The Minnesota Christmas Tournament, traditionally the biggest wrestling meet of the early high school season, took place at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester over the weekend.
Christmas Wrestling Tournament produces familiar champions
The big event in Rochester revealed that wrestlers expected to succeed are doing just that.
December 19, 2022 at 9:53PM
The biggest takeaway? The usual suspects are setting the pace.
Simley, the No. 1-ranked team in Class 2A and four-time defending team state champion, won the team competition in the 34-team invitational with 485 points, just ahead of runner-up and No. 1 Class 3A St. Michael-Albertville, which had 467.5 points. Hastings was third with 430 points, Kaukauna (Wis.) fourth with 408 and New Prague fifth with 371.5
Simley won thanks to the depth of its roster. The Spartans had just one weight class winner — Prep Bowl hero Gavin Nelson, a running back and linebacker for the Class 4A state champs — won at 220 pounds, defeating Alex Riley of Waconia 13-9 in the finals. No surprise. Nelson is a two-time state individual champion and is ranked No. 1 at 220 in Class 2A. He will wrestle for the Gophers next year.
Waconia's Max McEnelly won at 195 pounds, defeating Cole Mirasola of West Bend (Wis.) 10-7 in the finals. McEnelly, another who is headed to the Gophers, improved to 13-0 this season and hasn't lost a high school match since his freshman year.
He was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.
Two finals pitted top-ranked wrestlers against each other. New Prague's Koy Buesgens pinned Anoka's Eli Paulson at 4 minutes, 32 seconds to win the 145-pound title. Buesgens is No. 1 in Class 2A, Paulson No. 1 in 3A. At 170, Kasson-Mantorville's Cole Glazier, No. 1 in 2A, downed No. 1 Class 3A Jed Wester of St Michael-Albertville 5-3.
Stillwater senior Ryder Rogotzke, who tied a state record last season with 44 pins, won at 182 over Connor Mirasola of West Bend (Wis.) with a fall at 3:23.
Five other No. 1-ranked wrestlers won their weight classes: Hastings' Trey Beissel at 106, his brother Blake at 113, St. Michael-Albertville's Landon Robideau at 132, Lakeville North's Zach Hanson at 152 and Eden Prairie heavyweight Will Sather.
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
