The Gator wrestling team traveled to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul to take part in the Class A individual wrestling tournament, which took place March 1st and 2nd. Four Gators qualified by placing in the top two in their weight divisions the previous week in Glyndon. Wyatt Becker at 113, Devin Dostal at 120, Tomm Ingle at 160, and John Westman at 170. Dostal and Ingle both entered as section champs and Becker and Westman entered at sectional runner-ups.
Action at the Excel started on Friday as Wyatt Becker took the mat against Spencer Jennings a junior from Wabasso-Red Rock Central, Becker had a back and forth match with Jennings but fell short and was defeated by a 7-3 dec. Becker would now have to hope for Jennings to win in order to stay alive in the tournament. Jennings did just that as we defeated last years 3rd place finisher in Joey Majerus of Zumbrota-Mazeppa 9-1. This would set up a match between Majerus and Becker. Becker took an early 4-1 lead and batted back in forth for a very exciting match but in the end Majerus would pull away to win 11-7. Wyatt wrestled very tough and did not back down to anyone. Jennings went on to take 2nd place and Majerus finished in fourth. Becker had an awesome year for the Gators and finished with an impressive 27-10 record and continues to show improvement every year.
At 120 the Gators qualified Devin Dostal. Dostal started out with a bang as he took a commanding 5-1 lead. Dostal got into a tough spot as his opponent Clem Gerad from Holdingford laid back as Devin was on top and recorded a defensive pin to the surprise of Dostal and the crowd. This is something that does not happen very often but does happen from time to time. Gerad lost his next match to James Goman of Trinity School at River Ridge to eliminate Dostal from the tournament. The eventual Champion at 120 was Louie Sanders from Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, a wrestler that Dostal lost to by 3 points last year in team wrestling when the Gators took on Lake Crystal last year at the Xcel Energy Center. Dostal had a great season that did not get going until mid January due to injury. Dostal finished the season with a very impressive 18-2 record and earned his 2nd trip to state. The good news is he will be back for many more years as Dostal is only a freshman this season.
The third Gator to qualify was senior Tomm Ingle. Ingle entered the tournament with an impressive 32-4 record and was a section champ at 160 pounds. Ingle took the mat against a very athletic Carter Hanson from Blue Earth Area. Ingle took the early lead but gave the lead up late with a late takedown to fall to Hanson by a narrow 5-4 dec.. Hanson would go onto defeat Matt Whitcomb of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove –City 5-3 to give Ingle another shot at a match. Ingle and Whitcomb took the mat and were tied at 2 with about 15 seconds left in the match when Ingle lost his balance and Whitcomb was awarded a two point reversal and a two point nearfall to defeat Tomm 6-2. With the loss this would end the tournament and the career for Ingle. Tomm has a lot to hold his head high for as he was a great senior leader and had an awesome career for the Gators. Tomm finished the season 32-6 and finished with 145 wins, which puts him just behind standout Chad Lorenson on the all time wins list at #6 for the Gator team. Tomm left his mark as a hard worker and should be very proud of his accomplishments.
The last Gator to qualify was John Westman, better known by some as JDog or flying J. Westman entered the tournament with a very solid record of 32-6. John took the mat against a very strong Niko Anderson from Fillmore Central/Lanesboro/MC, Anderson had a very impressive 34-1 record but Westman battled Anderson and gave up two points late to fall 2-1. Westman became a big Anderson fan as Anderson knocked off a solid Isaac Josephson 4-2 in OT. This would set up a show down between Westman and Josephson. John was up for the challenge as he was tied in the match at 5 before pinning Josephson at 2:49. John would then move on in the wrestlbacks to take on a wrestler with only 2 loses as he got a late takedown in the first period, then dominated the action on top before pinning Jordan Gobos of Holdingford in the second period. With the win this would assure Westman would finish as a medalist. In the Consolation semi-finals John took on standout Aaron Bates from Sibley East, Bates entered the match with a 41-3 record and had just lost a close match to eventual champion Darick Vancura 5-3. John knew he was in for a battle but did not back down as Westman fell to Bates in a very fun match 9-4. This would set up John’s final match of his career as he would take on Frazee’s Tyler Ziegler. Westman was pinned by Ziegler the week before in the section finals. John fell behind Ziegler early but reversed Zeigler late in the match and pinned him to end a very solid tournament. Westman finished with a 3-2 record on the weekend and a very hard fought 5th place finish only losing to the second and third place wrestlers in his bracket. John finished the year with the most wins on the team with 35, and he will finish with an 83-39 record for his career.
The Gator coaching staff would like to thank all the Gator wrestlers for their efforts this season. They had a lot to be proud of as they finished with a solid 17-2 dual record this season and have several wrestlers win over 20 matches and a few in the 30’s. We would also like to wish the seniors John Westman, Tomm Ingle , Timm Ingle, Brody Rasmusson and manager Bailey Bergeron the best as they graduate this Spring. Thanks for all you did for the Gator wrestling team. We will miss you but our memories of you will last forever.
The Gator wrestlers would like to thank the fans and their parents for their support we could not do it with out your dedication to the Gator wrestling team. As we close the door on the 2012-13 season, we look forward to great things for the 2013-14 Gator wrestling team as we bring back a lot of wrestlers with solid experience and a lot of talent.
Go Gators!!
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