Wrestling notebook
Lots o’ tourney items including a fun fact
Here are a few final items from the state wrestling tournament.
Big South Conference
Wrestlers from the Big South Conference earned 17 medals at the state tournament (placing in the top six). There were 13 boys and four girls.
Blue Earth Area
None
Jackson County Central (1A)
114: Kayden Eller, 4th
127: Kyler Thier, 5th
Luverne (2A)
None
Luverne (girls)
112: Bernie Rock, 2nd
148: Cece Rock, 3rd
Marshall (2A)
107: Keynan Coequyt, 6th
114: Lincoln Christenson, 1st
127: Landon Marthaler, 6th
160: Brandon Chandler, 6th
Marshall (girls)
Hannah Ratajczak, 4th
Martin County (2A)
133: Pierce Rohman, 3rd
New Ulm (2A)
Kane Johnson, 4th
Wyatt Pollard, 6th
Pipestone (1A)
114: Mason Freuchte, 6th
121: Miklo Hernandez, 1sat
Redwood Valley (1A)
107: Nolan Ourada, 4th
St. James Area/Madelia (1A)
None
St. Peter (2A)
None
Tri-City United (girls)
118: Trista Gessler, 4th
Waseca (2A)
160: Slade Barnett, 5th
Windom/Mountain Lake (2A)
None
Worthington (2A)
None
NOTE: Belle Plaine of the BSC is part of a co-op with Jordan to form Scott West, which is a member of the Wright County Conference in wrestling. The Panthers had three place winners.
Section 3A
JCC is among 10 teams in Section 3A. The section had seven placers, all boys.
Here are the state place winners from Section 3A:
Jackson County Central
114: Kayden Eller, 4th
127: Kyler Thier, 5th
Adrian/Ellsworth
127: Moe Erdman, 3rd
Fulda/Murray County Central
None
Pipestone
114: Mason Freuchte, 6th
121: Miklo Hernandez, 1sat
Red Rock Central
None
Redwood Valley
107: Nolan Ourada, 4th
Springfield
None
St. James Area/Madelia
None
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove
133: David Schuh, 6th
Wabasso
None
Section 3AA
Martin County is among 10 teams in Section 3A. That section had 14 place winners, 11 boys and three girls.
Here are the state place winners from Section 3AA:
Martin County
133: Pierce Rohman, 3rd
Hutchinson/BLHS
121: Judah Perrault, 6th
133: Logan Schwanz, 2nd
152: Raydon Bipes, 2nd
160: Logan Hoag, 2nd
Luverne
None
Luverne (girls)
112: Bernie Rock, 2nd
148: Cece Rock, 3rd
Marshall
107: Keynan Coequyt, 6th
114: Lincoln Christenson, 1st
127: Landon Marthaler, 6th
160: Brandon Chandler, 6th
Marshall (girls)
Hannah Ratajczak, 4th
New London-Spicer
None
New Ulm
Kane Johnson, 4th
Wyatt Pollard, 6th
St. Peter
None
United
139: Ben Gunlogson, 4th
Windom/Mountain Lake (2A)
None
Worthington
None
Individual champions
Jackson County Central remains seventh on the list of state individual champions with 42.
St. Michael-Albertville had four champions this year to give the program 51. That jumped the Knights past Robbinsdale and Blue Earth into fourth place all-time.
Simley had two champs as the Spartans remain a solid second with 73, still well behind Apple Valley’s 95.
Here are the top 10 schools:
95: Apple Valley
73: Simley
54: Anoka
49: Robbinsdale
48: Blue Earth Area
51: St. Michael-Albertville
42: Jackson County Central
36: Mound
33: Kasson-Mantorville
33: Albert Lea
Dual shutouts
Eventual state champion Staples-Motley shut out Jackson County Central 64-0 in the semifinals of the Class 1A team tournament Thursday.
That was the fifth shutout in the history of the state dual meet tournament, which started in 1975.
There was one class of wrestling for that first dual tournament, there were two classes from 1976-1995 and there have been three classes since 1996.
FUN FACT: Four of those five shutouts have something in common. Actually, all five are kind of connected.
What’s that?
Jim Jackson was the head coach of four of the teams that have recorded state tournament shutouts.
His Apple Valley teams had state tourney shutouts on the way to winning state Class 3A titles in 1999, 2000 and 2011 and he’s the coach of this year’s 1A state champion Cardinals.
The other state tournament shutout was by St. Michael-Albertville in the 2010 Class 3A quarterfinals.
Valley would beat STMA 54-12 in the state finals that year for their fifth straight state title in a streak that would reach seven under Jackson when he left the Eagles and 12 straight overall through the 2017 tournament before the 2018 tournament was won by….St. Michael-Albertville.
State tournament shutouts
Here are the five state tournament shutouts.
Apple Valley 59, Armstrong 0 (1999 3A quarterfinals)
Apple Valley 59, Mankato West 0 (2000 3A quarterfinals)
St. Michael-Albertville 56, Maple Grove 0 (2010 3A quarterfinals)
Apple Valley 70, Prior Lake 0 (2011 3A quarterfinals)
Staples-Motley 64, Jackson County Central 0 (2025 1A semifinals)
Not the lowest point total.
Zero is a low point total, but it’s not the lowest point total a JCC team has had at any point during a dual meet at the state tournament.
In the 1998 Class 2A semifinals at the old St. Paul Civic Center, the Huskies trailed Blue Earth by a score of 15 to -1 at one point in the dual. JCC was penalized one team point for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Yes, a JCC wrestler was very upset and threw his headgear to the floor after a tough loss.
But, (and mind you, this is a biased viewpoint), the wrestler had exited the arena floor and had gone through the tunnel and was in the concourse that circled the floor before doing so. At the time the media was situated on the side of the floor and the mat was in the corner to our left so we could watch the situation unfold.
We could see one of the officials watching the wrestler walk probably 30-40 yards off the floor before throwing his headgear. As he did so, the Huskies were penalized a point, putting them in the minus category.
The day had a happy ending as JCC got on a roll and did not lose another match after that, storming past the Buccaneers to win 45-15. The Huskies did lose the state championship match the next day.
More notes with assistance from the MSHSL:
In a meeting of champions from a season ago, Pipestone freshman Miklo Hernandez raced past Staples-Motley freshman Gabe Bjerga for a 13-2 major decision in the Class 1A 121-pound title. Hernandez, who finished the season 42-0, was the 1A champion at 114 in 2024. Bjerga was the 107-pound champion last year.
Trey Gunderson, a 139-pound senior from Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, captured his third Class 1A championship with an 18-1 technical fall victory over Westfield senior Bo Zweiner. He won the 106-pound crown in 2022 and another title last season at 133. He finished his career 199-2.
Watertown-Mayer junior Titan Friederichs completed a season of dominance with a 17-1 technical fall victory over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted junior Raydon Graham in the Class 2A 127-pound match. It was his third consecutive state title. Friederichs won all of his individual bracket matches by technical fall.
Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton senior heavyweight Keegan Kuball won his third consecutive championship with an 11-6 decision over Goodhue junior Jack Carlson. He finished the season 43-1 and his career 163-13. Kuball will wrestle at Division III power Augsburg next season.
Bryce Burkett, a 172-pound senior at Watertown-Mayer, successfully defended his championship with an 11-3 major decision over Perham sophomore Tiegan Detloff.
Mahtomedi’s Evan McGuire completed his senior season 51-0 with a technical fall victory over junior Ivan Petrich in the Class 2A 215-pound title match. McGuire has committed to wrestle for Minnesota next season.
Chisago Lakes senior Logan Bender capped an undefeated season with a second consecutive Class 2A heavyweight championship following a 5-1 victory over Austin senior Samuel Winkels. Bender has committed to wrestle at Northern Illinois.
STMA senior Landon Robideau finished his high school wrestling career with a technical fall victory over Shakopee junior Kyler Walters for the 2A 160-pound title. Robideau, an Oklahoma State recruit, finished his stellar prep career with 281 victories, third on Minnesota’s all-time list.
St. Michael-Albertville senior John Murphy successfully defended his Class 3A championship at 189 pounds with an exhilarating 13-11 victory over St. Cloud Tech junior Sutton Kennedy.
Attendance for the tournament was 58,283.