The STMA Knights wrestling team crowned four individual champions and placed 11 wrestlers in the “top three” of the 14 weight classes in capturing the team title in the STMA Invitational Tourney Saturday, Dec. 3.
The STMA varsity tallied 229 points to lead the 10-team field, followed by Waconia-183.5, St. Cloud Tech-165, Forest Lake-125.5, Sauk Rapids-Rice-99.5, Dassel-Cokato-95, Spring Lake Park-57, Cretin-Derham Hall-50, St. Cloud Apollo-45, and Robbinsdale Cooper-27.
“We didn’t have as many champs as we had last year, not as dominant, but I’m excited about how we wrestled, especially some of our inexperienced guys,” STMA head coach, Dan Lefebvre said. “This tourney was very competitive, tougher than last year with numerous state-placewinners, so for some of our young guys to get beat in the early rounds, then battle back for third was impressive. Our balance really helped us win the team title by a pretty big margin.”
The four individual champions for STMA included: Brandon Psyk (113 pounds), Patrick McKee (120), Jake Allar (170), and Evan Foster (220). Nate Nygaard (106), Zach Dehmer (132), and Nolan Schmitz (195) each earned runnerup finishes, while 3rd place medal-winners included: Dylan Hanson (126), Kyle Elkie (138), Carl Leuer (145), and Cody Schoen (152). Wyatt Lidberg (152) and Praise Dombraye (195) won 4th place medals as extra entrants for the Knights in the varsity tourney and Wyatt Bice (160) placed 5th.
In the Junior Varsity division, the Knights also captured the team title with seven individual champions. Winning individual JV titles for the Knights were: Cole Becker (106), Ben Kloss (120), Noah Monte (126), Hayden LeMonds (132), Gabe Anderson (170), Cole Jann (195), and Toby Dehn (220). Knight Harrison Wright won the title at 170 exhibition.
The Knight wrestlers host Rogers and Wayzata on Friday December 9th in a triangular starting at 5 PM, then travel to Prior Lake Saturday, Dec. 10, to wrestle three duals against Prior Lake, Simley, and Farmington, starting at 9 AM.
Finals Results for STMA wrestlers in STMA Invitational:
1st and 2nd place matches: 106-Derrick Cardinal (Forest Lake) decision over Nate Nygaard (STMA) 9-5; 113-Brandon Psyk (STMA) decision over Jared Spohn (Sauk Rapids-Rice) 7-5; 120-Patrick McKee (STMA) pinned Jim Burroughs (Waconia) 3:07; 132-Alex Kern (St. Cloud Tech) major decision over Zach Dehmer (STMA) 10-0; 170-Jake Allar (STMA) major decision over Austin Benner (St. Cloud Tech) 15-5; 195-Tyler Hugg (St. Cloud Tech) pinned Nolan Schmitz (STMA) 1:10; 220-Evan Foster (STMA) decision over Dylan Gluck (Waconia) 5-2
3rd and 4th place matches; 126-Dylan Hanson (STMA) decision over Luka Rakjic (St. Cloud Tech) 4-0; 138-Kyle Elkie (STMA) decision over Nick Rogers (Waconia) 6-1; 145-Carl Leuer (STMA) decision over Brody Schmidt (Dassel-Cokato) 13-6; 152-Cody Schoen (STMA) decision over Wyatt Lidberg (STMA) 8-6, OT
5th and 6th place matches; 138-Terrell Barnes (Robbinsdale Cooper) decision over Gage Mertes (STMA) 5-4
160-Wyatt Bice (STMA) decision over Logan Smith (Cretin-Derham Hall) 6-4; and 182-Aidan Schiltz (St. Cloud Apollo) by injury default over Max Jensen (STMA).