Matt and Cassandra Kuschel have four children and what a year their kids had in the sport of wrestling!
Bryce, their oldest at 18 years old, recently competed with the Becker Bulldog wrestling team at state where the team finished third with Bryce — wrestling as a heavyweight — closing out the dual with a 10-4 decision over his Watertown-Mayer opponenet. Bryce was also an entrant in the individual tournament and finished 1-2.
The weekend of March 18-20, the Kuschels traveled to Rochester to have their three youngest wrestlers compete in the MN/USA State Wrestling Championship. Eleven hundred athletes from across the state of Minnesota descended upon Rochester for a chance at a state title.
All three Kuschel kids took the top prize in their category!
Brielle, the Kuschels’ youngest child at 10 years old has been wrestling for about two years and is in the fourth grade. She captured first place in the 10u girls division.
Blayne, 11 years old and has been wrestling for approximately seven years, took first place in the 12u, 108-lb. division. He is in the sixth grade.
Boston, 13 years old and has been wrestling for nine years, also took first place in the 14u, 92-lb. division. He is in the seventh grade.
What a year!
Matt Kuschel is one of the coaches on the Becker youth wrestling team and is also the President of the Becker Wrestling Booster club. He oversees all fundraising and youth wrestling for the Becker wrestling program from K-12th grade.
“My wife, Cassandra and I are extremely proud of Brielle, Blayne and Boston,” Matt said. “They have put in so many hours of practice and competition, and they are reaping the rewards from it.”
Matt says he had 115 K-6th grade youth wrestlers in their program this year, which is the most they have ever had. The previous high was 83.
In the youth wrestling program, wrestlers compete at qualifying tournaments around the state from November until March. If they do well enough, they can make it to a regional tournament where they can try to advance to the state tournament. The state tournament ends up being the top 16 kids at a certain age and weight class from around the state.
After the Kuschel kids’ state performances, all three of them were selected to represent Team Minnesota at the Heartland youth duals in Council Bluffs Iowa at the end of April.
“There will be all-star teams from multiple states around the country,” said Matt. “Brielle will be on the Minnesota all-girls team, Blayne will be on the K-6 elementary boys’ team, and Boston will be wrestling on Minnesota’s middle school boys’ team.”
Other place winners include, Odin Duncombethird place in 12u, 74-lbs., Harper Hamacher fourth place in 12u, 74-lbs. , Easton Hamacher, third place in 10u, 53-lbs. and Liam Hamacher, fourth place in 10u, 53-lbs.
A youth team from Becker will be also be competing at a team state tournament this coming weekend (check back next week for results).
