Hiawatha Valley League Wrestling Qualifies Three Teams Again

The defending State Class 1A and 2A champion Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars and Kasson-Mantorville Komets are joined again by the Kenyon-Wanamingo Knights at the team MSHSL State Wrestling Tournament.

Kenyon-Wanamingo traveled to LeSeuer-Henderson High School today rolled over Medford 70-12 in the semi-finals before defeating Blue Earth Area 43-23 for the Section 2 Class A title and a trip to state.

Fellow H-V-L power, defending Class A State Champion Zumbrota-Mazeppa crushed Caledonia 61-9 and beat Goodhue in the Section 1 Class A championship 44-14 in Rochester.

In Section 1 Class 2A the two-time defending State Champion Kasson-Mantorville Komets blanked Stewartville in the semi-finals for their second straight shutout 68-0 before defeating a very good Simley team 34-25.

Last year you might recall the Cougars and Knights collided in the first round for what proved to be the best match of the tournament.  Clearly the best two teams wrestled each other. The final score 31-23.  Z-M was the #4 and K-W the #5 seed.

My guess is the Cougars will be the #1 seed this year and K-W will probably end up one of the teams  in the draw so they could face Z-M again in the first round

The latest Guillotine rankings have the state tournament qualifiers ranked like this:

1. Zumbrota-Mazeppa

2. Frazee

3. Tracy-Milroy/Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove

5. LPGE/Browerville

9. Ottertail Central

11. Kenyon-Wanamingo

13. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City

21. Blackduck/Cass Lake-Bena

Kenyon-Wanamingo won the consolation championship by rolling by Sibley East 37-12 and Kerkohoven-Murdock-Sunburg 37-19.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa came home state title holders after defeating Frazee in the semi-final 32-25 and PIerz 35-16 in the championship match.

Kasson-Mantorville cruised by Worthington 64-3 and Foley 54-7 to advance to last year's title match.  The Komets beat Simley (yes the team they beat in today's section final) 45-18 for their second straight state championship.

Apple Valley's dominance in Class 3A came to an end today with a 34-30 Shakopee win in the Section 2 Class 3A Championship match at Lakeville North High School.

The Eagles had 12 straight state titles coming into this season.  25 overall.

This year's tournament marks the 80th year for team titles in high school wrestling.