Medford's VonRuden falls just short in consolation round, finishes state tournament 1-2

St. Paul – Last year, Medford’s Willie VonRuden was just happy to qualify for the state tournament.
This season, boasting a record of 27-8, the young Tiger was looking to do more. If only he had more time.
In the first round of wrestle backs, Willie VonRuden seemingly looked that he was going to survive another round, building a commanding 6-0 lead off a trio of nice takedowns. Then, in the third period, he surrendered the lead to Tommy Wentzlaff of Sibley East, being pinned just 45 seconds into the third period.
The loss dropped the lone Medford state qualifier to 1-2, ending his bid to place at the 2017 state tournament as a freshman Friday.
“Coming into this tournament, his only losses were to a New Mexico state champ, a North Dakota state champ and a really tough kid from Maple River a couple times,” commented Tigers head coach Dennis Whitman. “So he’s wrestled some really stiff competition, and actually looks forward to that. It just didn’t go his way this weekend.”
VonRuden started his day off with a thrilling 8-7 win over Colton Weiland of Crookston in the opening round of the tournament. After sustaining a commanding 6-1 lead heading into the third period, He surrendered a takedown and an escape to cut the lead to 6-4.
 After Weiland cut VonRuden to get back to nuetral, the freshman allowed another takedown to make it 7-6, but would be cut again to make it a takedown match. With roughly 10 seconds left in the match, VonRuden was hit for his second stalling of the match, cutting the lead to one.  Despite it being a takedown match and no stalling call to give, the young Tiger was cool under pressure; something Whitman says is a reoccurring theme with his young grappler.
“He feels really comfortable on that mat, which is something you can’t teach,” added Whitman. “ It’s easy to understand why kids go out there tight and are nervous sometimes, especially at this tournament, but Willie (VonRuden) is always under control and calm. He doesn’t let the outside factors affect the way he’s going to wrestle.”
As Whitman noted earlier, VonRuden thrives when wrestling tough competition. In the second round, while he was still cool under pressure, he struggled to match up against top-seeded Lane Heim of St. Charles, falling by major decision 11-3.
While he may have fell short of his ultimate goal, Whitman noted that the character his young star possesses will help him rebound quickly.
“While it kind of hurts right now, especially the way he lost that last match, I think he is going to come away from here hungrier than last year,” he added.