The Becker Bulldog wrestling team held its season ending banquet last week, with coaches Matt Aho and Jeff Zimmer celebrating the occasion with an entire booklet full of award winners, as the 20-21 team was the most successful in school history, posting an impressive 27-2 record.  That’s the most season wins in school history for a program that has an overall record of 415-318-3 since its varsity inception.

Following is a synopsis of some of the awards presented by the coaches.

Mississippi 8 Conference Awards: Conference Team Champions (7-0 record), Conference Academic Champions (3.65 team GPA); All Conference individuals: Kaden Nicolas, Dylan Kolby, Adam Jurek, Caden DeWall, Tyson Ricker, Dylan Weber, Kylen Rish and Lukas Paulson.  Honorable Mention: Bryce Kuschel, Landen Kujawa and Drew May.

State Awards:  All State: Nicolas, Paulson, DeWall and Kuschel. Academic Gold State Team Award; 10 State Class AA preliminary place winners (since 1988, the team has sent 49 different wrestlers to State competition).

Career Awards: DeWall’s 26 pins this season ranks him second all-time in team history (Kent Backes had 28 pins in 2003); DeWall ranks 11th in program history with 120 career wins. Paulson’s 82 career pins also rank second in team history (Backes had 100 in his career); Paulson ranks third in program history with 167b career wins (Kevin O’Brien and Robert Koranda each had 171).

2020-2021 Team Records: DeWall, Most points (211), most wins (36), most pins (26); Takedowns: Nicolas (108); Escapes: Jurek (38).

Individual Awards: Varsity Rookie of the Year: Nicolas; JV Most Improved: Ryan Nelson and Isaac Regal; Varsity Most Improved: Bryce Kuschel; JV Most Outstanding Wrestler: Joe Goth; Varsity Most Outstanding Wrestler: Caden DeWall.