United South Central junior Blake Legred has a chance at doing something no one from the school has ever been able to do — become a two-time state champion.

Legred cruised through the competition at the Section 2A tournament to earn a first-place finish at 126 pounds and a spot at the Minnesota state wrestling tournament.

After receiving a bye in the first round, Legred grabbed a quick first-minute pinfall over Jack Morsching of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. He picked up another bonus-point decision in the semifinals, with a 12-2 major decision over Alec Johnson of Kenyon-Wanamingo.

The championship final would end up being his closest match of the tournament, but he still won by a three-point decision, 5-2 over Max Ehrich of Blue Earth Area.

“We’ve talked a lot about how we want everyone’s season to end,” said head coach Rob Routh. “Blake knows the history he’s chasing; it’s been a big focal point this season. We feel as long as he can get one take down a match, we have a good shot at winning. Blake is phenomenal on top and is great on the bottom, so as long as we can get that one takedown we like or chances.”

Other place-winners for United South Central were Jacob Billings, eighth at 195 pounds; Masyn Elceback, fourth at 182 pounds; David Garza, eighth at 285 pounds; Micah Hamson, fourth at 138 pounds; Hunter Johnson, fifth at 145 pounds and Bryce Sonnek, third at 106 pounds.

Legred will no doubt have an upper hand on some of his fellow competitors with being a returning state champion. He will start his run at the 126-pound title as the No. 2 seed and will match up against Bren Salo of New York Mills. Class A first-round action is set to begin at 1 p.m. Friday.