Tigers take 4th at state wrestling tournament

Published 5:41 am Friday, February 28, 2025

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The Albert Lea Area wrestling team took home fourth place as a team Thursday in the state wrestling tournament in St. Paul. Provided

Albert Lea's Logan Davis was named to the All-Tournament team for Class AAA Thursday at the conclusion of the tournament. Provided

Albert Lea's Logan Davis won all three rounds he wrestled in Thursday during the team tournament. Provided

Albert Lea's Brecken Wacholz at 189 pounds pinned Kohen Donat of Bemidji at 1:05. Provided

Albert Lea's Devon Groess wrestles in the state tournament on Thursday. Provided

Albert Lea's Evan Schroeder wrestles during the tournament Thursday in St. Paul. Provided

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The Albert Lea wrestling team was at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Thursday morning, beginning their quest in the Minnesota Class AAA state dual tournament.

As the No. 4 seed, the Tigers won their first matchup before falling to some tough opponents in the semifinals and third-place duals, bringing home a fourth-place finish.

Albert Lea came into the tournament ranked at No. 5 in the top Class AAA team, according to The Guillotine online high school rankings. Their first matchup was against No. 6 ranked Bemidji, in which they pulled out a narrow 33-26 victory.

The Tigers won seven of the 13 matches in that dual but were able to extend the lead with bonus point victories. Six of the Tigers’ seven wins earned the team bonus points. Logan Davis at 127 pounds, Nick Korman at 160 pounds and Brecken Wacholz at 189 pounds all pulled out six-point pinfall wins, while Devon Groess at 114 pounds, Brody Ignaszewski at 152 pounds and Evan Schroeder at 285 pounds all won in major decision to add four points each to the team total. Ryan Collins won in a 4-0 decision at 133 pounds to contribute three points.

The Tigers met a juggernaut in the semifinals, squaring up with No. 1 St. Michael-Albertville. Davis and William Velasquez were the only two Tigers to come away from the dual with a win. Davis, winning an 18-2 technical fall at 127 and Velasquez winning a 7-0 decision at 285 pounds. Albert Lea lost the dual 54-8 and St. Michael-Albertville would go on to become the state dual champions.

In the third-place dual, the Tigers took on No. 3 seed and No. 3 ranked Stillwater in the closest dual of the day. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they came out on the losing end of a 32-28 battle.

Gaining wins for the Tigers were Groess, Davis, Collins, Korman, Wacholz and Maverick Attig. Collins, Attig and Korman all won by pinfall and Wacholz picked up a major decision win.

Davis was the only Tiger to pick up a win in all three duals and was named to the Class AAA All-Tournament team at the conclusion of the day.

“The showing that we had was amazing,” said head coach Tyler Vogt. “These kids should be proud of the work that they have put into this season and towards our team.”