---

Team Section Tournament

Chisago Lakes 39, St. Paul Humboldt-Open World Learning 30

The eighth-seeded Wildcat wrestling team defeated the ninth-seeded St. Paul Humboldt-Open World Learning 39-30 in the opening round of the Section 4AA Team tournament on Saturday, February 15 at Mahtomedi High School.

Conner Aspenson (114) decisioned Ayush Tamang of Humboldt 11-9 to pick up the Wildcats’ first three points.  Lucas Yang (127) pinned Elijah Shaheer at 3:15 of their match.  Gus Strub (139) won by forfeit.  The Wildcats trailed 30-15 after the 160-pound match.  After that, it was all Wildcats.  Diesel Lundeen won by forfeit at 172 pounds.  Lucas Grabow (189) pinned Mikey Adams at 3:24.  Connor Frederixon (215) won by forfeit, and the Wildcats led 33-30 heading into the final match.  Logan Bender (285) took just 45 seconds to pin Oscar Sierra-Ochoa to seal the Wildcats’ 39-30 win.

Simley 63, Chisago Lakes 9

The Wildcats’ reward for beating Humboldt was to face top-seeded and number one ranked Simley, the six-time defending state Class AA champions, in the quarterfinals.  Predictably, Simley beat the Wildcats 63-9.  Simley shut out the Wildcats 63-0 through the 189-pound match.  But it bodes well for the Wildcats in the individual section tournament this weekend that Connor Frederixon (215), ranked sixth in the state at 215, decisioned Gregorio Duron Contreras 11-4.  And defending state champion Logan Bender (285), ranked first in the state at 285, pinned Tyler Dargiewicz in 45 seconds.

SECTION 

PREVIEW

The Chisago Lakes Wildcats and North Branch Vikings wrestling teams won’t likely send a lot of wrestlers to next week’s state tournament, but the ones they do send should make some noise at the tournament.  All of them have a chance to place, and Wildcat Logan Bender is the favorite to repeat his state championship at 285 pounds.

CHISAGO LAKES

The Wildcats will likely have two wrestlers advance to the state tournament.  Senior Connor Frederixon (215), ranked sixth in the state, will almost certainly make it to his third state tournament.  But in order to go as the number one seed, Frederixon (26-4) will have to beat Evan McGuire of Mahtomedi, who ranked number one in the state and currently undefeated at 42-0.

Senior Logan Bender (285), the defending state Class AA champion at 285 and three-time state entrant, should advance to state as the top seed from Section 4AA.  Bender (22-0) does have some work to do to get there, however, as King-General Thompson (28-8) of South St. Paul is ranked fifth in the state.

NORTH BRANCH

Senior Jack Baker (114) has wrestled most of his matches at 121 pounds this year, but has wrestled six matches, including four of his last seven, at 114 pounds.  Head Coach Kyle Kahl confirmed that Baker will wrestle at 114 pounds at the section tournament.  The top-ranked wrestler in Section 7AA at 114 pounds is fifth-ranked Tucker Gould of Rush City/Braham.  Baker has a good chance to grab one of the two state tournament spots for Section 7AA and make his first state tournament appearance.

Senior Evan Pommier (172) will be the best story coming out of Section 7AA if he makes his first state tournament appearance this year after several seasons derailed by injuries.  But, Pommier will have to run a gauntlet to get there.  Four of the top ten wrestlers in the state in Class AA at 172 pounds are in Section 7AA:  Carter Gmahl of Mora, ranked fourth, record unavailable; Pommier, sixth, 33-0; Destan Skelly of Grand Rapids, eighth, 28-4; Jayden Zajac of Pierz, ninth, record unavailable.  Pommier’s advantage is being able to dominate on his feet in a way that his opponents may not have experienced this year.

---