Two Jackson County Central wrestlers will compete in the second MN#1 event next Saturday in Minnetonka.
Payton Handevidt and Nolan Ambrose will wrestle in the event, which starts at 4 p.m. Returning state champions are guaranteed spots in the event.
Handevidt, a two-time state champion in Class 1A, will wrestle a Class 3A state champ, Owatonna's Landen Johnson. Both are seniors.
He won the 152-pound state title last year when he had a 42-0 record and won at 145 in 2020, going 48-4. Also, he was sixth at 120 in 2010, finishing with a 41-6 mark.
Johnson went 34-1 last year and won the 3A 160-pound crown. He was also second at 152 in 2020 (48-2), sixth at 138 in 2019 (42-11), did not qualify in 2018 and did not place at 113 in 2017 (29-10).
In The Guillotine's recent pound-for-pound rankings for seniors, Johnson was rated eighth and Handevidt ninth.
Handevidt wrestled in the first MN#1 event last year, losing 13-4 to Cael Swensen (Wayzata). Swensen won the Class 3A 152-pound title last spring and will wrestle at South Dakota State.
Ambrose, who is a sophomore at JCC, won the Class 1A 106-pound title in his first trip to the state tournament, going 40-2.
His opponent will be Jack Nelson of Mound Westonka, who is also a sophomore. Nelson was the 106-pound champ in Class 3A, going 34-0. He qualified for state in 2020, finishing 21-14.
Nelson was first in The Guillotine's pound-for-pound rankings, with Ambrose ninth.