Triton youth wrestlers excel at MN/USA state

The Triton youth wrestling team had fourteen individuals compete March 5-9 in the MN/USA state wrestling competition. The tournament had over 1,800 entrants from Pre-K through high school ages.  
Triton came away with four medalists including state champion Dylan Baker, state runner up Owen Garness, fifth place finisher Kiefer Olson and sixth place finisher Austin Scanlan.  In addition to these four, the other ten wrestlers competed extremely well with Cole Kodada, Alex Naze, Colby Dobbs, Abe Myer, Jaxson Sackett, Travis Redican and Mason Barker posting 500 or better records throughout the tournament.
Youth Coach Clayton Kodada stated, “The boys wrestled very well over the weekend and many of the other coaches took notice asking where we were from.  Many of the wrestlers were only a match away from placing and sent some very good wrestlers home.”  
The MN/USA tournament includes teams from across the state with no differentiation of school size.  Many of the brackets were extremely large with up to 70 kids competing in the same class.  
The tournament was filled with highlights for the Triton wrestlers, none of which was brighter than Dylan Baker winning the championship in the Schoolboy 84 division.  Dylan went 6-0 throughout the tournament, including a 28 second fall in the championship match.  Owen Garness also had a tournament to remember, coming in second place by going 4-1 in his matches.  In one of the larger brackets, Kiefer Olson finished in fifth place by going 8-2 in his matches.  Kiefer also finished the tournament ranked No. 9 out of 1,835 with five pins in a little over seven minutes. Austin Scanlan finished 3-3 earning him his sixth place finish.
The youth team is not finished for the year yet.  Many of these wrestlers and more will compete again in the coming weeks leading up to another large tournament (NYWA).  Head Coach Shane Van Beek has been impressed with the wrestlers, coaches and parents involved in this program the past year and is excited for what the future holds for Triton wrestling.