KoMets roll again at K-M invite

Coming off a dominant performance at the Winona Invitational a week ago, the Kasson-Mantorville wrestling team continued to keep its focus heading into their K-M Invite last Saturday afternoon. With plenty of competition coming from Class A power LeSueur-Henderson and other schools, the KoMets’ goal remained the same as they looked to become better than they were the week before.
That goal was accomplished as K-M produced 10 champions at their home invite and keep their eyes focused on keeping the level of success they’ve had along with improving with each meet.
“I think it’s just focusing on being consistent,” K-M wrestling coach Jamie Heidt said of his team’s success. “Coming off a good performance the week before, you have to make sure you didn’t have a letdown. We stayed focused and on task during the week and the guys performed consistently. They also wrestled better than the week before and sometimes, that’s very hard to do.”
Among the standout performances for the KoMets was that of Ethan Shea, who defeated Kaleb O’Reilly of Goodhue to capture the 152-pound championship. With O’Reilly being the top-ranked wrestler in Class A, it stood to be a big accomplishment for a competitor beginning to hit his stride.
“Being the second seed and knocking off that top-ranked opponent, that’s a really big accomplishment,” Heidt admitted. “He’s a guy that’s making stride and it’s his second championship in a row to begin the season. That’s going to give him a lot of confidence.”
Patrick Kennedy (d. Luke Wilson of LeSueur-Henderson at 170 pounds) and Noah Ryan (d. Trenton Rogich of LeSueur-Henderson at 220 pounds) also defeated top ranked Class A opponents and Nik VanOort won his first varsity championship by defeating Evann Fabian of Winona Cotter at 126 pounds to highlight the tournament.
The KoMets also picked up championships from Jared Johnson (113 pounds), Robby Horsman (120 pounds), Keaten Schorr (138 pounds), Isaac Haman (145 pounds), Brady Berge (160 pounds) and Brett Paulson (HWT) en route