OAK PARK HEIGHTS — After having its aspirations for the state team tournament dashed by Mounds View in the section finals, nine members of the Stillwater wrestling team extended their season by qualifying for state after competition in the Section 4AAA individual tournament on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Stillwater Area High School.
Mounds View, which ended Stillwater’s seven-year reign as the section team champion, totaled eight section champions and gained 11 individual entries for state, which is reserved for the top two finishers in each weight class.
The Mustangs and Ponies combined to account for 20 of the 26 state bids awarded in the section, followed by Irondale (3), White Bear Lake (2) and Centennial (1).
Stillwater produced three section champions and six who finished as the runner-up.
“Big-picture wise, I think we competed well,” Ponies assistant coach Steve Polakowski said. “It was maybe not our best day ever, but everybody is fighting for your life at that tournament so I’m pretty happy with that number.”
Six of Stillwater’s state qualifiers also advanced to state a year ago, led by placewinners Noah Nicholson and Cittadino Tuttle.
Tuttle, who placed third at 182 pounds last season and competed in the 215-point weight class most of this season, cruised to the section title at 285 pounds on Saturday. Tuttle (39-4) pinned his first opponent in the first period and defeated Centennial’s Marcus Whiting 19-3 in the finals.
Nicholson placed fifth at state at 107 pounds last season and qualified again, this time as the section runner-up at 114 pounds. The freshman was stopped by Mounds View’s Brett Swenson 8-2 in the finals.
Mikey Jelinek at 127 pounds and Cohen Lumby at 139 pounds joined Tuttle as the other section champions for the Ponies.
After receiving a bye in the quarterfinals, Jelinek pinned his opponent and the semifinals and defeated Arlo Brinkman of Irondale 7-1 in the finals.
Lumby enters the state tournament with a modest 11-14 record but he cruised through the section bracket at 139 pounds. The freshman advanced with a 12-7 victory in the semifinals and then pinned Mounds View’s Eli Claseman in the finals.
“He’s young so we’re really excited with his performance,” Polakowski said.
Three Ponies won matches for true second to earn their spot in the state tourney, including Joe Dauffenbach at 107 pounds, Cael Spates at 145 pounds and Mack Carlson at 189 pounds.
“We were pretty confident we should get those guys through,” Polakowski said.
Dauffenbach, a junior, defeated Mounds View’s Owen LaRose in the section team finals, but dropped a 4-0 decision in the rematch a week later. Dauffenbach (35-11) bounced back to pin Nicholas Nerdahl of Irondale in 1:02 to win the match for true second.
Spates (28-20) was pinned by Mounds View’s Brady Swenson in the finals, but defeated Noah Ludwig of White Bear Lake 11-7 in the true-second match to punch his ticket to state.
Carlson (12-5) spend much of the season sidelined by injury, but he extended his senior campaign with a second-place finish that took five matches to achieve. After getting pinned by eventual section champion Joseph Muhlstein of Mounds View in the quarterfinals won three straight matches in the wrestlebacks, capped by an 8-5 win over Tyler Cook of Centennial in the match for true second.
“Mack Carlson getting through was big,” Polakowski said. “He missed a lot of the season with health and injuries, but still found a way to qualify. For him to qualify as a senior is pretty special for him.”
The coach credited Carlson for working hard despite not being able to compete for much of the season.
“He did a good job of staying focused while he was physically not allowed do anything,” Polakowski said. “He was in good shape and fully prepared. It was maybe a shorter training cycle, but he had a good cycle.”
Junior Lindson Turner (32-14) earned a repeat trip to state for the Ponies at 160 pounds. He fell to Mounds View’s Colton Loween 5-1 in the finals but pinned Dah Title of Roseville in 2:14 in the true-second match.
At 172 pounds, junior Isaac Hunter (29-16) finished second after lost to Mounds View’s Ethan Swenson 7-0 in the finals.
Isaac Leonard (28-14) narrowly missed a state bid after placing third at 133 pounds. The eighth-grader received a first-round bye but then lost to James Walker of Mounds View 7-5 in the semifinals. He followed with a pin and a 5-4 win over Centennial’s Jaden Lilly, but did not get a chance to wrestle for true second after Christian Carlson of White Bear Lake defeated Walker in the finals.
Leonard defeated Walker 6-2 in the section team tournament the previous week.
“It’s a good learning lesson for Isaac,” Polakowski said. “Just because you beat a good once, the intensity level always picks up in the postseason.
“It was a tough weight class. The No. 1 seed was good so we kind of knew to give ourselves a chance we had to win that match with Mounds View again. He didn’t compete badly, but just lost that specific match. He’ll definitely use that for future seasons.”
The Ponies have prior state experience at several weight classes, but Tuttle and Carlson are the only seniors among this year’s state qualifiers.
The state team competition was scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 29 at the Xcel Center in St. Paul. The individual competition takes place on March 1-2.
“Looking at draws, it’s always tough but most are in position that we should be able to win one or more matches and wrestle late into the tournament,” Polakowski said.
• Also representing Stillwater in the girls wrestling state tournament on Saturday, March 2 will be sophomore Audrey Rogotzke, who is competing in the 142-pound weight class. Rogotzke (31-0) captured an individual state championship as an eighth-grader in 2022 finished as a state runner-up a year ago. She is scheduled to face senior Ash Strang (22-5) of Onamia in the quarterfinals.
Rogotzke could see a familiar face in the finals if both wrestlers advance. Annabelle Petsinger (16-1) of New Richland-H-E-G is featured in the opposite half of the bracket.
Petsinger defeated Rogotzke 10-4 in the finals at 120 pounds a year ago, but Rogotzke needed just 35 seconds to pin Petsinger in the finals of the Section 2 and 4 individual tournament on Feb. 9-10 at Redwood Valley High School.
The top two finishers in each of the four girls section tournaments advanced to state.
Individual results
107 — *Joe Dauffenbach (2-1, 2nd place): bye; pinned Benjamin Zaide (Ros) NA; lost to *Owen LaRose (MV) 4-0; pinned Nicholas Nerdahl (Ir) 1:02.
114 — *Noah Nicholson (1-1, 2nd place): bye; pinned Leeton Guggenberger (Cen) :57; lost to *Brett Swenson (MV) 8-2.
121 — Eli Nye (0-2, DNP): lost to Ryder Jacobs (Ir) 6-3; bye; pinned by Galvin Nathanson (WBL) 4:45. *1. Ryder Jacbos (Ir) and *2. Will Schneider (MV).
127 — *Mikey Jelinek (2-0, 1st place): bye; pinned Rowan Cariveau (Ros) 5:11; dec. *Arlo Brinkman (Ir) 7-1.
133 — Isaac Leonard (2-1, 3rd place): bye; lost to *James Walker (MV) 7-5; pinned Aiden Maskey (Ir) 1:54; dec. Jaden Lilly (Cen) 5-4. *1. Christian Carlson (WBL).
139 — *Cohen Lumby (2-0, 1st place): bye; dec. Amon Subba (Ros) 12-7; pinned *Eli Claseman (MV) 5:17.
145 — *Cael Spates (3-1, 2nd place): pinned Aiden Hausken (Tar) :58; pinned Elijah Moen (Ros) 1:17; pinned by *Brady Swenson (MV) 3:41; dec. Noah Ludwig (WBL) 11-7.
152 — Braden Hatalla (0-2, DNP): lost by major dec. to Evan Just (Cen) 9-1; bye; lost by major dec. to Kesean Woods-Lipscomb (WBL) 15-3. *1. Apollo Ashby (MV) and *2. Clayton Solberg (Ir).
160 — *Lindson Turner (2-1, 2nd place): bye; pinned Porter Cleary (WBL) 3:04; lost to *Colton Loween (MV) 5-1; pinned Dah Title (Ros) 2:14.
172 — *Isaac Hunter (1-1, 2nd place): bye; pinned Aaron Saralampi (Ir) 1:26; lost to *Ethan Swenson (MV) 7-0.
189 — *Mack Carlson (4-1, 2nd place): pinned Charlie Woodcock (WBL) 1:17; pinned by *Joseph Muhlstein (MV) :36; pinned Dupree Winkelman :16; pinned Woodcock (WBL) 1:49; dec. Tyler Cook (Cen) 8-5.
215 — Demarco Cavil (1-2, DNP): pinned by Mascud Mohamed (Ros) 3:08; pinned Jayce Cartagena Vinue (Tar) 1:08; pinned by Michael Streff (Cen) 2:44. *1. Quin Morgan (MV) and *2. Joseph Volk (WBL).
285 — *Cittadino Tuttle (2-0, 1st place): bye; pinned Zachary Carnes (WBL) 1:21; tech fall *Marcus Whiting (Cen) 19-3.
* State qualifier
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