---

Chisago Lakes

Four of the five Wildcat wrestlers at last week's state tournament won their opening round matches, but all four of them lost their second round matches. All four of the opening round winners got the opportunity to participate in wrestlebacks, but none of them placed. The tournament took place last Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Seventh-grader Kyle Schoenecker (103) faced junior Luke Betchwars of Scott West in his opening match. Betchwars took down Schoenecker 43 seconds into the first period. Schoenecker worked hard to avoid a pin for the rest of the period. Betchwars was awarded three near fall points at the end of the period to go up 5-0. Betchwars took Schoenecker down again at the 2:20 mark and pin Schoenecker at 3:06 to end the match. Betchwars later lost in the second round, so Schoenecker did not get a chance to participate in wrestlebacks.

Sophomore Quade Zupko (119) dominated his opening round opponent, freshman Aaron Sweeney of Watertown - Mayer/Mayer Lutheran from the get-go. Quade took down Sweeney in the first 20 seconds of the match and rode him for the rest of the period, picking up two near-fall points along the way to lead 4-0 after one. In the second period, Zupko got another take down at the 2:55 mark. Sweeney managed an escape with ten second left in the period and Zupko led 6-1 going into the third period. Sweeney started down in the third period and Zupko rode him the whole time. Zupko couldn't quite flip Sweeney for a pin, but Sweeney couldn't break out of Zupko's steel grip. Zupko won 6-1 to advance to the second round.

Next up for Zupko was junior Pedro DeLao of Simley. DeLao dominated Zupko from the beginning of the match. He led 4-0 after the first period and went on to shut out Zupko by a 9-0 major decision. In his next match, he lost a 4-2 to sophomore Jordan Hanan of Annandale/Maple Lake, ending Zupko's second straight state tournament appearance. DeLao ended up winning the championship.

Senior Travis Kammerer (171) was also making his second straight state tournament appearance. He took down his opponent, senior Joe Rief of Simley, at the 55 second mark of the first period. He nearly pinned Rief late in the period, earning a three point near fall at 1:43 to go up 5-0 after one. Starting on the bottom in the second period, Kammerer turned an escape into a reversal at 2:40. Kammerer worked mercilessly on Rief. At 3:33, Kammerer pinned Rief to win the match and advance to the second round.

Kammerer ran into a very tough opponent, senior Brandon Pederson of Waseca, in the next round. Pederson scored a takedown and a near fall by the 45 second mark of the first period to take a 5-0 lead. It proved to be too much for Kammerer to overcome and he lost by a 9-0 major decision. Pederson kept on winning after that, eventually taking second place overall.

In the wrestlebacks, Kammerer squeaked out a 3-2 win in his match against senior Kyle White of Hutchinson. But he lost a close match to Jared Peterson of Windom Area/Mountain Lake/Butterfield Odin in the next round, 8-6, closing out Kammerer's brilliant career.

Jake Nase (215) faced junior Kris Plath of Becker in his opening round match. Nase and Plath spent the whole first period on their feet, so it ended in a scoreless tie. Plath started on the bottom in the second period. Nase rode him hard and almost ended up with a pinning maneuver at the 3:25 mark, but the second period also ended 0-0 after Nase couldn't hold the move long enough. Nase scored the only points of the match with a reversal ten seconds into the third period. He again rode Plath for the rest of the period and came away with a 2-0 sin.

A little bit of luck may have made a difference for Nase in his second round match against senior Mike Kellner of Stewartville. Nase nearly had a takedown with just a few seconds left in the first period. But Kellner somehow managed to turn it around and throw Nase. It looked like the play was out of bounds, but the referees awarded Kellner two points at the end of the period, turning what could have been a 2-0 lead for Nase into a 2-0 deficit. Wildcat head coach Shawn Frederixon said "since the takedown came at the very end of the period, Jake didn't even have a chance to get one of the points back with and escape."

Nase started down in the second period and nearly got that escape point just 12 second into the period, but didn't quite get away. The wrestlers stalemated for the rest of the period and it ended with Kellner leading 2-0. Kellner dominated the third period. An escape and a takedown gave him a 5-1 lead midway through the period. He was awarded another point, possibly for stalling. Kellner put Nase in a cradle for the last 30 seconds of the match and was awarded a three point near fall at the end of the match to win by a 9-1 major decision. Kellner went on to take fourth place overall in the tournament. Nase lost 7-1 to sophomore Cody Nylander of Perham to end his state tournament appearance.

Dylan Hoyt went into triple overtime against his first round opponent, senior Ben Goodrich of Brooklyn Center/Concordia Academy. IN the first period, Goodrich took Hoyt down 43 seconds into the match. Hoyt escaped right away, and Goodrich led 2-1. Hoyt nearly had a takedown with 19 seconds remaining, but the wrestlers ended up out of bounds before Hoyt could complete the move. Goodrich started down in the second period and escaped at 2:46 for the only point of the period. He led 3-1 after two.

Hoyt escaped just 15 seconds into the third period to cut Goodrich's lead to 3-2. At 3:58, Hoyt took a 4-3 lead with a takedown. He almost had a near fall a few seconds later. Hoyt rode Goodrich the rest of the period and it looked like he was going to come away with the win, but Goodrich escaped at the very end of the period to tie the match at 4-4 and send it into overtime.

The two wrestlers were pretty tired as they entered the first overtime. There were a lot of bear hugs but no serious offensive moves and the first overtime ended with the score still tied 4-4. Hoyt started down in the second overtime and escaped in ten seconds to take a 5-4 lead. In the third overtime, Hoyt was awarded a point for stalling by Goodrich with seven seconds remaining. The seconds ticked away, and Hoyt had an exciting 6-4 win in the opening round.

In the second round, Hoyt faced last year's state champion, junior Austin Goergen of Caledonia/Houston. The match was very active for a heavyweight match. Goergen dominated the match, although Hoyt took advantage of the chance to score some points. When it was all over, Goergen had a 17-6 win. Goergen went onto win his second straight state title. Hoyt went up against junior Zach Gibson of MAHACA in the wrestlebacks and lost 1-0, ending his high school career as an undersized but determined and successful heavyweight.

Coach Frederixon said "We got off to a good start but ran into some good competition. The losses in the second round really took the wind out of our sails. Travis lost to the kid who place fourth, Jake lost to the guy who finished second and Dylan lost to the champion. Quade lost to both the champion and, in consolation, to the sixth place guy. Dylan, Quade and Travis all lost very close matches in consolation.

"Having a good first round was good for us as a program. Sometimes kids step out into the limelight and don't perform at a top level. Our guys came out and performed well in their first round matches. You wish you had at least one placewinner, but the tournament was a lot of fun. It was a good step for our program to bring a lot of wrestlers to this year's tournament."

North Branch

Making his fourth and final appearance in the state wrestling tournament, Viking senior Jake Kostik (130) beat senior Tyler Dobmeier of Scott West 9-4 to finish fifth in Class AA. Kostik placed for the second year in a row, having won third place at 119 last season. Viking junior Pat Mork (152) made his second straight tournament appearance and was pinned by senior Cole Cihak of New Ulm at 3:30 of his first match. The tournament took place last Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5, at the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Kostik made short work of his first round opponent, junior Kyle McCourt of Roseau. 45 second into the match, it looked like McCourt was nearing a takedown of Kostik. But Kostik flipped McCourt for a quick takedown and tow-point near-fall of his own to take a 4-0 lead. 30 seconds later, he pinned McCourt and moved on to the second round later that evening.

Kostik faced senior Matt Nelson of Big Lake in the second round. Nelson took down Kostik at the 1:25 mark to take a 2-0 lead. 40 seconds into the second period, Nelson got two points for a reversal to take a 4-0 lead. But immediately after the subsequent bold timeout, Kostik reversed Nelson to cut the lead to 4-2. Bur Nelson scored on a reversal and near fall near the end of the period to stretch his lead to 8-2 and ended up winning 11-2, knocking Kostik into the consolation round. Nelson went on to win the state championship.

In the opening consolation match, Kostik shut out sophomore Coltan Laganiere of Kasson-Mantorville 5-0 to advance. He beat freshman Mack Short of Simley by injury default. Kostik was pinned by junior Nate Lynn of Adrian Area. The loss sent Kostik to the fifth place match, where he beat Dobmeier.

Viking head coach Tony Aho said "Although Jake really wanted to go into this tournament and come out with the gold medal, he should be very proud of the fact that he was able to place in such a competitive weight class. There were many high quality guys that could have won the title and Jake fit right in that group. We are very proud to have known and worked with Jake for the last five years. He is easily one of the best we have ever had and we will miss him."

Mork was taken down 30 seconds into his match. He managed to get a reversal with a minute left in the match to cut Cihak's lead to 2-1. But another takedown by Cihak late in the first period stretched the lead to 4-1. Mork started on the bottom in the second period and was pinned by Cihak 30 seconds later. Mork's loss turned out to be his only match. Cihak lost his next match, which meant Mork did not get a chance to participate in the wrestlebacks.

Aho said "Pat was very disappointed with the way the tournament played out for him, but that is the way it goes sometimes. This will take nothing away from the season that he had and we know that Pat is already thinking about next year. He is one of our hardest workers and is proving to be a good leader as well. Thanks again to all who followed the team this season. We are excited for the future of the program."

---