Prep report: Northland wrestlers set sights on individual titles
Mar. 1—Five Northland wrestlers, three of them from Grand Rapids, remain in contention for state individual championships after the first day of boys competition at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.
Proctor/Hermantown's Zak McPhee opened his tournament at the 189AA bracket by pinning Owen Nelson of Kasson-Mantorville at the 5:07 mark, then booked a place in the semifinals by taking a 10-0 major decision over Danny Martin of Simley.
McPhee will meet Dylan Thomas of Scott West in the semifinals on Saturday.
At 172AA, Damian Tapio of Rock Ridge won his opener by technical fall, 16-1 over Myles Reichmann of Minnewaska, then edged Vristol Short of Simley 3-2 in round two. He'll face Bryce Burkett of Watertown Mayer/Mayer Lutheran for a berth in the state championship match.
Meanwhile, three Grand Rapids wrestlers started 2-0: Christian Jelle at 127AA, Alex Lehmann at 133AA and Justin Jobe at 145AA.
Two others, Aidan Thiesen of Cloquet-Esko-Carlton and Ian Larrabee of Hibbing, are still wrestling despite getting knocked out of contention for a championship.
Thiesen prevailed 10-2 over Samuel Moore of Zumbrota-Mazeppa but lost his second-rounder to Austin Gzywinski of Simley. However, he won his first consolation match by another major (10-0) decision.
Larrabee's matches have all ended early, with three pins, two by him and one of him.
Girls competition will begin and conclude alongside the boys championship and consolation matches on Saturday.
Duluth swimmer Joey Zelen had the best finish for a Northland swimmer in state preliminaries held on Friday at the University of Minnesota.
Zelen finished in a dead heat for third place in the Class AA 50 free to earn a spot in Saturday night's final. His time of 21.07 seconds put him three-tenths of a second behind Rohan D'Souza Larson of Edina and Daniel Shelstad of Minnetonka, who also dead-heated at 20.77. Zelen is the only sophomore in the eight-swimmer final field.
Zelen finished 10th and just out of the final in the 100 free, but will be in a pair of Duluth relays that made finals, the 400 free relay, which qualified in a tie for fifth (3:11.02) and the 200 free relay, which was sixth in 1:26.48.
In Class A, Rock Ridge's Gunnar George booked himself a place in the 50 free final by swimming a 21.62, the fifth-best time, and in the 100 free final by swimming a 47.12 to land in fourth. Mesabi East senior Carter Steele will join George in the 100 free final after finishing seventh in 48.08.
The Tigers' season ended in gutwrenching fashion, as Dylan Leccia banked in a 22-foot 3-pointer from the right wing as time expired in the second overtime of a classic WIAA Division 3 regional semifinal Friday night, March 1 in Somerset, Wisconsin.
Northwestern had the ball and a chance to win with 1.9 seconds to play but overthrew the inbounds pass out of bounds. Somerset inbounded in its own backcourt and found Leccia,
who released on the run from long range while contested by Tigers players
and earned the Spartans a regional final date with Baldwin/Woodville on Saturday night, March 2.
After Northwestern blocked Kane Donnelly's shot at the end of regulation, Somerset won the tip and held possession for nearly the entire four minutes of overtime without taking a shot before both teams missed in the closing seconds.
Northwestern led 67-63 with less than two minutes to play, only for the Spartans to score the game's last seven points.
Gavin Williams had five points in the second overtime and finished with a team-best 14. Boden Teal added 13 and Austin Lahti and Daniel Voight scored 12 apiece.
Donnelly led all scorers with 25.
The Tigers' season ends 18-8.
The No. 1-ranked Eagles didn't give the Red Raiders much of an opening on Friday night, sweeping to victory in a WIAA Division 5 regional semifinal behind four players in double figures.
Isaiah Kastern scored 25, while Dylan Taggart and Kaden Corlett scored 15 apiece for the Eagles, who'll face 13th-seeded Luck in a regional final after the Cardinals knocked out No. 4 Turtle Lake and No. 5 New Auburn in the first two rounds. The game will take place in Minong at Northwood High School.
The Agates eked out a close win at home on Friday, March 1 with the help of nine 3-pointers.
Isaiah Hietala led the Agates with 19 points, while Thor Tokvam scored 15 and made three triples.
For Barnum, Bryce Ferguson had a game-leading 24 points, while Carlos Beckstrand tacked on 16. The Bombers go into the postseason 17-9, while Two Harbors is 15-11.
The Rebels went into the postseason on a win on Friday, March 1 in Willow River, displaying the offensive balance that has been their trademark.
Eli Youngs scored 19 and Adam Neumann 17 as the Rebels, who led 35-28 at the half and will carry a 19-7 mark into the section tournament.
The Tigers rolled into the postseason, with Isaac Asuma coming just short of a second triple-double in as many nights, finishing with 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
Andrew Staples added 18 points as the Tigers had six players in double figures.
