Gators Send Eight to State

by Coach Bergeron

The Gator Wrestling team traveled to Glyndon on Feb. 24^th and 25^th to take part in the individual tournament for a chance to advance to the State tournament in St. Paul at the Excel Center.

The Gators were coming off of their big weekend where they knocked off the Hornets from Frazee to advance to St. Paul as a team. Now it was time to see how many could earn their trip individually. The Gators had another great showing as they advanced eight wrestlers, who placed in the top two to earn their right to compete in the individual portion of the state tournament March 2^nd and 3^rd. Earning those trips to the big show were Devin Dostal 113, Isaac Novacek 120, Brandon Waage 126, Corey Hasbrouck 132, Tomm Ingle 160, TeJay Wojchowski 170, Timm Ingle 182, and Alex Yeager 285. The last time the Gators sent eight to state was in 2008.

Earning Section titles for the Gators were Devin Dostal, Isaac Novacek, Corey Hasbrouck, Timm Ingle and Alex Yeager. While Brandon Waage, Tomm Ingle and Tejay Wojchowski finished in the runner up position all earning spots in the state tournament.

Devin Dostal earned the first section title as he went 3-0 on the weekend capping it off with an exciting 7-5 overtime decision over Austin Skillings of Frazee.

Isaac Novacek took home the second section title dominating his weight class with a solid weekend and recording a pin over Kole Lefebvre of Mahnomen-Waubun. Isaac will go into the state wrestling tournament with a 39-0 record and currently has 182 wins passing past Gator standout Tim Blumer, who had 181 career victories, moving Isaac to 3^rd all-time on career wins behind Wayne Mooney and Gabriel Mooney. Congrats Isaac on accomplishing that great milestone.

Brandon Waage had a solid tournament, keeping the fans on their toes with two very close matches, as he knocked off Dylan Nistler of WHAN in the semi-finals 2-0 and fell just short in the finals in a nailbitter , losing 2-1 to UNC’s Jacob Malone, to earn a 2^nd place finish and a trip to the state wrestling tournament.

Corey Hasbrouck had the tournament of his life coming in as the #5 seed and proved that it doesn’t matter what you are seeded but rather how much heart and determination you put into it. Along the way Corey knocked off the # 4, #1 and #3 seeds to capture his first varsity title and a trip to the Excel Center.

At 160 pounds Tomm Ingle earned his trip to the state tournament the hard way as he lost a close 6-5 dec. on Friday night to WHAN’s Joe Anderson, but battled his way back on Saturday to earn a true second match with UNC’s Max Pajari. Tomm gave up the early takedown and battled back to take the lead before Pajari tied it late in the match to send it to overtime, where Tomm battled hard and got the takedown to earn the second place finish and a spot in the state tournament.

TeJay Wojchowski had some very close matches as he earned a hard fought win in the semifinals over Cody Piper of Frazee 2-1 before dropping an exciting match to WHAN’s Collin Huckbody 10-8. With the second place finish Wojchowski earned his second trip to state in his career. TeJay currently sits at 96 career wins and with a good team and individual tournament TeJay will have a chance to reach the 100 win milestone.

Timm Ingle showed he was the standout in his weight class as he dominated his way through, going 3-0 with 3 pins to capture the section title at 182 pounds, with a pin over DGF’s Kole Nygaard. Timm has been on a roll lately and is wrestling very smart and aggressive heading into the state tournament.

The final state qualifier is the #1 ranked wrestler in the state, Alex Yeager. Alex did not have to wrestle in the second period at the section tournament, as he dominated the whole way with 3 pins, earning the section title by pinning Alex Goodwin of Blackduck-Cass Lake-Bena in the title match. Alex is currently at 156 career wins,and is currently three wins behind past standout Chad Lorenson, who finished his career at 159 wins. Alex also has an astonishing 134 pins in his career. Way to go Alex and congrats on your success.

The Gators entered 13 wrestlers in the sectional with 12 of them placing in the top four, showing why the Gators were the team with the best balance in the tournament.

Ninth grader Wyatt Becker (106) has had an awesome year going 34-9, but Becker fell just short of his individual goal when he lost a heartbreaking true second match to Fertile-Beltrami’s Mitchell Lundeen 10-6, falling one place short of qualifying for state. This will just make Wyatt a little hungrier for next year. Wyatt will be a big part of the Gators success as he gears up for the team tournament on Thursday, March 1^st.

Another Ninth grader that had a great year battling juniors and seniors all year was Gunner Gust (138). Gunner currently has 23 wins on the year and went 2-2 in the sectional finishing 4^th and showed great promise for the future and will be a big part of the Gators success.

Jake Jenson (145) had a solid tournament and battled hard the whole tournament going 3-2 on the weekend and giving Jake 25 wins on the season. Jake had some entertaining matches, finishing 4^th in the sections.

John Westman was the final place winner in the sections. John went 2-2 on the weekend, placing fourth. John has been very entertaining  to watch this season and currently has 28 victories on the season.

Senior Brendon Dostal lost two matches, but battled hard in both. He and the Gator team will continue on in the state team tournament, as they will take on Lake Crystal-Wellcome-Memorial at 9 am from the Excel Center. If you are attending please look for the cheerleaders, who will be above the section we wrestle in to point you in the right direction, to cheer on the Gators to victory. The Gators will be looking to see and hear Gator Nation loud and proud as they battle for state honors.

            Individual first round matchups for the eight Gator state qualifiers are as follows: 113- Devin Dostal (8), 33-7, vs. Mitch Steffens (12), Wadena-Deer Creek, 20-4; 120- Isaac Novacek (12), 34-0, vs. Byron Forstner (11), Madelia/Truman/ Martin Luther, 24-9; 126- Brandon Waage (9), 30-8, vs. Dylan Herman (10), United South Central, 34-2; 132- Corey Hasbrouck (10), 14-20, vs. Logan Peterson (10), Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, 34-8; 160- Tomm Ingle (11), 35-7, vs. Stephen Erlandson (12), Breckenridge/Campbell-Tintah, 29-2; 170- Tejay Wojchowski (12), 32-4, vs. Nathan Tomala (12), Pierz, 35-3; 182- Timm Ingle (11), 18-2 vs. Travis Willis (11), Kimball Area, 32-11; 285- Alex Yeager (12), 33-2, vs. Tyler Jenson (11), Benson, 24-10.  

Coach Efrem Novacek and I would like to thank the Gator Wrestling team and the Gator Coaching Staff for their efforts this year. Without all of your efforts we would of not have been voted Section 8A Assistant Coach and Head Coach of the year.

Thanks for your support at the sectionals in Glyndon and we hope we can continue to make some great memories as the seasons wraps up with final wrestling from the Excel Center March 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd .