Wrestling: An alternate experience for state

Feb. 24—The path to a state wrestling championship in a pandemic has taken shape.

After the Minnesota State High School League's Board of Directors approved postseason play for winter sports on Feb. 4, the idea of what a postseason under COVID-19 protocols would look like for wrestling remained a mystery until recently.

Now, teams across the state will prepare for altered section tournaments, followed by state prelims and, ultimately, the finals that'll take place from March 25-27. The MSHSL has St. Michael-Albertville High School listed as the tentative home of the 2021 state championships.

"It's going to be interesting; it's kind of neat the way they're doing it," Willmar head coach Ed Oehlers said of the state prelim format.

With a max of eight teams in the team bracket, sections will whittle down to a final two, that will then wrestle for the section championship at the site of their state prelim on Saturday, March 13. Afterward, that section champion faces the winner of the adjacent section to determine who goes to the state semifinals in late March.

"With both teams advancing to the state prelims and determining a section champion is nice for the future as far as records and some of the rivalries out there," Oehlers said.

The individual section tournaments follow a similar format, with each weight class down to a seeded eight-man double-elimination tournament. The top four remaining from each section enter the state prelims on Saturday, March 20, where that bracket will be seeded again. The No. 1 seed from one section will face the No. 4 from the opposing section while No. 2 will face the opposing No. 3. The top two from each state prelim site will advance, with a "true second" format used to determine the second qualifier.

There will be no individual section champions determined in this format.

Willmar and the rest of Section 8AAA is paired with north metro-centric Section 7AAA: Andover; Anoka; Blaine; Cambridge-Isanti; Champlin Park; Coon Rapids; Elk River; Forest Lake; and St. Francis. Forest Lake (11th) is the highest rated team in 7AAA.

In 8AAA, Willmar is ranked third in the latest poll while Bemidji is fourth.

"I'm excited because our section's been producing tough teams over the years, recently with us and Bemidji," Oehlers said. "After we beat Bemidji (on Feb. 9), they came back and beat St. Michael-Albertville (on Feb. 12). St. Michael wrestled No. 1 (Shakopee) and No. 2 (Stillwater) close."

In Class A, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City and the rest of Section 4A will be mixed in with one of the most competitive areas in the state in Section 1A, based in southeastern Minnesota.

ACGC head coach Mike Amsden said he was surprised at the pairing with Section 1A, thinking Section 3A was going to be the pairing.

"They have three or four really good teams that are taking turns beating each other," Amsden said. "It's tough to tell how good they really are; they don't leave the area too often and we don't have too many common opponents. But, Zumbrota-Mazeppa just beat No. 2-ranked (Class AA) Kasson-Mantorville. Grand Meadow(/LeRoy-Ostrander/Southland) has been a favorite in that section and they just got beat by Chatfield. Dover-Eyota has beaten Chatfield as well. It's kind of a toss-up."

Ranked third in Class A, ACGC hopes to win a fourth straight section team title. The Falcons also had 11 individuals qualify for state in 2020.

"(Section 1A) has been real strong over the last 10 years," Amsden said. "Individually, it's definitely going to be much harder (to advance past state prelims)."

Section 5A was already going to be a grueling test with three of its teams — Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville (1st), Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (2nd) and Minnewaska (6th) — all ranked high.

Now, the stakes get higher after being paired with Section 6A, which has a pair of ranked teams in Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie (5th) and West Central Area (11th).

"In a normal year, we're looking at trying to beat the back-to-back defending state champs (LPGE/Browerville)," said Jaguars head coach Jack Mueller. "With (state prelims), it adds another perspective."

Mueller added, "We have to take care of our own business. We have lofty goals, and when push comes to shove, we have to go through the best teams."

For the individual tournament, 5A has 26 wrestlers in the top 10 of their respective weights while 6A has 16 ranked athletes.

"You may see some previous state winners that may not have a two seed in their (state prelim)," Mueller said. "I haven't taken a look yet at individuals, but it's going to be a grind for everyone in the state. There's going to be some battles."