The varsity team placed 32nd while the JV team placed 12th. Mason Olson was the varsity team’s most successful wrestler, placing sixth at 220-lbs.

 

Colten Demant (126-lbs.) placed seventh, Trevor Goodrich (220-lbs.) placed second, Blake Sandeen (HWT) placed eighth and Jakob Edling (HWT) placed seventh in JV wrestling.

 

“For being one of the biggest wrestling tournaments in the surrounding states, I was very pleased on how our wrestlers did,” said Head Coach Matt Aho.

 

The varsity wrestling team from Apple Valley took home the first place trophy, amassing 343 points with 12 wrestlers “placing”  from 1-8. Becker finished with 58 points and one wrestler in the top eight (Olson).

 

Caleb Vekved wrestled at 145-lbs. and won his first two matches, beating Enrique Padilla of Lakeville North in a 5-0 decision and advancing via forfeit in the second round. Vekved lost to Brock Morgan of Apple Valley (8-5), then beat Sam Finch of Forest Lake 2-0 before losing to Alec Engler of Minneota in a major decision, 12-0.

 

Cody Ferris wrestled at 152-lbs. and received a bye in his first match, then lost a 4-2 decision to West Fargo’s Kesse Shearer. Ferris went on to beat Tony Struntz of St. Francis 9-2, then Cody Beauchane of Fertile-Beltrami 5-3 before losing to Parker Jackson of Detroit Lakes 6-1 to end his tournament run.

 

At 160-lbs., Tyler Mattsen received a bye for the first round, then lost to Tyler Beehler of Foley 11-3. Mattsen moved on to the consolation bracket and lost to Cole Schreder of St. Cloud Tech 5-3.

 

At 170-lbs., Bobby Lee pinned Gavin Mutz of Windom/Mountain Lake at 2:45, then pinned Matin Kajbaf at 1:03 before defeating Samuel Grove of Moorhead with a 6-3 decision. Lee was subsequently pinned by Matt Njos of Anoka and then lost an 8-3 decision to Austin Maanum of Border West in the consolation round.

 

Tyler France was Becker’s 182-lb. entrant and he advanced in the first round with a bye before beating Dakota Radcliffe of Central Cass 9-3. France then lost to Zach Doty of Valley City (fall at 1:34) and Riley Lura of Carrington (fall 1:35).

 

At 195-lbs., Chris Weberg received a first round bye, then pinned Aaron Wagner of Delano at 4:29 before losing in a technical fall to Tyler Midas of Foley.

 

Weberg went on to lose a 5-2 decision to Simeon Tschumper of Eden Prairie to end his weekend of competition.

 

Olson (wrestling at 220-lbs.) took a bye into the second round, then beat Jake Schultz of Scott West in an UTB 2-2 before getting pinned at 1:49 in a match against Cambridge-Isanti’s Kyle Chromy. Olson got things rolling in the consolation round, beating Jeremy Rodman of Anoka (TB-1, 2-1), then handling Olaf Hanson of Fargo North (UTB 5-4), then Craig Szymanski of Rosemount (TB-1, 4-1). Olson then eked out a 1-0 win over Jake Shultz of Scott West before losing  in an UTB 2-1 battle with Kevin Kneisl of Delano. In Olson’s final match for fifth place, he lost to Jordan Magnuson of Valley City (TB-1, 1-0).

 

Casey Vesledahl was Becker’s 285-lb. entrant and he was pinned by Reid Johnson of Chaska-Chanhassen at 3:25. In the consolation round, Vesledahl received a bye, then pinned Bradee Schroeder of Carrington at 4:13. Vesledahl then pinned Clint Gadacz of Royalton-Upsala at 0:56, then Ethan Morgel of Burnsville at 0:49, before getting pinned  at 0:46 by Will Mendez of Albert Lea.

 

 

Becker sent 13 JV wrestlers to the tournament and besides the four aforementioned wrestlers, here’s how the other nine athletes did in their brackets:

Mickey James (106-lbs.) went 1-2, Kevin Andres (113-lbs.) went 4-2, Josh Lumley (113-lbs.) went 4-2, Noah Arrigoni (132-lbs.) went 4-2, Josiah Borst (152-lbs.) went 4-2, Frankie Baker (160-lbs.) went 0-2, Jaylin Hildenbrandt (160-lbs.) went 3-2 and Cody Stangler (170-lbs.) went 3-2, Cody Case (220-lbs.) went 3-2. 

 

 

The team traveled to Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa High School Friday (full report on match in next week’s Citizen), then they return home Tuesday for a match against Mora, then host a four-team tournament Friday against Delano, Fergus Falls and No. St. Paul.