Albert Lea wrestlers produce 4 medals at state tournament

ST. PAUL — The weight class changed, but the result didn’t.

After winning his first state wrestling title at 106 pounds as a freshman last year, Albert Lea’s Garrett Aldrich jumped two weight classes for his sophomore campaign.

He was ranked No. 1 in all seven editions of the Guillotine’s polls, and he proved he was the best wrestler in Class AA at 120 pounds when he pinned Waconia’s Travis Wagener to claim back-to-back state championships Saturday at the Xcel Center in St. Paul.

“It feels good,” Aldrich said. “It seemed natural for me to be out there.”

Aldrich racked up back points to take a 9-4 lead before he pinned Wagener in 2:54.

“It was neat because he goes out there in style with getting a fall in the finals of the state tournament,” said Albert Lea coach Larry Goodnature, who was the Section 1AA and Class AA Coach of the Year. “That’s pretty impressive. I’m really happy for him.”

The road to the championship match began with a 16-4 major decision over Simley’s Aaron Hingst in the first round. In the quarterfinals, Aldrich pinned Chisago Lakes’ Teddy Pierce, who was ranked No. 4, in 4:45. With an 11-2 decision over No. 3 Thomas Stageberg of New London-Spicer in the semifinals, Aldrich qualified for the finals.

Before the showdown with Wagener, Goodnature gave Aldrich advice.

“I told him to be intense, have confidence, to just do what he’s been doing all year and go out and get it,” Goodnature said. “You could tell he was focused and on a mission to get that title.”

Aldrich was the Tigers’ only state champion, but three of his teammates earned medals.

Before Aldrich’s championship match, Zach Glazier, Tim Christianson and Triston Westerlund battled through wrestlebacks to capture third-place.

“They went three-for-three in the last round, so I thought why not make it four-for-four?” Aldrich said.

Along with Aldrich, Glazier, Christianson and Westerlund concluded their seasons with wins.

Glazier beat a wrestler who defeated him twice in the previous two days, Christianson took on the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the first round and bounced the defending state champ from the tournament and Westerlund edged a wrestler who beat him for the Section 1AA title.

After a 17-0 technical fall in the first round of the tournament, Glazier faced Scott West’s Parker Huss. The pair met Thursday in the Class AA team state quarterfinals, and although Albert Lea won the dual 39-21, Huss won the 106-pound match 3-2. In the individual state quarterfinals, Huss edged Glazier again, this time 6-2 in overtime.

Glazier fell to the consolation quarterfinals, where he shut out Fairmont/Martin County West’s Jordan Wolter 6-0. With a 6-5 decision over No. 2 Hser Eh Pwae of Worthington in the consolation semifinals, Glazier qualified for the third-place match.

Meanwhile, Huss lost an 11-7 decision to St. Thomas Academy’s Josh Tarum — the eventual state champion — and fell to the consolation semifinals, where he pinned Waconia’s Garrett Voss in 2:21 to qualify for the third-place match.

It set up the third Glazier-Huss match in three days.

“I figured I had nothing to lose because I already lost to him twice,” Glazier said. “I used the same strategy, and I just had to score on my feet.”

With a 3-2 decision, Glazier beat Huss for a bronze medal.

At 182 pounds, Christianson started Friday’s action with a swollen right eye sustained during Thursday’s action at the team state tournament. He said the injury didn’t make him think twice about pulling out of the tournament.

“I just thought about how much I wanted it,” Christianson said. “It went past a physical feeling.”

Christianson lost his opening match 2-1 in overtime against No. 1 Isaac Florell of Totino-Grace, who beat Zimmerman’s Austin May — the defending state champion — in the quarterfinals 3-2 in four overtimes.

In the first round of wrestlebacks, Christianson was paired against May, and Christianson won 3-1.

“With such a tough draw, winning and making it all the way back to third would be just that much sweeter,” he said.

Christianson continued with a 5-2 decision over Austin Weidner of Milaca/Faith Christian in the consolation quarterfinals and a 4-3 decision over Kasson-Mantorville’s Noah Ryan in the consolation semifinals.

In the match for third place, Christianson beat Chaska’s Jonny Zarnke 4-1 in triple overtime.

Westerlund, ranked No. 2, was upset with a 4-3 decision in the first round of the tournament by Delano’s Kevin Kneisl, who was the eventual runner-up.

After falling to the consolation bracket, Westerlund started a spree of four straight wins.

He began the run with a 6-3 decision over Roseau’s Kieren Oksanen, beat Foley’s Saylor Schmit 3-0 in the consolation quarterfinals and added an 11-4 decision over No. 4 Kez Flomo of Totino-Grace in the consolation semifinals to qualify for the third-place match.

In the other consolation semifinal, Kasson-Mantorville’s Chase O’Connor beat Princeton’s Brent Chambers.

O’Connor beat Westerlund in the Section 1AA finals on Feb. 21, but Westerlund edged O’Connor 2-1 in triple overtime to take third place at state.

Westerlund said Glazier and Christianson’s wins inspired him to wrestle well.

“When my teammates do well, it always gets me up and going too,” he said. “It’s always a good momentum builder.”

Goodnature said he was proud of the effort the third-place finishers showed on their trip through the consolation bracket.

“It’s a tough road through those wrestlebacks, and to come back and get third, that’s a pretty neat accomplishment for Tim, Triston and Zach,” Goodnature said. “They really had a great tournament.”

Along with being Class AA’s Coach of the Year this season, Goodnature was also Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2009 when the team participated in Class AAA, he said.

“I have a great staff with a bunch of great assistants who put in a tremendous amount of time to make our program what it is,” Goodnature said. “Being Coach of the Year — they deserve it as much as I do.”

All of Albert Lea’s seven state qualifiers earned wins. Gavin Ignaszewski was 1-2 at 113, Beau Johnsrud was 1-2 at 126 and was eliminated by South St. Paul’s Trevor Oberg, who took third place, and Devin Nelson was 2-2 at 138 and was eliminated by New Prague’s James Berg, who took third.

The Tigers finished the season with four individual state placewinners, a 35-2 dual record, a Big Nine Conference title, a Section 1AA title and a second-place finish at the Class AA team state tournament.

“It was a fun year because all the kids trained hard, they listened to us coaches and the more success they had, the harder I think they worked in the room,” he said. “They got better throughout the year.”