Nineteen total athletes (13 guys, six gals) from Chatfield, FCLMC, Caledonia/Houston, LARP, and GMLOS took on the state individual wrestling tourney. Coming off a team championship, Chatfield placed five total to lead the way. Carson Rowland claimed a state title, Javier Berg finished runner-up, Kail Schott third, and Gage Bartels fourth on the guys side. Chloe Berg took fifth for the girls. Rowland overshadowed defending state champs Berg and Schott by getting the Gophers an individual champion. The junior, ranked #5 at 152 (42-8), started with a fall, then won three-straight decisions over ranked foes; 5-0 over Medford’s #8 Evan Schweisthal (25-5), 3-1 over Long Prairie/Grey Eagle-Browerville’s #2 Tucker Zigan (44-4), and 5-3 over Staples-Motley’s #1 Colbe Tappe (41-2). Rowland scored a third period takedown and back-points versus Tappe. He beat Tappe two days earlier during team state. It was quite a step up for Rowland, as he made state last year but wrestled just one match. Berg, ranked #1 at 114 (39-5), beat three ranked foes, Central’s #9 Parker Honl (30-12) by fall, Ogilvie’s #4 Beau Hudoba (47-9) by 7-0 decision, and JCC’s #3 Kayden Eller (45-9) by 12-3 major, to make the finals. Berg’s win over Eller avenged a pinfall loss at team state. The junior, in a state title re-match, then fell to Pipestone Area’s #2 Miklo Hernandez (40-2) by 4-3 decision. Hernandez recorded a third period takedown for the winning points. Berg won last year’s title match at 106 by 7-3 decision. Schott, ranked #1 at 189 (31-3) but nursing a couple ailments, made the semifinals via a fall and a 16-5 major. Leading in his semis match, Schott was pinned in the third period by Canby’s #6 Nick Wagner (44-6). A repeat state title was thus nixed. Kail recovered by posting a 12-3 major and a pin of Paynesville Area’s #2 Peyton Hemmesch (30-5) to take third place. The senior is a rare triple state champion; football (2021), individual wrestling (2023), and team wrestling (2024). He won 182-pounds last year. Like Rowland, Berg, and Schott, #6 Bartels (35-9) also made the semis. He did so courtesy of 6-0 and 4-3 decision wins, the latter over #9 Deegan Birkaker (48-5) of Ogilvie. Bartels then fell to Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial’s #3 Parker Kamm (31-9) by 4-2 decision, beat Tracy-Milroy/B/W/W-G’s David Schuh (42-15) by 1-0 decision, then fell to Sibley East’s #7 Benito Diaz (43-2) by fall. Bartels, a three-time state entrant, finished in fourth place. He took sixth last year. Gal Chloe Berg, ranked #5 at 124 (21-7), lost to Northfield’s #4 Lainey Houts (23-7) by 12-7 decision out of the gate. The senior then posted back-to-back falls over Mora’s #9 Bridget Bankers (30-9) and West Central Area/A/B/E’s #6 Lucea Wales (14-6) for her fifth-place finish. Berg was 126-pound state runner-up last year. Chatfield’s other five boys’ participants did not place. Junior Ayden Miner (160) went 2-2. Ranked sixth (31-11), he won a 10-6 decision over Eden Valley-Watkins’s #10 Isaac Ortiz (28-8), lost 6-0 to Medford’s #3 Tommy Elwood (39-2), won a 9-3 decision over Osakis’ #8 Gaven Simbura (37-16), only to lose to FCLMC’s #7 Kane Larson (44-6) by 5-2 decision. Miner beat Larson at sections and at a TRC team dual. Miner came won win away from placing. Kaisen Johnson (121) and Ben Carrier (172) each went 1-2. Johnson, ranked #9 (30-12), won his first match by fall, but then lost by 11-3 major and 4-2 decision in overtime to Staples-Motley’s #2 Eli Greenwaldt (50-5). Johnson fell to Greenwaldt 10-4 in the state final dual. Carrier (31-14) lost by 7-0 decision to BBE’s #1 Maximus Hanson (49-0), won a 5-0 decision, then lost to Frazee’s #5 Preston Mayfield (41-9) by 15-4 major. Miles Mulhern (285), ranked #2 (36-11) went 0-2, losing both of his matches by fall on unranked foes. Jack Dornack (145) got the one and done treatment, losing by 2-0 decision to Holdingford’s #3 William Pilarski (38-8) in his only match. The senior (34-13) was nearing 100 career wins.
Caledonia/Houston had two guys compete. Both placed in Class AA. Owen Denstad (145) used a 17-6 major decision over #9 Jack Major (40-11) of Rocori, a fall, and a 3-1 decision over Becker’s #3 Landen Kujawa (25-1) to make the finals. The latter match was undefeated versus undefeated. Denstad (51-1), ranked #2, then faced #1 Matt Randolph (51-3) of Scott West in the finals. Randolph won a 1-0 decision courtesy of a second period escape. Denstad’s fantastic senior year finishes one win short of perfection. He finishes as a four-state entrant, having finished third in 2022 and 2023 (132-pounds), second (145) this year. Isaac Blocker was super busy, as he wrestled six matches (going 3-3). All six were decisions. Blocker (139) won three of his first four. The senior (45-11) started with a 2-1 decision win, fell to Totino Grace’s #3 Ethan Sylvester (52-4) by 6-3 decision, then won 3-1 and 5-4 decisions, the latter over Hutchinson’s #10 Raydon Bipes (41-12). Blocker then fell back-to-back by 1-0 decisions to Dawson-Boyd/LQP/MU’s #4 Daniel Gunlogson (53-1) and K-M’s #6 Owen Friedrich (41-10). The latter was via tiebreaker-one in overtime in a 1AA title re-match. Blocker took sixth. He is a three-time state entrant.
FCLMC’s three state entrants each placed. On the guys side, #7 Kane Larson (160) lost his first match by 4-0 decision to Holdingford’s #2 at 172 Drew Lange (53-2). Larson (44-6) then won 10-5 and 5-2 decisions, the later over Chatfield’s #6 Ayden Miner (31-11), avenging a couple losses during the season. The sophomore then fell by 11-2 major to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg’s #9 Jett Olson (41-8) before beating Barnesville’s #7 at 172 Cameron Halverson (37-8) by fall. Larson finished fifth. On the girls side, #4 Katie Whelan (190) won her opening match by disqualification (due to biting) over Monticello’s #5 Jasmin Downer (19-10). Whelan (14-7) then lost by fall to Apple Valley’s #1 Gloriann Vigniavo (30-4) and by 7-0 decision to St. Paul-Humboldt’s #2 Brantajia Loggins (16-2). Whelan took fourth. She took fifth at 185 last year. Vivienne Hoeltzle (118), ranked #6, lost her first match by 5-2 decision to #7 Roseangel Verrett of Monticello (29-10). Hoeltzle (22-8) then pinned Cambridge-Isanti’s #4 Phoenix Fure (15-7) before losing by fall to Bemidji’s #8 Brenalen Fredriksen-Holm (31-13). Hoeltlze took sixth place.
GMLOS sent two girls. Senior Diann Smith (136), ranked #5, came away with her second straight state runner-up finish. Smith (30-5) used two pins over ranked foes #10 Hailey Jackson (25-16) of South St. Paul and #8 Malaya Moorhead (19-6) of Princeton to make the finals. There, Smith fell to Apple Valley’s #1 Cassandra Gonzalez (30-0) by 17-2 tech fall. Gonzalez was the defending 126-pound champ, having beaten Chatfield’s Chloe Berg in last year’s finals. Bulldog Brandy Christenson (118) went 0-2. The freshman (20-12) lost twice by fall; to Blackduck/CL-B’s #2 Alivia Szydel (35-5) and to Bemidji’s #8 Brenalen Fredriksen-Holm (31-13).
LARP sent a guy and a girl. On the guys side, unranked Christian Zibrowski (107) did well by making the semifinals. The freshman (39-9) beat Pelican Rapids’ Danny Salazar (34-10) by fall and Mahnomen-Waubon’s #8 Trevor Niesen (36-10) by 16-1 tech fall. Zibrowski then fell to Deer River’s #3 Charles Iloka (43-5) by 9-6 decision and K-W’s #2 Bryan Jacobson (35-13) by 5-2 decision before beating Minneota’s #5 Kaden Lasnetski (43-9) by 16-0 tech fall. Zibrowski placed fifth. On the girls side, #5 Lauren Honken (106) went 0-2. The senior (16-6) lost to Prior Lake’s #9 Angelica Benitez (16-4) by fall and to Z-M’s #6 Macy Schaeffer (28-10) by 10-7 decision. Honken beat Schaeffer in the regular season.
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