your net. But I think it’ll be a big lesson for our group going forward.”
For the better part of the first period, the Lawson Lunatics peppered North Dakota defenseman Jake Livanavage with jeers, but he got his own licks in with 7:48 left in the first period as he fed Josephson right at the net for the 2-1 goal. That score held through the first period.
With 2:02 remaining and Slukynsky pulled, forward Zaccharya Wisdom pulled Western Michigan within one. He nearly had the equalizer with 40 seconds on the clock on a backdoor try, but he mistimed the shot. Mac Swanson scored an empty-netter with 20.7 seconds on the clock to clinch the win, and with it the Penrose Cup, presented to North Dakota in the locker room and then paraded around the ice.
“It’s the hardest regular season championship to win, in my opinion,” North Dakota forward Ben Strinden said. “So it’s awesome. Obviously, it’s not our end goal, but we’re going to enjoy it for sure.”
cearegood@detroitnews.com
@ConnorEaregood
North Dakota
Morton County did not violate North Dakota’s open records law when the County Auditor, within a reasonable time, informed the requester that the requested records were not in the County’s possession.. – North Dakota Attorney General
27 Feb Morton County did not violate North Dakota’s open records law when the County Auditor, within a reasonable time, informed the requester that the requested records were not in the County’s possession..
in Opinions
February 27, 2026
Media Contact: Suzie Weigel, 701.328.2210
BISMARCK, ND – Karen Jordan requested an opinion from this office under N.D.C.C. § 44-04-21.1 asking whether Morton County violated N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18 by failing or refusing to provide records.
Conclusion: It is my opinion that Morton County’s response was in compliance with N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18.
Link to opinion 2026-O-06
###
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – The North Dakota Court System threw a reception for a retiring member of the state Supreme Court.
Justice Daniel Cothers is leaving after serving for more than 20 years.
He plans to step down on Feb. 28.
Before Crothers became a judge, he served as a lawyer and as president of the State Bar Association of North Dakota.
Mark Friese is set to replace Crothers starting March 9.
“He knows what is important and what to keep focused on. Justice Friese will be an exceptional replacement to me on the bench,” said Crothers.
Crothers plans to keep up on teaching gigs and spend time at his family’s farm as he steps into retirement.
Copyright 2026 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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