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Alex Goergen, Casey Stemper win state youth wrestling titles |
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Two Caledonia youth wrestlers, Alex Goergen and Casey Stemper, brought
home first place honors at the Minnesota Youth Wrestling Tournament
held in Rochester at the community college on April 5 and 6.
Goergen, the son of Dan and Melissa Goergen, placed first in the third
and fourth grade class. He pinned his first opponent from Wabasso, then
stuck his second-round opponent from Brainerd in 72 seconds, topped his
third-round opponent from Pipestone 4-2, and then won by technical fall
in the championship round to win the 115-pound class.
Stemper, the son of Ken Stemper and Julie Stemper, won the 160-pound class for seventh and eighth graders.
Stemper won his first match 15-0, pinning his second opponent, won his
third patch 4-1 and topped Nate Meixell from Lake Crystal 6-2 in the
championship match.
Stemper also wrestled in the team competition, going 9-0 in the weekend.
Stemper qualified for the National Eighth Grade Meet, which will be
held in Indianola, Iowa April 12 and 13. He will be representing the
Minnesota All-Star Team at 160 pounds.
Two other Caledonia wrestlers placed at the state meet. They included:
•Andrew Goergen wrestled strong in his first two matches. His
third match he came close but lost 5-0 to the eventual champ of his
bracket. He wrestled back to take third in state.
•Connor McCormick placed fifth at the seventh and eighth grade tournament. He picked up two wins and two losses.
Caledonia sent 10 wrestlers to the state meet. To advance to the state
meet, a wrestler must place first, second, or third at the regional
meet, which was held in March.
State highlights
•Kyle Cavanaugh wrestled with a lot of heart and came up short in overtime in his last match.
•Jacob Winjum started off strong only to fall short in his next two matches by 3-2 and 4-3 to end his tournament.
•Mitchell Schmitz had a busy tournament, as he wrestled four times on Saturday and twice on Sunday to take sixth.
•Willy Krage started the tournament with a loss, then won the next two
matches, only to fall short 7-3 to end his tournament.
•Shane Loken started the tournament by winning a close 7-6 decision, then lost his next two matches to end his tournament.
•Troy King wrestled well, but lost his first two matches to end his tournament.
Regional highlights
•Kyle Cavanaugh won with a 6-2 decision to place third.
• Andrew Goergen had 14 competitors in his weight class and wrestled solid to take first.
• Alex Goergen had only one wrestler in his bracket that he beat for first.
•Jacob Winjum wrestled strong and lost a close 6-2 decision to take second place.
•Mitchell Schmitz wrestled from behind to come back and take third.
•Ryan Pitts had picked up a close 8-6 decision, but then
lost to two strong technique wrestlers , which eliminated him
from continuing to state.
•Connor McCorrmick had two strong wrestlers in his bracket but defeated them to take 1st place.
•Austin Fitzgerald wrestled strong, but lost two matches, which eliminated him.
•Willy Krage had a strong tournament to place second.
•Shane Loken started his day with a pin and proceeded to take second.
•Troy King, being the smaller wrestler in his bracket, wrestled very diligently to take third.
•Casey Stemper rounded out the tournament with solid victories of a pin, 11-0, and 11-7 victory to seal first place.
It was a successful season with 12 wrestlers qualifying for regions and
10 for state. The experience and knowledge these kids
received is priceless and will forever help them in their wrestling
career, according to Coach Nick Frank.
Congratulation to all of our wrestlers from your parents, coaches, mat
clubs, and fans. Hope to see all wrestlers at our camp this
summer on June 9th -12 at Camp Winnebago.
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