K-M sends three to podium

After being crowned runner up at the team state tournament, three individuals placed for Kasson-Mantorville in the individual state tournament last weekend, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

“I’m really happy for our place winners,” Head Coach Ryan Hill said after the tournament. “These guys have put the work in and it was good to see it pay off. There is no easy route to getting on that podium and it takes a lot of grit to put yourself in that position. It’s a long tournament and you get beat up in these high-level matches and they’re not feeling 100%. But everyone is in the same boat and it’s the guy that can push through it that many times advances.”

Aiden Friedrich

One of the best moments from the tournament, Hill pointed to, was Aiden Fredrich making the tournament as an individual.

“It was great seeing Aiden get the monkey off his back and just get to the state tournament. I was glad to see him get on the podium,” Hill said. “ He found himself in tough situations in some of those matches but he’s a competitor and worked through it to come out on top.”

Owen Nelson

Hill described Owen Nelson simply as “tough.”

“His blood round match was a lot of fun and showed how tough he is against the Fairmont kid,” Hill said. “Fairmont kid had Owen dead to rights for what would probably have sealed it but Owen just kept wrestling through the position to keep himself in the match and eventually get the win and find himself on the podium.”

Jonah Coleman

Hill viewed Jonah Coleman’s breakthrough tournament as last year’s, which gave him an advantage in this year’s tournament.

“I really felt Jonah getting on the podium last year was his breakout tournament and it showed this year and you could see (it helped) him handle this year’s tournament. He was calm and collected all tournament, punching his way into the semi-finals. He wrestled a good match in the semis, but fell short in overtime,” Hill said. “Very proud of how he shook it off and went after the next best thing, bringing home the 3rd-place finish.”