Caledonia Argus

1970 state championship grapplers to be honored Saturday at CHS

Posted: 1/20/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

Caledoniaís 1970 state championship wrestling team will be inducted into the Caledonia Wrestling Hall of Fame this Saturday.

The ceremony will take place after the first round of the Caledonia five-team tournament at the high school, which is expected to be at about noon.

The members of the team to be inducted are Jeff Schuldt, Dean Wohlers, Gregg Meiners, Mike Ross, Paul Schutz, Cary Wohlers, Mark Lange, Bob Lange, Ron Meiners, Todd Seekins, Jim Denstad, and Darrell Bunge. They comprised the tournament team that year. Also to be inducted are managers Bob Burns and Robert Frisch.

Fans, friends, and family are invited to Elmerís Supper Club for a get-together at 6:30 p.m. that evening.

Caledoniaís 1970 state wrestling championship was the first ever by any Caledonia team. It was a big sports story across the state that March, because Caledonia was a small school, and there was only one class, as opposed to three classes today. Some of the previous state champions, like Cooper, Hopkins, and Fridley, had more students in their schools than there were people in Caledonia, which had a population of 2,563.

The team had a huge following at home too. It was virtually unbeatable in dual meets, and had reeled off 39 meets without a loss going into the 1970 district tournament. (It had six straight undefeated seasons from 1968-1973.

Bob Lange remembers that when he went to the state tournament as an eighth grader, coach Ed Ferkingstad predicted that the 1970 team could win the state tournament. Larry Thompson and Leo Simon also coached the 1970 team. It was Simonís first year, after a stand-out career at Winona State University. He would wrestle with the wrestlers in practice and demonstrate moves.

Post-season tournaments in 1970 were not team

against team, but were strictly individual. Teams scored points for advancement and placement, such as invitational tournaments today.

The Warriors, who were third in the Region One tournament in 1969, had a solid team all the way through with the above mentioned wrestlers, but it was particularly strong from 138 pounds on, starting with Mark Lange, who went on to win two state championships and one second place title.

They waltzed through the District One tournament that year with 127 points, 45 points better than second-place Harmony. That was nothing new. They had won the districts every year since 1968, and they went on to win 14 more in a row before the string ended in 1985.

Austin was favored

But Region One competition, with the one class system, brought them up against some powerhouses. Albert Lea knew Caledonia was for real, because the Warriors had beaten them 22-20 in their first dual meet of the year, before a gym full of shocked Albert Lea fans. (No other team scored more than 12 points against Caledonia that year.)

Austin was favored to win the region. Bob Lange recalls that they were ranked first in the state, compared to Caledonia being ranked fifth. Lange also recalled that coach Larry Thompson told the team that the Austin coach had said Caledonia wasnít that good. ìHe knew how to fire us up,î Lange said.

Caledonia prevailed in the 34-team tournament, scoring 78 points to Austinís 55. Albert Lea was third with 49 points.

The Warriors had four first places: sophomore Mark Lange at 138, his older brother Bob, a senior at 145; and seniors Ron Meiners at 154 and Jim Denstad at 175. Two wrestlers finished second: sophomore Gregg Meiners at 112 and senior Darrell Bunge at heavyweight. That meant that Caledonia would send seven wrestlers to the state.

There were some terrific matches in the region, like Bungeís 2-1 overtime loss to Dave Simonson, the defending Region One champion from Austin. Bunge was a big, solid heavyweight at 6-2 and 240 pounds, but Simonson at 6-6 and 260 pounds seemed to tower over him.

Bob Lange and Jeff Olson of La Crescent had wrestled many times in dual meets and other tournaments, and the matches were always close. Lange had won them all until Olson, the defending Region One champion at 133, beat him in the district finals, 2-1. Lange, who had won a Region One title twice before, got revenge in the region finals, winning 2-0 with a two-point reversal in the final 30 seconds.

Ron Meiners and LeRoy-Ostranderís Dave Cummins had a similar history and it showed up in their final two head-to-head matches. Cummins beat Ron in the District One finals, 3-1, then Meiners beat Cummins 4-3 in the Region One finals.

Meiners, who had finished second in Region One the year before at 145, would end up cheering for Cummins before the season was over.

Wrestlebacks were key

At the state tournament at Williamís Arena on the University of Minnesota campus on February 27-28, Gregg Meiners lost 10-6 at 112 to Keith Nichols of Crosby-Ironton in the first round, and when Nichols then lost in his next match, Meiners was done for the tournament. He couldnít wrestle back and get points for his team. It was bad luck.

But all of the other five wrestlers won their first match or were able to wrestle back, which was a key part of winning the title.

Caledonia had 21 points after the first day, and the experts speculated that Alexandria or Hopkins would take the tournament.

Bob Lange won his first match at 145, then lost to Dave Cain of Sherburn. Lange won his next three matches to take third. (Cain lost in the finals by judgesí decision to Dave Sheriff of Alexandria.)

Denstad won his first two at 175, then lost to eventual champion Brad Rheingans of Appleton, 11-1. He won his final match to take third.

Ron Meiners won his first match at 154, then lost to Dick Pike of Park Rapids. He won his next match, then lost to finish fourth.

Darrell Bunge won his first two at heavyweight, lost his next one, then won his final one to finish fifth.

Ron Meiners recalled that entering the finals, a lot of the wrestlers didnít know where the team stood. But he remembers that Spencer Yohe refigured the numbers and found a mistake in Caledoniaís favor. The team learned that if Mark Lange won at 138 and Park Rapidsí Dick Pike lost at 154, Caledonia would win, 50-49.

And thatís what happened. Mark Lange had cruised through the tournament up to the finals, winning 12-0, then by a fall, and then 6-3 over his first three opponents. In the finals he beat Doug Johnson of St. Louis Park 11-1.

Then Dave Cummins of LeRoy-Ostrander beat Dick Pike in overtime, 2-0. Had Pike won, Park Rapids would have been state champion by 52-50, since a win would have given his team three points.

ìAnd to have me root for him to win,î Ron said with a laugh about Cummins.

ìI told Dave, ëI had him worn out, Dave.íî Meiners said, referring to the fact that Meiners lost to Pike by one point in the first round of the state tournament.

ìWe made Dave an honorary member of our team,î Darrell Bunge added.

What a welcome home

The team celebrated in the stands as word spread that Caledonia had won. They celebrated that night in their hotel rooms. The next they had a police and fire truck escort -- along with about 300 cars -- from Spring Grove to Caledonia, then attended a rally in front of a school gym filled with fans.

Reinie Bunge, Darrellís dad, had a huge sign hanging from his boom truck in front of the school that said, ìWelcome Home State Champs.î

Caledonia Mayor Joe Lee told the people, ìThe last time I can remember as much excitement in Caledonia was in 1936 when the boiler blew up and we had two weeks of vacation.î

Team members stressed the team aspect of the sport that day in an interview with Howard Lestrud, sports editor for the Winona Daily News. ìOur plan all year was to work together, not to plan on losing and to give 100 percent not for personal satisfaction but for the team,î Bunge said.

Jim Denstad had a similar philosophy. ìWe have the greatest group of kids in the state and we all get along well and encourage one anotherís personal pride,î he said the day after taking third.

Coach Ferkingstad told St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Patrick Reusse, ìSometimes team spirit is not associated with wrestling because it is such an individual sport. But you better believe there was team spirit with this group.î

Mark Lange said the same thing: ìI did it for the team.î

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