Apple Valley, Eastview wrestlers pointing toward postseason
Apple Valley defeated Eastview 39-21 on Jan. 25 as the crosstown rivals wound down the boys wrestling regular season and geared up for section tournaments.
The postseason could include a rematch between the Eagles and Lightning at the Class 3A, Section 2 tournament Feb. 16 at Farmington High School.
“We’re going to be in the mix,” said Apple Valley coach Josh Barlage, whose team won the section team title the last two years. “It’s a year where I think one of four teams can come through our section, and we’re one of those four teams. Things could go a couple of different ways, but we’re hopeful that on Feb. 16 all 13 of our kids are going to be at their best, and we’ll see how it shakes out.”
The Eagles are 11th in the most recent state Class 3A rankings published by TheGuillotine.com. The highest-ranked Section 2 team is New Prague at No. 6. New Prague finished second in the 2023 state Class 2A team tournament before moving up to Class 3A this year.
Farmington was just outside the top 12 in the Class 3A rankings. Also competing in Section 2 are Burnsville, Eastview, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, Rosemount and Prior Lake.
The eighth and ninth seeds in Section 2 will wrestle Feb. 14 at Farmington, with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals Feb. 16. The semifinals and finals also will be held that day.
The highest-ranked South Suburban team is league champion Farmington, which was second on the Class 3A list released last week. Shakopee will compete in the Section 6 tournament.
Apple Valley and Eastview split the first four matches in their dual before the Eagles took control with four consecutive victories from 133 pounds through 152. Sebastian Castin started the run with a 7-4 decision over Aiden Enderlein at 133. Jayden Haueter, ranked second in Class 3A at 139, won his match by fall, as did Noah Trottier at 145. Tyler Laudenbach edged the Lightning’s Pierce Lewis 7-6 at 152.
Also winning for Apple Valley were Saitaro Kong by technical fall at 107, Andrew Roskosh by fall at 121, Myles Matthies by major decision at 172 and Marcell Booth by fall at 189. Kong is ranked sixth in Class 3A at 107 and Booth is fifth at 189.
Eastview junior Jack Bauer, who’s ranked fourth in the state at 285, won by forfeit against Apple Valley. Also winning for the Lightning were Aryan Karimnejad by decision at 114, Spencer Lee by 4-3 decision over Tyler Reed at 127, Logan Myers by decision at 160 and Landon Odegaard by fall at 215.
Eastview also competed in the Hastings Duals on Jan. 25, defeating East Ridge 56-9 and losing to Park of Cottage Grove 39-27 and fifth-ranked Hastings 44-22. Hastings is defending state Class 3A champion.
After the Hastings meet, the Lightning were 14-7 overall in dual meets and 5-4 in the conference. Bauer (33-6) is the first Eastview wrestler to 30 victories this year. Reaching 20 victories are Aryan Karimnejad (20-16), Lee (25-11), Enderlein (27-14), Lewis (22-18) and Odegaard (23-11).
Apple Valley will wrestle a dual meet at Watertown-Mayer at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Eastview will compete in the Robbinsdale Armstrong Duals on Saturday, Feb. 3.
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