I for one cannot believe that we are already into the month of February and the post-season is only two weeks away.  The “grind” of the regular season will soon be over and teams will begin tweaking those little things as they look to peak heading into sections and state.  Teams sections will begin the week of February 14 and individual sectionals will begin the following week.  A lot can happen between now and the state tournament held March 3-5, but one thing can be guaranteed, the third season is upon us and there will be more blood, sweat, and tears shed than the previous two and a half months combined.

What a month we had in January.  First we started off with the CLASH held in Rochester, MN.  What a show of talent there was on display from every corner of the “states.”  I can only imagine how much work SEMWREC put into the CLASH and I’m still scratching my head on how they are going to top this year’s CLASH.  Apple Valley defended its title and number one ranking, as expected.  Simley put on a great display showing why they are worthy of their #6 National Ranking finishing third and rounding out the top 16 from the CLASH were STMA 10^th, Owatonna 11^th, Kasson-Mantorville 13^th, and Hastings 14^th.  That made for 6 of the top 16 spots held by Minnesota teams.  Minnesota has depth and showed that this state is more than just a “two horse race” when it comes to the national level.

Next we had the Kiffmeyer Duals held in St. Cloud.  This tournament has a long tradition of quality teams and great competition.  This year was may go down as one of the best yet!  Five of the eight teams held state rankings and this year’s winner Hastings avenged losses to Foley and STMA from a year ago and recently Hastings had lost to STMA at the CLASH.  In the semi’s STMA won 34-11 over Albert Lea and Hastings defeated Foley 40-12.  Then in the showdown of two powerhouse AAA schools Hastings came out on top over STMA 31-21.  In the third place match Albert Lea defeated Foley 37-24.  In route to winning the Kiffmeyer Duals, Hastings upset both #2 ranked teams in class AA and AAA.  Not a bad day’s work for a team that would have to upset Apple Valley to even make the state tournament.  Can someone say a state realignment is needed?  Hmmmm, I think so!  The down side for Hastings could be if Minnesota goes to 2 classes, which is very possible, they could then be in the same section as Simley.  Pick your poison I guess.

To round out the month of January Kasson-Manorville was host to the 15^th annual Bob Swalla Duals.  This tournament played host to #1 ranked Simley (AA), #2 ranked Kasson-Mantorville (AA), #7 ranked Stewartville (AA), #1 ranked JCC (A), and #9 ranked Zumbrota-Mazeppa (A).  This tournament played out just like the seeds had predicted.  In the semi’s Simley upended Zumbrota-Mazeppa 55-15 and Kasson-Mantorville used a pin at heavyweight to sneak by JCC 37-32.  In the championship match Simley would be too much for the KoMets as they rolled to a 41-21 victory in a battle of #1 vs. #2.  In the third place match JCC and ZM would face off in a slug fest matching pin for pin, but JCC would come out on top 42-36 for the victory.  After losing their opening match to Simley, Stewartville rattled off 3 convincing wins to take home the consolation title.  If you were not able to see the action in person you can go to flowrestling.org click on coverages and watch the action from this south eastern MN classic.

Some very worth wrestlers and coaches reached some amazing milestones for wins in the month of January.  We crowned a new career wins leader in the state with Destin McCauley winning his 263^rd match of his career.  Minnesota wrestling fans also witnessed many wrestlers reaching the 200, 175, and 150 win milestones along with two coaches, Don Krusemark of Mankato West and Perry Fink of Canby earning their 400^th coaching wins.  Here’s a list of 200, 175, and 150 win milestones:

200 Wins: Christian Skillings of Minneota, Clint Poster of Pierz, Zach Campbell of Tracy Milroy, and Garret Garness of Kasson Mantorville.

175 Wins: Cooper Moore of JCC, Shawn Hatlestad of New London Spicer, and both Mitch Andrews and Will McCarthy of Border West

150 Wins: Zach Freidrich of ML/LC, Jesse Munos of SSP, Gavin Larson of Chaska, Matt Tlougan or Byron, Will Baker of JCC, Tanner Carlisle or Prior Lake, Justin Stevens of NYA, Hayden Zilmer of Crosby-Ironton, Adam Kelling of Cambridge-Isanti, Anthony Gullickson of Totino Grace, Jake Forcier of Eden Valley Watkins, Tyler Mergen of Monticello, Sam Stewart of Andover, Travis Krammerer of Chisago Lakes, and Cody Tibbets of LCWM

During the past 2 articles I have given my “Sweet 16” for dual teams in all three classes. This month I will give my prediction for the 8 teams in order of seeds headed to the Excel for the “State Duals” on March 3.

Class AAA: Apple Valley, STMA, Albert Lea, Cambridge-Isanti, Prior Lake, White Bear Lake, Wilmar, and Centennial

Class AA: Simley, Kasson-Mantorville, Scott West, Foley, Wabasso/Red Rock Central, Monticello, Fergus Falls, and Milaca

Class A: AC/GC, JCC, Kimball, Frazee, Lake Crystal Welcome Memorial, Zumbrota-Mazeppa, Minneota, and Border West

For March I will be giving my Section run down along with State Tournament preview.  Until then, this is Paul Mann signing off, your state lead for Minnesota and Flowrestling.