Area Wrestlers Shine At State With Several Finishing In The Top-6
Well, another year has gone by and only a few that started off this high school wrestling season with dreams of a state championship accomplished that feat. The atmosphere was electric during the finals last night with only three mats left to wrestle on. Those mats were for the finals in classes A, AA, and AAA. Here are the area wrestlers that finished in the top-6 in all three wrestling classes.
In Class A championship finals 132 Charley Elwood of Medford won 132 Class A on a last-second reversal 3-2 over Landon Gode of LPGE Browerville falling by a score of 2-1. 152 Willie VonRuden of Medford took home a championship after a 5-1 win over Jordan Lohse of West Central Area-Ashby-Brandon-Evansville. 195 Colton Krell of Westfield took home the title after a 7-3 win in the finals against Luke Tweeton of Frazee. 285 Dylan Nirk of Westfield finished in 4th place after a 3-0 win by Cian Buehler of Ottertail Central. 152 Baxter O’Reilly of Goodhue took 5th place after an injury forfeit by Zach Holtz of Kimball Area. 160 Josiah Hedensten of Medford took 5th place after winning by fall at 2:48 over Daniel Smith of Grand Meadow Leroy Ostrander Southland.
In Class AA championship finals 170 Bennet Berge of Kasson Mantorville defeated Gavin Nelson of Simley 5-4 for a 1st place finish. 182 Patrick Kennedy of Kasson Mantorville beat Quayin Short of Simley 5-2 for a title at 182 pounds. Finishing tonight and the season in 4th place was 113 Mason Gehloff of Waseca as he lost 4-3 to Reid Nelson of Simley. 132 Logan Vaughn of Kasson Mantorville took 3rd place after a 12-2 win over Jerry Simes of Dassel-Cokato-Litchfield. 152 Joe Stuckey of PEM finished 4th on the season to Jack Fudge of Perham after a fall at 3:35. 285 Logan Wingert of PEM finished 4th in his weight class after falling 9-7 to Dustin Portales of Fergus Falls. 285 Anthony Moe Tucker of Kasson Mantorville finished 6th to Kessler Kenning of Annandale Mountain Lake after a fall at 2:52.
In Class AAA championship finals 106 Jore Volk of Lakeville North defeated Landon Robideau of St. Michael Albertville 3-2. 113 Zach Hanson of Lakeville North fell to Blake West of Shakopee 7-1 for a 2nd place finish at state. 126 Joey Novak of New Prague finished in 4th place as Derrick Cardinal of Forest Lake won the match 4-2. 138 Nick Novak of New Prague finished in 2nd after being beat 9-2 by Cael Swensen of Wayzata. 195 William Busch of New Prague finished in 2nd place after being defeated by RJ Chakolis of Hopkins 3-1. Wrestling for 3rd place 106 Koy Buesgens of New Prague won his 3rd place match against Cael Robb of Owatonna with a 5-0 decision. At 120 Colton Bornholdt of New Prague finished 4th after falling to Matt Hogue of Stillwater 5-3. 152 Willie Bastyr of Lakeville South took 3rd after beating Chase Bloomquist of Prior Lake 3-2. 170 Josh Oathoudt of Faribault beat Jacob Meissner of Osseo 3-2 to finish his senior year in 3rd at 170. 138 Ryan Cripe of Lakeville South took 6th place after losing 5-2 to Kieler Carlson of Stillwater. 145 Max Scheffler of New Prague finished the year 5th at 145 in class AAA after a 5-2 win over Alex Kowalchyk of Coon Rapids.
To me the match of the night that stuck out was Charley Elwood's last second reversal, it was amazing to see him pull out the gutty and gritty win for an individual state title in class A.