The Alexandria wrestling team will have familiar faces representing it down at the state tournament later this week.

Blaze Nelson and Ryan Borris both qualified for the individual state tournament a year ago, and those two are going back again after the Section 8AA meet in Pequot Lakes on Saturday. The top-two finishers of each weight class advance to state.

Nelson, a freshman who boasts a 29-7 record, won the section title at 113 pounds. He got two pins and an 8-6 victory in the championship against Caleb Ruhl (34-14) of Pequot Lakes-Pine River-Backus to secure his spot at state.

Borris had what Alexandria head coach Aldon Struchen called arguably the deepest weight class to go through at 132 pounds.

“He came in seeded third and knocked off Gabe Bellefuille of Perham, who was ranked fifth in the state with an 11-4 decision in the semifinals,” Struchen said. “Borris was leading in the championship late in the match when he was unfortunately reversed to his back and lost 9-7.”

Cody Wienen, 36-12 of Thief River Falls, won that close decision over Borris (29-6), but both will head down to the state meet.

“Ryan was selected to receive a $500 scholarship through section 8AA for his wrestling success, academic, and community service throughout his wrestling career,” Struchen said. “AJ Sparr had a great tournament as well, and narrowly missed qualifying for state with a heartbreaking loss in his true second match at 126 pounds.”

Sparr, who put together a 31-11 record this winter, fell against Cade Jackson (25-15) of Detroit Lakes in that true-second match after falling against Griffin Lundeer (45-6) by pin in the championship.

Other Alexandria podium finishers in the top six were Mason McGrane (106, fourth), Kelly Johnson (120, third), Cole Vatnsdal (138, fifth), Mason Teaser (145, fifth) and JP Rodel (152, fifth).

“There were so many great matches and things to celebrate from this tournament,” Struchen said. “The coaching staff is very proud of how our guys competed. We will certainly miss the leadership of seniors Cody Richardson and Ryan Borris. We had many great memories with this great group of kids.”

Borris and Nelson will compete at the state meet in St. Paul at the Xcel Energy Center starting on Friday.

Knights, Raiders rack up state entries

West Central Area-Ashby-Brandon-Evansville and Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale-Parkers Prairie will both be well represented in the Class A state individual tournament.

The Knights will send five athletes to state, and the Raiders will send six.

Hunter Gruchow jumpstarted the Knights’ qualifiers by taking second at 106 pounds in the Section 6A meet on Saturday. Gruchow (30-19) won a true-second place match against Cole Sykora (31-15) of Border West by pinning Sykora in 3:28.

WCA’s Anthony Sykora (33-12) won the 138-pound bracket with a 6-4 decision win in the title match against the Raiders’ Jason Koehn (31-11). Jordan Lohse (40-3) added a win for the Knights at 152 pounds by getting a major-decision win (11-2) in the title match against Matthew Ziebell (36-8) of Pelican Rapids.

Nathaniel Kisgen (43-4) will head to state at 170 pounds after taking second. Devin Stone (22-11) grabbed the fifth state entry for WCA-A-B-E by taking second at 220. Stone beat the Raiders’ Jaden Finck (30-18), who finished third, by a 9-4 decision to secure that spot.

Other top-six finishers for the Knights were Adam Lohse (113, fifth), Solomon Wales (120, fifth), Ashton Danner (126, fifth), Dierk Goeden (132, fifth), Kaleb Getz (145, sixth), Bret Duncan (160, fifth), Colton Lindquist (182, fourth), Deklin Goeden (195, fourth), and Justin Blascyk (285, fifth).

David Revering (37-7) topped the Raiders’ lineup by grabbing a spot at state after he won the 106-pound weight class with a pin in 1:35 in the title match.

Deagen Captain (37-8) won a 5-2 decision at 113 pounds to take that championship. Jason Koehn (31-11) advanced to state by taking second at 138 pounds, and teammate Mason Schroeder (27-18) did the same at 160 pounds.

Gideon Ervasti (33-3) won the 182-pound weight class with a pin in 4:09 against Brady Kroll (25-13) of Barnesville. Class A’s top-ranked heavyweight Craig Orlando (43-0) rounded out the Raiders’ state qualifiers by winning a 1-0 decision in the title match against Cian Buehler (33-6) of Ottertail Central.

The Raiders’ other top-six finishes came from Aiden Larson (120, fourth), Reese Thompson (126, fourth), Justin Koehn (132, sixth), Brock Peterson (152, fifth), Hunter Dean (170, fourth), Tyler Eggert (195, fifth) and Jaden Finck (220, third).

Lakers qualify five from loaded 5A field

Minnewaska wrestles in maybe the best Class A section in the state, and the Lakers came out of that with five athletes heading to the state tournament with top-two finishes.

Easton McCrory (30-8) won at 126 pounds after he won a close decision (TB-1, 6-5) against Carter Meiners (35-11) of LPGE-Browerville in the title match.

Defending state champion Tyson Meyer (46-1) beat Rick Jones (36-11) by a 13-2 major decision to win the 170-pound championship. Tyler VanLuik (46-0) was dominant at 195 pounds with a 15-0 technical fall over Michael Doubek (36-11) of BBE in the title match.

The Lakers’ Dylan Jergenson (41-4) won at 220 by taking a 3-1 decision against Tim Peppel (28-4) of BOLD in that championship match. Jakob Swalla (30-4) then rounded out Minnewaska’s state entries by winning the heavyweight division with a close win (SV-1, 7-5) over Brady Ridler (30-9) of BOLD.

Other top-eight finishers for the Lakers were Nick Ankeny (106, fifth), Mason Schiffler (113, fifth), Jacob Blair (120, third), Chase Boelke (138, eighth), Mason Blair (145, third), Max Reichmann (152, fourth), Tyrone Walsch (160, fifth) and Nathan Rankin (182, third).

Kulzer just misses qualifying

Osakis had some close finishes in the Section 5A field, but the Silverstreaks fell just short in qualifying anyone for the state meet.

Senior Nathan Kulzer almost punched his ticket after taking third at 132 pounds. Kulzer won a 12-7 decision in the third-place match, and never got an opportunity at a wrestleback due to Landon Gode’s win over Blaine Fischer in the championship. Fischer secured that second spot at state at 132 pounds because he had already beaten Kulzer in a close match (TB-1, 4-2) during the semifinals. Kulzer wrapped up his standout career for the Silverstreaks by finishing his senior year with a 29-11 record.

Osakis added three other fourth-place finishes at sections. Jacob Taplin (18-25) accomplished that at 106 pounds. Logan Grove (28-11) was fourth at 113 pounds, and Kale Drevlow (16-23) won his 50th career match during the meet on his way to fourth place at 145 pounds.

Osakis’ other top-eight finishes came from Gaven Cimbura (120, eighth), Carsten Jacobson (138, fifth), Tyson Hagedon (152, eighth) and Nathan Bjerk (182, seventh).