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Senior Logan Bender had a scary medical incident near the end of the first period of his championship match at last Saturday’s state championship match against senior Samuel Winkels of Austin but recovered and went on to beat Winkels 5-1 to claim the Class AA state title at 285 pounds for the second year in a row.  Bender is only the third Wildcat wrestler to win a state title, and he is the first one to win two state titles.  Seniors Connor Frederixon and Conner Aspenson both lost the two matches they wrestled in the tournament and did not place.

Bender (36-0) opened against sophomore Anthony Benson of Brooklyn Center-Concordia Academy (40-9) and made quick work of the sophomore.  He took Benson down at 38 seconds and pinned him at 1:10 to advance to the quarterfinals.  Bender’s quarterfinal opponent was senior King General Thompson (36-11) of South St. Paul.  Bender beat the fifth-ranked Thompson in the Section 4AA final, so Thompson was certainly looking for payback.  But Bender proved once again to be too much for Thompson to handle.  Bender completed a takedown at 1:43 of the first period and led 3-0 after one.  In the second period, with the wrestlers hand fighting midway through the period, Bender again took down Thompson and doubled his lead to 6-0.  Bender received a couple of cautions with a few seconds to go in the period, but no points were awarded to Thompson and the score stayed 6-0.  Logan chose bottom in the third period,  He escaped at 4:41 and took down Thompson at the one-minute mark to increase his lead to 10-0.  Thompson did not escape.  Each wrestler was assessed a penalty point later in the period, and Bender won 11-1 by major decision.

Bender faced fourth-ranked Roy Rude (41-2) of Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, a senior, in the semifinals.  The wrestlers were very active in the first period.  Bender had a nice snapdown that didn’t result in anything, they stopped a couple of times for blood for Bender, and Bender came fairly close to a takedown late in the period before the wrestlers rolled out of bounds.  Rude chose bottom in the second period.  Bender squashed a couple of roll through attempts by Rude.  After some blood time for Rude, he tried another roll through on the restart with about 25 seconds left.  Bender caught Rude, held him on his back and pinned him at 3:52 to win the semifinal match and send Bender to the championship match, with a second straight state title on the line.

During an active first period, Bender and Winkels each tried a few moves, but neither came close to a takedown.  Late in the period, as the wrestlers came together, Winkels’ head caught Bender’s chin and Bender staggered.  The referee blew the whistle with three seconds left in the period.  Chisago Lakes fans, teammates and coaches watched anxiously as Bender dropped to his knees and one of the onsite doctors went through the concussion protocol.  After a delay of several minutes, officially attributed to blood,  a slightly groggy Bender was allowed to continue.  The first period ended a few seconds later.  Winkel chose bottom in the second period.  He nearly escaped one before finishing an escape at 3:13 to go up 1-0.  Winkel took a good shot near the edge of the mat.  Bender turned it around on him and nearly had a takedown before Winkels dragged them out of bounds.   With a few seconds to go in the period, Bender had a good snap that didn’t lead to anything.  Winkel hooked Bender’s leg and attempted takedown just as the period ended with Winkels leading 1-0.

Bender chose bottom in the third period.  At the beginning of the period, Winkels received a warning for starting before the whistle.  The referee checked with Bender, who still seemed to be a little off, to make sure he was okay.  The referee allowed the match to continue.  It took Bender just 12 seconds to escape and tie the match at 1-1.  Winkels was called for locking hands at the same time, giving Bender a penalty point that put Bender up 2-1.  With about 20 seconds left in the match, Winkel dove to grab Bender’s thighs but left himself vulnerable and Bender quickly turned it into a takedown to take a 5-1 lead.  Winkels did a dive over and got on top of Bender but was not in position to be awarded a reversal.  The whistle blew, and a still slightly groggy Bender was the state champion in Class AA at 285 pounds for the second year in a row.  The wrestlers shook hands and hugged while they were still on their knees.  Bender walked over to the center of the mat, raised his arms to the cheering  Wildcat fans, and again shook hands with Winkels before the referee raised Bender’s arm to officially signify the win.

Did Bender know he was going to be allowed to go back in after bumping heads with Winkels in the first period?  Bender said “I was a bit dizzy, but stuff happens.  I wanted to work my way through it, and it worked out the way I wanted it to.  I was pretty dizzy, still getting my bearings and trying to figure out what was going on.  But I wrestled my way through it, did what I did best, and it came down to instinct.”  Did this year’s win feel any different than last year’s?  “Not really, no,” said Bender.  “Warming up, full time, I knew I was going to win, I knew everything was going to go my way.  I knew it was in God’s hands and nothing I can do on the mat can change that.  I’m just thankful for everything that has happened and thankful to be the first two-timer from Chisago Lakes.”

Frederixon, ranked sixth in the state and making his third state tournament appearance, was the second entrant from Section 4AA at 215 pounds. He opened against second-ranked Nathan Klatt of Annandale/Maple Lake.  There was not a lot of action in a scoreless first period.  Klatt chose bottom in the second period and worked a reversal at 2:37 to take a two-point lead.  Frederixon attempted an escape but didn’t quite finish it before the wrestlers flew out of bounds at 2:52.  Frederixon escaped at 3:03 to cut Klatt’s lead to 2-1.  Late in the period, it looked like Frederixon had a takedown near the edge of the circle, but the referee ruled that they were out of bounds before the takedown was complete.  Wildcat head coach Bryan Nelson seemed satisfied with the explanation provided by the referee.  The period ended with Klatt leading 2-1.  Frederixon chose bottom in the third period, and escaped at 4:27 to tie the match at 2-2.  But Klatt took Frederixon down at 5:02 to take a 5-2 lead and rode Frederixon for the rest of the match to claim the win.

Since Klatt won his second match, Frederixon made it into the wrestlebacks.  He went up against fifth-ranked Tristan Holbrook of Scott West.  After a scoreless first period, Holbrook chose bottom in the second period.  He escaped at 1:14 to take a 1-0 lead and completed a takedown at 2:48 to increase his lead to 4-0 after two periods.  Frederixon chose bottom in the third period.  Holbrook managed to flip Frederixon on his back at about 3:45 and pinned him at 3:55, ending Frederixon’s day without a trip to the podium.

Aspenson (114), in his second state tournament appearance, matched up against second-ranked Sam Moore of Zumbrota-Mazeppa, a sophomore.  Moore completed a takedown at 53 seconds to go up 3-0.  Moore had to work hard to get Aspenson in a vulnerable position.  Aspenson fought off the attempted pin for the last 30 seconds of the period, and Moore was awarded a four-point hear-fall at the end of the period to increase his lead to 7-0.  Moore chose neutral in the second period and had a takedown at 2:17.  He received a four-point nearfall at 2:52 after he was unable to complete the pin and led 14-0.  After a short blood stoppage, the wrestlers headed back out to the mat.  Moore flipped Aspenson on his back and was awarded a three-point nearfall at 3:44, making the score 17-0 and winning by technical fall.

Moore won his second match, so Aspenson also made it into the wrestlebacks.  He faced sophomore Deacon Ramthun of Mound Westonka. In the one-minute first period that is commonly used for wrestleback matches in tournaments, Ramthun completed a takedown at 16 seconds and pinned Aspenson at 37 seconds to end Aspenson’s trip to the state tournament.

Wrestling Whangdoodles

Longtime Wildcat assistant coach Dave Hinsch was named one of three Assistant Coaches of the Year in Section 4AA.

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