Jackson County Central’s wrestling team will be part of a talented field at the Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area tournament Saturday in Lake Crystal. Wrestling starts at 9 a.m.
Six of the nine teams are state ranked including two that are ranked first in their class.
Those nine teams have a total of 41 ranked wrestlers.
Here are the state-ranked teams:
Albert Lea: Class 3A No. 8
Chatfield: Class 1A No. 1
Jackson County Central: Class 1A No. 4
Kenyon-Wanamingo: Class 1A No. 6
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area: Class 1A No. 9
Simley: Class 2A No. 1
Other teams entered:
Eden Prairie
Madelia/Truman
Medford
Ranked wrestlers
Eight of the nine teams have at least three rated wrestlers according to The Guillotine:
Simley: 9
Chatfield: 8
Albert Lea: 5
Eden Prairie: 5
Kenyon-Wanamingo: 5
Jackson County Central: 3
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area: 3
Medford: 3
Madelia/Truman: 0
Rescheduled events
Makeup dates have been set for a pair of events that were postponed last week for the Huskies.
A dual with Section 3A rival Adrian/Ellsworth has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 30 in Adrian. Wrestling starts at 6 p.m. that night.
Also, the Big South Conference tournament has been rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 2 and the location has been changed to Jackson. The tourney had been slated for Southwest Minnesota State University but couldn’t been held in Marshall on that date due to a scheduling conflict with SMSU basketball.
The varsity tournament will be held in the main gym at Jackson County Central High School, with JV wrestling to take place in the auxiliary gym. Wrestling starts at 3 p.m. that day.
Hectic stretch
With the rescheduling of those events, JCC is looking at a grueling week. The Huskies are scheduled to compete four days out of five and three days in a row including tournaments on back-to-back days.
Jackson County Central has the dual in Adrian on Tuesday, Jan. 30 and two more duals in Fulda on Thursday, Feb. 1, facing host Fulda/Murray County Central and Lake Crystal/Wellcome Memorial Area.
After the Big South tournament on Friday, Feb. 2, the Huskies are scheduled to go to Mapleton on Saturday, Feb. 3 for a 13-team tournament hosted by Maple River/United South Central.
JCC will then have a few days to catch its breath before a home dual vs. Windom/Mountain Lake on Thursday, Feb. 8.
The Huskies will also likely have to squeeze in a dual meet with the BSC’s Eastern Division champion for the conference team title.
BSC standings
Jackson County Central is the final undefeated team in conference duals with a 4-0 record. The Huskies travel to Pipestone next Thursday prior to the home match with Windom/Mountain Lake.
Marshall finished its conference schedule 5-1 and Pipestone is 4-1 with the dual vs. JCC remaining.
Jackson County Central defeated Marshall 37-31 on Dec. 19 and the Tigers were 31-22 winners over the Arrows on Jan. 11.
New Ulm and St. Peter are tied for the East Division lead with 4-0 records.
The Eagles host the Saints on Tuesday in a scheduled quadrangular that includes JCC and Mankato West.
BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE
Wrestling standings
West Division
Jackson County Central 4-0
Marshall 5-1
Pipestone 4-1
Redwood Valley 2-3
Luverne 2-4
Windom/Mountain Lake 1-4
Worthington 0-5
East Division
New Ulm 4-0
St. Peter 4-0
St. James Area 2-2
Martin County 1-3
Blue Earth Area 0-3
Waseca 0-3
Division matches only
Career milestones
JCC senior Nolan Ambrose was recognized for reaching a pair of career milestones last week during the Huskies’ 47-21 win over Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove.
The three-time state champion had earlier earned his 175th career win while his win that night was the 125th of his career.
Ambrose has signed to wrestle at Augustana University next season, where he will join former JCC teammates Logan Butzon, Payton Handevidt and Caleb Vancura. Another JCC grad, Cooper Moore, is an assistant coach.
Section tournament
Postseason wrestling is less than four weeks away.
Competition in the 10-team Section 3A team tournament starts Thursday, Feb. 15 at home mat sites with the final four teams meeting in Tracy on Saturday, Feb. 17.
More than in other sports, the number of times teams compete varies quite a bit. Much of that depends on if a team enters dual meet or individual tournaments.
Through Thursday, teams in Section 3A had wrestled anywhere from 10 to 26 dual meets. And the strength of schedules can be vastly different.
At any rate, the team with the best win-loss percentage in the section is Adrian/Ellsworth with its 12-1 record for a .923 percentage. The Dragons’ loss was 47-18 to Marshall on Dec. 7.
JCC is second (9-2, .818) and St. James Area third (10-3, .769).
The Huskies losses are to Liberty, Ariz. and Washington, Ill. Losses for the Saints have been to Glencoe-Silver Lake, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area and St. Peter.
Here are the current win-loss records of the teams in Section 3A listed by order of winning percentage:
Adrian/Ellsworth 12-1, .923
Jackson County Central 9-2, .818
St. James Area 10-3, .769
Pipestone 9-4, .692
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove 17-9, .654
Wabasso 11-6, .647
Fulda/Murray County Central 7-4, .636
Springfield 6-13, .462
Red Rock Central 5-11, .313
Redwood Valley 2-8, .200
The section individual tourney is Saturday, Feb. 24 in Pipestone.
There are 18 state ranked wrestlers among Section 3A teams.
The number by team:
Pipestone: 5
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove: 5
Jackson County Central: 3
Adrian/Ellsworth: 3
St. James Area: 1
Wabasso: 1
Fulda/Murray County Central: 0
Red Rock Central: 0
Redwood Valley: 0
Springfield: 0
The state tournament runs Feb. 29-March 2 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, with the team tourney on Thursday and the individual portion Friday and Saturday.
JACKSON COUNTY CENTRAL WRESTLING SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Sat., Dec. 2: at Glencoe-Silver Lake Invitational, 3rd of 8
Tues., Dec. 5: Redwood Valley at Luverne, W 48-28
Tues., Dec. 5: at Luverne, W 60-10
Sat., Dec. 9: Pizza Ranch Invitational, Jackson, 2nd of 13
Sat., Dec. 16: at Austin Roberts Memorial, Spencer, 1st of 8
Tues., Dec. 19: Marshall, W 37-31
Tues., Dec. 19: Worthington, W 48-9
Fri., Dec. 29: at Rumble on the Red, 16th of 66
Fri., Jan. 5: Liberty, Ariz. at LaCrosse, L 36-27
Fri., Jan. 5: Holmen, Wis. at LaCrosse, W 45-30
Fri., Jan. 5: Washington, Ill. at LaCrosse, L 42-25
Sat., Jan. 6: Apple Valley at LaCrosse, W 42-19
Sat., Jan. 6: Glenbard North, Ill. at LaCrosse, W 38-24
Sat., Jan. 6: Prairie du Chien, Wis. at LaCrosse, W 42-28
Tues., Jan. 9: Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove, W 47-21
Sat., Jan. 20: at LCWM tournament, 10 a.m.
Tues., Jan. 23: New Ulm Quad (Mankato West, St. Peter), 5 p.m.
Thurs., Jan. 25: at Pipestone, 6 p.m.
Thurs., Feb. 1: Fulda/MCC and LCWM at Fulda, 5 p.m.
Tues., Jan. 30: at Adrian/Ellsworth, 6 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 2: Big South Conference, Jackson, 3 pm.
Sat., Feb. 3: at Maple River/USC tournament, 10 a.m.
Thurs., Feb. 8: Windom/Mountain Lake, 6 p.m.