Three Place at State Wrestling

For three youngsters, it was a great experience that foreshadows potential big futures.  For one esteemed senior, it was the end of a prep career.  And though it was a good end, it wasn’t a perfect one.  Jake Mandt (senior, Chatfield), Seth Goetzinger (freshman, Chatfield), Carter Jonsgaard (freshman, LARP), and Caden Anderson (freshman, FCLMC) were this year’s county entrants at the individual state wrestling meet.  Mandt (145) went back to St. Paul with an eye on repeating as state champ.  On Friday, he won twice, beating Quad County’s Ayden Friese (30-13) by 12-1 major decision and handling Tracy-Milroy-Balatan/Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s #8 Anthony Axford (36-7) by 7-2 decision.  It moved Mandt into a Saturday semifinal.  There, he ran up a 3-0 second period lead on Roseau’s #3 Chandler Mooney (43-3), allowed a couple escapes, but prevailed by 3-2 decision.  At that point, Mandt’s win streak moved to 59 (unofficially).  In the 145-pound finals, the 5’4” Mandt faced tall and lanky Barnesville senior Brady Tweeton (43-1), the #2 ranked guy in Class A.  Maybe Tweeten was more physically and mentally rested.  Two upsets occurred in his bracket, leaving the senior to face zero ranked opponents on his way to the finals.  Tweeton’s length was definitely a factor.  Maybe Mandt was just due a loss.  Either way, with the match tied 4-4 in the third, Tweeton got Mandt in a cradle, getting four points out of the deal.  It helped last year’s 138-pound third place finisher beat out Mandt by 9-6 decision for the 145-pound state title.  Mandt’s dreams of a storybook ending to an excellent career were nixed.  It was his first loss this year.  It is the first time he has ended the year on a loss since eigth grade (lost a true second at sections).  He finished fifth in state as a freshman (42-4), third in state as a sophomore (32-4), and was state champ last year (31-2).  Mandt is 175-20 over the past five years (unofficially).  The future St. Cloud State Huskie owns both state wrestling team (2014) and individual titles (2017) amidst his five total state experiences.   He’s one of Chatfield’s best ever wrestlers.  Meanwhile, teammate Seth Goetzinger wrote chapter one in his wrestling story.  He had a terrific tourney.  The freshman, unranked to end the season, might not be unranked too much going forward.  In the first round, Goetzinger trailed Sibley East’s #9 Drayton Morton (35-10) 2-1 after two, before tying the match with an escape.  In the final 0:14, he got a takedown and near-fall points for the 6-2 decision win.  In the quarters, Goetzinger gave up an escape to T-M-B/W-WG’s #3 Ayden Horner (45-6) to trail 1-0, but worked for a takedown in the final 0:05 of the match for at 2-1 decision win.  Top-ranked Will Magaard (46-1) of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg was then too much (13-4 major decision) in the semis.  Magaard went on to claim the 106-pound state title.  Goetzinger rallied in the wrestle-backs.  Versus section finale foe #2 Michael Majerus (37-8) of Z-M, the competitors alternated scores to a 4-4 tie.  In overtime, Goetzinger staved off a take-down attempt, then got one of his own for the 6-4 decision (SV-1).  To cap his day, Goetzinger took on #5 Ethan Arett (32-10) of Westfield (Hayfield/Blooming Prairie).  Arett went ahead 4-2 in the third, only for Goetzinger to score eight unanswered points in the final 1:00 for the 10-4 decision win.  Facing five top ten guys, going 4-1, Seth claimed third place.   He trailed in the third period of every match.  He finishes an excellent freshman season at 34-8.  LARP’s Carter Jonsgaard also wrestled five matches in his first state tourney.  Also unranked to end the season, Jonsgaard probably won’t see that too much going forward either.  The frosh won his first match, a 5-1 decision over Fertile-Beltrami’s Hunter Hitchen (21-16).  Jonsgaard then fell to Windom-Mountain Lake’s #3 Brett Willaby (41-4) by 17-3 major decision.  In wrestle-backs, Jonsgaard beat New York Mills’s Gabe Gieser (23-16) by 5-0 decision, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City’s Jake Mortensen (28-12) by 3-1 decision (SV-1), and Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa’s Blaine Fischer (40-16) by fall to make the third place match.  There, Jonsgaard again fell to Willaby (13-4 MD).  He made the podium, taking fourth, ending the season with a 34-13 record.  The only county wrestler not to place was FCLMC’s Caden Anderson.  The freshman (120) wrestled twice.  He fell to B-B-E’s #2 Canon Swanson (47-3) by fall.  Swanson finished as state runner-up.  Anderson then lost to Royalton-Upsala’s Jacob Leibold (31-16) by 2-0 decision (SV-1).  The freshman Anderson finishes his season at 23-9.  Mandt, Goetzinger, and Jonsgaard were three of 12 Section 1A wrestlers to finish top four.  Caledonia/Houston had two state champions in Kyle Cavanaugh (138) and Zach Schneider (160).  Z-M had a state champion in Caden Steffen (182) and a runner-up in Jacob Bennett (195).  St. Charles had a state runner-up in Mark Buringa (132).