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Wyatt Helberg has had a strong season relative to North Branch’s team success.  

The freshman has gone 16-10 on the year while NB suffered many losses, but he got hot at the right time and just finished an improbable run to the Class A tennis state tournament, winning Section 6A outright for North Branch’s first section champion in program history.

Helberg, who was the third seed coming into the section, breezed past Mora’s Chase Axtell in the first round, 6-0, 6-1.

In the second round, he drew the sixth seed, Mason Grove of St. Cloud Cathedral and despite being from a private school, Helberg dispatched Grove quickly, winning 6-0, 6-1 to get him into the final four. That is where things were hypothetically supposed to get much tougher for the young Viking.

But, he just kept hammering finishers over the net, setting his opponents up, and just playing wonderful tennis. First, he eliminated Aaron VanderWeyst of Foley in the semifinals, beating the Falcon 6-1, 6-3. In the finals, he faced off with another freshman, Joe Sampson of Mora. Sampson was 21-2 on the year, but that didn’t phase Helberg as he kept on cruising with a 6-2, 6-1 upset win over the top singles player on the Mustangs.

Helberg will play at state beginning Thursday, June 6. The freshman’s opponent hasn’t been determined yet, but depending on the results, he’ll continue to play later on June 6 and potentially into Friday, June 7.

“Wyatt has been playing at a whole new level really ever since the beginning of May,” Head Coach Joel Santjer said. “He knew what the competition was going to look like once we hit sections, and he has put in so much time on the courts. We worked on his strengths and what we thought he needed in order to win, but so much credit goes to him for putting in the time to work on his game and his mindset. I’m so proud of how he's played. He's played with so much confidence lately, and that's helped him to be ready for any opponent — he goes in knowing he's  going to play well and learn from every match. 

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