Jacob Berning became a Region 7 champion two weeks ago and advanced last Saturday to the Minnesota Ninth Grade & Under Wrestling League (MNGWL) State Individual Tournament at Champlin Park High School.
Berning joined a list of Becker wrestlers who have competed well at the tournament and Berning did not disappoint. He wrestled at 106-lbs. and came home with a sixth place medal.
Berning started out the day with a 7-3 victory over Jim Burroughs of Waconia. He then met up with Nick VanOort of Kasson-Mantorville, and they battled a hard fought match that ended with an overtime win for VanOort.
VanOort went on to finish third in the tournament.
Berning then moved to the consolation bracket where he repeated a victory over Ben Gilbertson of Sauk Rapids-Rice (for the third time in two weeks), as he pinned Gilbertson just before the end of the first period. Berning, racked up another first period pin in 1:20 in the consolation semi-finals match against Carter Sorenson of Fossten-Bagley to move on.
With the win, Berning made the consolation finals and wrestled Jacob Hill of Scott West. West prevailed, but Berning and his coaches were pleased to see him earn the sixth place medal.
“The state tournament is challenging to get to and even more challenging to place since the league operates as a ‘single-class’ (in comparison to varsity, which is a three class system),” said Coach Dustin Weege.
Region 7 Tournament
Two weekends ago, several Becker youth wrestlers competed in the Region 7 tournament in Sauk Rapids. One ended up region champion at 106-lbs. (Berning) and seven others placed well in their weight classes.
Berning went on to compete at state while Lucas Paulson finished third at 100-lbs., Alex Berglund finished third at 120-lbs., Logan Jurek took third at 126-lbs., Mikey James took third at 132-lbs. and Braeden Beutz took third at 138-lbs.
Brady Gruenhagen finished fourth in the heavyweight division and Jacob Jurek sixth in the 94-lb. class. Jake Nelson (113-lbs.) and Lincoln Carlson (145-lbs.) did not place in regions.
“The team competed well on the day, but narrowly missed several state births as only the top two advance from of each weight class,” said Weege.
“Congrats to all of our seventh-ninth grade competitors this season. It has been a fun season with this group. There have been many good competitors in the room and we know that each team member is contributing to make us all better.”
