Last weekend, the Becker wrestling program was represented well when Colten Demant and Jaylin Hildebrandt traveled to Champlin Park High School to compete in the ninth grade and under wrestling league (MNGWL) state individual tournament. Making it to state was a great accomplishment for the two grapplers as the top 16 wrestlers from seventh-ninth grades from across the state gather to crown a single champion for each weight class.
The Becker wrestling program and their coaches are proud of the hard work of Demant and Hildebrandt as both wrestled well during the day and managed to come home with medals.
Demant advanced to the finals and placed second after starting his day with a 3-1 win over Lunden Wilson from Hastings. Colton, wrestling at 120-lbs., then took care of Ethan Shea from Kasson-Mantorville with a 5-0 win.
Next up, Demant faced off with Grant Brown of Chisago Lakes and beat him in a tight, low-scoring 1-0 match, sending Colton to the finals.
In the state finals, Demant met up with Will Natte of Luverne, who beat Demant in a hard battle, 6-0.
Hildebrandt, wrestling in the 152-lb. weight class, started out his day against Tony Strutz from St. Francis. Hildebrandt was beating Strutz 4-3 going into the third period, but ended up getting caught in a move called a "Splato", from which he got pinned.
After the disappointing first match, Hildebrandt revitalized his confidence in the consolation bracket and came back with a 12-5 win over Connor Weiss of Stillwater in the second round.
Jaylin continued his demonstration of skill and confidence as he quickly pinned Kaje Warren of Mankato East in 38 seconds to advance. Next, Hildebrandt dispatched of Kaleb Kliever of Zimmerman, 6-4 to advance into the fifth/sixth place match.
In Hildebrandt’s final match against Gayflor Flomo of Totino-Grace, Jaylin lost 10-7 to take home the sixth place prize.
