Huskies’ Zeman showed class despite team’s loss

Published 11:51 pm Monday, February 21, 2011

ROCHESTER — The Owatonna wrestling team had already lost when Albert Lea’s Carter Kortan walked over to the athletic trainers, stationed next to Owatonna’s bench, to get his battered knee looked at.

Albert Lea had secured the 28 points needed to end heated rival Owatonna’s season and advance to the state tournament.

While the 215-pounders were battling on the mat, Albert Lea’s wrestlers could hardly restrain their enthusiasm. On the opposite side of the mat that both teams poured their blood, sweat and tears onto, the Owatonna wrestlers sat hanging their heads — except one.

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Ben Zeman was near the athletic trainers, too, reaching out a hand in congratulations to Kortan, who he wrestled and beat just minutes before.

Despite tearing his ACL less than one month earlier, Kortan took the mat against Zeman with a massive black brace to inspire his team. He didn’t know he’d have an impact on his opponent, too.

“He told me he had a lot of respect for me and that I had a big heart,” Kortan said, of Zeman. “He was hoping for the best for me.”

When Kortan took the mat against Zeman, he wasn’t expecting to win. He only hoped to hold Owatonna to a three-point decision, which he did. But Zeman didn’t relish the fact that his opponent was injured even if he wrestled for Albert Lea.

“He said ‘I wish I could have wrestled you with a good knee,’” Kortan said. “And he hoped I would be healthy enough to play baseball.”

The Mayo Civic Center wasn’t where the senior Zeman wanted his career with the Owatonna wrestling team to end but his heart was in the right place.