K-M wrestlers headed to state tournament

The Kasson-Mantorville wrestling team has punched their ticket to the state tournament! They will wrestling as a team on Thursday, March 2, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The KoMets faced Cannon Falls in the semifinals where they rolled past the Bombers, 63-9. The boys then sat and waited to see who they would face in the championship match between Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Albert Lea. ZM ended up beating Albert Lea by tie breaker criteria, 30-29.

K-M just recently wrestling ZM, winning by a wide point spread, 44-15. In that match-up, the KoMets took four swing matches from them. The Cougars came ready to wrestle their best this past Saturday.

Broc Vaughan (106) got things rolling in favor of the KoMets, winning by decision 4-0. Kalin Anderson (113) battled hard, losing by major decision to Noah Schaeffer.

Jonah Coleman (120) defeated Ryan Stimets by a narrow decision, 6-4. In their previous bout, Coleman cradled him up for a pin.

ZM took the next two swing matches, reversing the story line. Aiden Friedrich fell to #2 ranked Jack Krie by decision, 4-3. They will most likely meet up again at individuals this weekend.

Owen Friedrich (132) then lost 3-2 to Lucas Schiell. It looked as though Friedrich was in great position to score in the finals seconds of the match, but no points were awarded.

Senior Noah Swarts took center stage at 138. Swarts fell by major decision to Zayne Novek, 9-1.

Trailing 17-3, the KoMets needed to swing the momentum their way. Knowing that Sophomore, Jacob Duitsman, would not be in the line-up at 182/195 due to injury default vs Cannon Falls, Head Coach Ryan Hill needed to soon adjust his line-up depending upon who ZM presented.

Joey Kennedy went out at 145, just missing the technical fall, winning by major decision, 24-10 over Laiken Copeman.

Alternate, Kaylub White (152) was about to write his own Cinderella story as he closed in on a major decision, when he got reversed and pinned.

Now trailing 23-10, it looked like ZM had the KoMets on the ropes. Luke Swanson (160) defeated Kaleb Lochner for the second time this season, 3-2. Dominic Mann (182) followed Swanson, picking up another decision over Isaiah O’Reilly, 7-2.

Owen Nelson (182) fell to Ryan Lexvold, keeping it to a decision, 5-1.

Down 23-16, K-M’s seniors, Cole Glazier, Eli Richardson, and Health Parrish, flexed their muscled pinning out the rest of ZM’s line-up. The KoMets went on to win the dual, 34-23.

“I’m super proud of our guys and the way they competed this weekend. Things didn’t go exactly as we planned but they didn’t let it faze them. All year we’ve been talking about controlling what you can control and they did just that. To our guys it didn’t matter who we threw them out against or what weight it was at, they were just going to battle for their team.

We take a lot of pride in winning section championships. Maybe it wasn’t picture perfect and we have some positions to clean up yet and we need to stick to the plan better, but at the end of the day we are advancing. It’s been great to feel all the love and support from our family, school, and communities this weekend.

“This is such a great group of guys and they’ve come so far since the first day of practice. I’m looking forward to soaking up these last few weeks with this team and don’t want it to come to an end.” Said Hill.

Next up for the boys are individual Sections this Friday and Saturday at the Mayo Civic Center. Wrestling starts at 11 a.m. both Friday and Saturday.

Kasson-Mantorville defeated Zumbrota-Mazeppa 34-23
106 — Broc Vaughan (KM) over Jent Beyer (ZM) Dec 4-0
113 — Noah Schaefer (ZM) over Kalin Anderson (KM) Maj 11-2
120 — Jonah Coleman (KM) over Ryan Stimets (ZM)Dec 6-4
126 — Jack Krier (ZM) over Aiden Friedrich (KM) Dec 4-3
132 — Lucas Schiell (ZM) over Owen Friedrich (KM) Dec 3-2
138 — Zayne Novek (ZM) over Noah Swarts (KM) Maj 9-1
145 — Joseph Kennedy (KM) over Laiken Copeman (ZM) Maj 20-8
152 — Cain Lexvold (ZM) over Kaylub White (KM) Fall 5:55
160 — Luke Swanson (KM) over Kaleb Lochner (ZM)Dec 3-2
170 — Dominic Mann (KM) over Isaiah O’Reilly (ZM) Dec 7-2
182 — Ryan Lexvold (ZM) over Owen Nelson (KM) Dec 5-1
195 — Cole Glazier (KM) over Max Ramer (ZM) Fall 2:09
220 — Eli Richardson (KM) over Wyatt Mulder (ZM) Fall 2:18
285 — Heath Parrish (KM) over Tucker Buck (ZM) Fall 1:08

Kasson-Mantorville defeated Cannon Falls 63-9
106 — Broc Vaughan (KM) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
113 — Kalin Anderson (KM) over Adam Parish (CF) Dec 4-2
120 — Jonah Coleman (KM) over Caiden Walrod (CF) Fall 1:00
126 — Aiden Friedrich (KM) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
132 — Owen Friedrich (KM) over Calvin Singewald (CF) Dec 4-1
138 — Noah Swarts (KM) over Jonathon Opelt (CF) Maj 9-1
145 — Joseph Kennedy (KM) over Lucas Freeberg (CF) Fall 1:11
152 — Luke Swanson (KM) over Jaeden Baird (CF) TF 22-4
160 — Dominic Mann (KM) over Kyle Erlanson (CF) Fall 2:51
170 — Colten Black (CF) over Owen Nelson (KM) Dec 5-3
182 — Cole Glazier (KM) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
195 — Tristan Zingler (CF) over Jacob Duitsman (KM) Inj 4:23
220 — Eli Richardson (KM) over Teigan Baird (CF) Fall 0:32
285 — Heath Parrish (KM) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf