The Annandale-Maple Lake wrestling team competed in the Section 6-2A individual tournament on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25, at St. Cloud State University’s Halenbeck Hall.
Three Lightning wrestlers will advance to the individual rounds of the Minnesota High School League State Tournament this Friday and Saturday, March 3-4.
Those three include Annandale’s Trae Bedford wrestling at 170 pounds, and Maple Lake’s Nate Carlson at 160 pounds and Quinn Youngs at 126 pounds.
Section 6-2A is comprised of the following schools: Albany, Annandale-Maple Lake, Becker, Big Lake, Dassel-Cokato, Delano, Foley, Litchfield, Monticello, Rockford, St. Cloud Apollo and Zimmerman.
A total of 14 Lightning wrestlers competed, hoping to place first or second and earn a trip to state. Nine Lightning wrestlers ended up in the top six of their weight class.
Trae Bedford to state
Bedford overcame a mid-season injury and came back to win the 170-pound bracket.
"There was never a question throughout the tournament that Trae was the best wrestler in that bracket," Lightning head coach Ben Youngs said.
Bedford also made it to state in 2016, placing fourth.
"He had some pressure on him, but he handled it well and wrestled his style," Youngs said.
Nate Carlson to state
Carlson, qualified for his second straight and fourth overall state wrestling tournament appearance, taking first place in the 160-pound weight class.
"Nate wrestled extremely well, doing his normal moves on top and bottom but doing better than normal in the neutral position," Youngs said. "It was an exciting day for him. He comes from a wrestling family and sometimes there is pressure on seniors that have gone to state in the past, so Nate really stepped it up when he had to."
Quinn Youngs to state
Quinn Youngs qualified for his third straight state wrestling tournament by beating a Foley opponent in the semifinals who had defeated him earlier in the year.
Youngs was down 1-0, went up 2-1, and then it was tied 2-2 near the end. But Youngs came up with a huge takedown with 10 seconds left to win the match.
Youngs lost in the finals on a 4-2 decision and took second place.
Six others in top six
Annandale’s Walker Weege, wrestling at 152, ended up hurting his back, so he injury-defaulted his last two matches.
"The injury was too bad," Youngs said. "He would have had a good shot at third place."
Annandale’s Dominick Braun, wrestling at 132, ended up with a fourth-place finish by beating a Foley wrestler that went to state last year.
"Dom lost to a Big Lake kid in a 9-2 decision that beat him last week," Youngs said. "Sometimes a style matchup gives a wrestler trouble, and there was something about the Big Lake kid that frustrated Dom."
Hunter Manka, wrestling at 130, finished fourth. In the match for third place Manka lost a major decision 12-4.
"Hunter’s bracket was interesting," Youngs said. "There were no returning state qualifiers, but a long list of solid kids."
Manka lost a tough first-round match to a Foley wrestler, then ended up winning his way back to the third place match.
"He couldn’t beat that same Foley kid," Youngs said. "I know he was really disappointed, but he had a solid season with a nice record."
Annandale’s Reed Rasset, wrestling at 182, only lost 4-0 to the eventual champion, an undefeated wrestler from Albany.
"Reed came back to the third-place match against a kid from Zimmerman that only had one loss coming into the tournament. He was actually leading the match until the very end of the third period when the kid put him on his back, or he likely would have had a shot at a true second match," said Youngs. "In a very tough bracket, Reed showed he could compete with everyone."
Mitchell Bergstrom, wrestling at 195, ended up in fifth place.
"Mitch hit the state runner-up in the semifinals," Youngs said. "He then came back to take fifth by getting a pin over a solid Big Lake wrestler."
Annandale’s Joe Driscoll, wrestling at 220, finished fourth.
"Joe had a great year, winning over 20 matches and staying healthy enough to wrestle," Youngs said.
Driscoll lost in the semifinals to a Big Lake wrestler. He led most of the match, but near the end gave up a takedown.
"I know he was hoping to move on to state," Youngs said. "But he did some great things for the team this year."
Other ANML finishers
Adam Neumann took eighth place at 145, Cole Patch took eighth at 285 and Jack Klug finished eighth at 120.
"We have two seniors, Carlson and Bedford, going to state, but for four Lightning wrestlers their careers are over: Dominick Braun, Joe Driscoll, Joey Zander, and Aaron Reese," Youngs said. "The whole wrestling community from ANML is proud of them for all of their hard work throughout the years."
Steve Kosloski honored
ANML assistant coach Steve Kosloski was honored at the Section 6-2A tournament as the Assistant Coach of the Year.
"Steve was the only coach returning from last year’s staff, on a team that was leading section champion Foley into the final match," Youngs said. "A special congratulations to Steve."
State tournament
The State Wrestling Tournament is at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.
Friday, March 3, Session 3
9 a.m. Class A individual first round
11 a.m. Class AA individual first round
1 p.m. Class AAA individual first round
4 p.m. Class A individual championship quarterfinals
5 p.m. Class AA individual championship quarterfinals
6 p.m. Class AAA individual championship quarterfinals
7 p.m. All wrestlebacks
Saturday, March 4, Session 5
9 a.m. All individual consolation quarterfinals
10:15 a.m. All individual championship semifinals
12:15 p.m. All individual consolation semifinals
4 p.m. All individual third- and fifth-place matches; awards following matches
6:30 p.m. – All individual championships; awards following matches