The Annandale-Maple Lake wrestling team battled a snowstorm, a 10-hour day and several tough section opponents at the Section 6-2A Individual tournament at Albany High School on Saturday, Feb. 24.
"After the dust and snow settled, five of our kids qualified for this weekend’s state tournament," said Lightning Head Coach Ben Youngs.
Seniors Quinn Youngs, Hunter Manka, Walker Weege, Mitchell Bergstrom and Reed Rasset all finished in either first or second place and are headed to the state individual championships Friday and Saturday, March 2-3, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Mitchell Bergstrom
Wrestling at 170 pounds, Annandale’s Mitchell Bergstrom came into the Section 6-2A tournament as the No. 1 seed and left with the championship.
Bergstrom pinned his first two opponents and then dominated Foley’s Henry in the finals, winning 6-0.
Bergstrom may have set a school record for career pins. The coach said they are still looking into that statistic.
Hunter Manka
Wrestling at 145 pounds, Maple Lake’s Hunter Manka took the 6-2A championship.
"After being disappointed last year, Hunter came in as the No. 1 seed, hoping not to have that happen again," Youngs said.
Manka won his first match with a pin and took away a 4-1 win in the semifinals. In the finals, he defeated Foley’s Rockfork 3-2.
"He wrestled a really smart match and should do well in his first trip to state," Youngs said.
Walker Weege
Wrestling at 152 pounds, Annandale’s Walker Weege came to sections off a three-week rest due to illness.
"He looked unstoppable in his first match, a technical fall against Becker’s Jurek," Youngs said.
In his finals match, Weege lost to Morris of Big Lake 3-1. In his true second match, he defeated Foley’s Thorsten 5-4.
"His time off affected his endurance, so hopefully it just gets better for next week," Youngs said.
Reed Rasset
Wrestling at 220 pounds, Annandale’s Reed Rasset took home second-place honors.
He was pinned in his semifinal match to Montrose’s Midas.
"It wasn’t looking good," Youngs said. "Still, he battled back and earned a true second match where he pinned the No. 1 seed Lloyd of Big Lake."
Quinn Youngs
Wrestling at 132 pounds, Maple Lake’s Quinn Youngs was the only Lightning wrestler with previous state experience. He went in to sections with high expectations.
He had two quick pins in preliminary matches that put him in the finals, where he lost a hard-fought match to Litchfield’s Kaping 7-5.
In the true second match, he defeated Foley’s Rockfork 11-4.
Other medal winners
Wrestling at 160 pounds, Adam Neumann took third place, losing his true-second match.
"In that match Adam had a tough senior from Big Lake," the coach said. "He was losing 11-0 but ended up losing 11-10 by wearing the kid down."
Annandale’s Daniel Luna, a junior in his first year as a wrestler, earned a fifth-place medal after pinning his final opponent.
Annandale’s Cuyler Helwig also took fifth place, wrestling at 285 pounds.
"This was certainly the toughest and deepest weight class of the entire tournament," Youngs said." "Cuyler battled some bigger kids and even put one of the better ones on his back momentarily."
Helwig took fifth place by pinning Gardner of Big Lake.
Youngs pointed to the following Lightning wrestlers who did not medal: Zach Pribyl, Zayne Brown, Carson Cooper, Jack Klug and Alex Klatt.
"They are all young and many were wrestling up at sections," Coach Youngs said. "But they gained valuable experience for the future."
Up next
■ Friday and Saturday, March 2-3, Quinn, Weege, Manka, Bergstrom and Rasset will head to the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul for the individual state wrestling championships. Lightning wrestlers will compete in Class 2A.
The first round of Class 2A is at 9 a.m. Friday, March 2, with quarterfinals at 4 p.m.
Consolation-round matches are on Saturday, March 3, with semifinals at 10:15 a.m. and the championship matches in all classes starting at 6:30 p.m.
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