The Goodhue Wrestlers completed a successful Freestyle season this past Saturday, May 21, with the State Tournament held at the RCTC University Center Field House in Rochester.Jacob Blattner, Kyle Drehmel, and Matthew Lexvold qualified for State and Kyle placed 5th in his bracket.The level of competition at this tournament is extremely high with some of the best wrestlers in Minnesota participating.
For those of you not familiar with Freestyle, this form, along with Greco-Roman, is one of the two styles of wrestling contested at the Olympic Games.High School wrestling, a third form, is referred to as Folkstyle.Freestyle matches consist of three fast-paced two minute periods focused on exposing the opponents back to the mat.The scoring is slightly different than in high school, but a fall is still the ultimate outcome.
The past two years we practiced in Lake City with a great group of kids from that area.This year, with travel costs extremely high, we held all of the practices in Goodhue.Tim Thompson and Kyle Huneke served as the Freestyle coaches and tag-teamed the role working around their availability due to jobs and school.This worked well and participation was high with as many as 24 kids and an average of 12 attending the practices.We held 15 practices from March thru May approximately two times a week.
The state qualifying tournaments, sanctioned by Minnesota USA Wrestling, are held on Saturday’s in several cities around the area from Owatonna to Apple Valley to Stewartville.Depending on the number of wrestlers in a bracket, one needs to place first through fourth to qualify for the state tournament.The culmination of the year is the state tournament held in Rochester.
Freestyle is intended to be a “fun” program for the wrestlers giving them an opportunity for some more mat-time, learn some new skills, wrestle in a few tournaments(if they desire), and have fun wrestling without worrying about cutting weight or what their record is.
With the great participation this year, we look forward to more kids giving Freestyle a try next year.
Congratulations Jake, Kyle, and Matt for qualifying for State!Congratulations Kyle for placing 5th!
Goodhue Wrestling 2010-2011 Varsity Post-Season Review
To begin, thank you to everyone who has been involved and participated in the Goodhue Wrestling program. All of your efforts and support contributed to an enjoyable and successful season the mat. On staff, appreciation goes to coaches Travis Goodman, Brandon Schafer, and Mark Schoenfelder, and statisticians/videographers Olivia Drehmel, Kendrah Schafer, Paige Hokanson, Christyn Hokanson, and Courtney Ryan. I hope you continue this support in future seasons as well, as it is very much appreciated.
In terms of team performance, the program continued to make considerable improvements over the past two years. In the 2008-2009 campaign, we held a 13-21 record. A year ago, we were .500 at 17-17. This year, we finished with a much more competitive record of 20-13. All but three of our losses came to ranked opponents, and many of those teams went on to earn state tournament honors. And most notably, one of our losses came to the #1 nationally ranked Apple Valley, MN, who we faced in the Robbinsdale Armstrong Duals. While we were not victorious, we were not shutout against their starting lineup, with Kyle Drehmel earning an exciting overtime victory over a state-ranked 119# opponent.
In the competitive HVL conference, we were 5-6. Along the way, we avenged losses to teams we had not defeated in the past two seasons but still succumbed to, among others, state place-winners Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Kasson-Mantorville. In the Section 1A team tournament, we defeated Dover-Eyota, but lost in the quarter-finals to state-ranked and section finalist Kenyon-Wanamingo. Overall, the coaching staff was very pleased with the level of continuous progress the program has made in the past 3 years and the increased level of commitment the wrestlers are making to earn those achievements.
Individually, the wrestlers continued to make progress that contributed to the team success. Perhaps the strongest factor was the level of lineup balance this year as 12 wrestlers had varsity records over .500. Earning 20+ wins included Justin Simmons, Ryan Tipcke, and Weston Gadient. Matthew Lexvold and Charlie Dicke earned 25 and 29 wins respectively, and Mitchell Breuer kicked in 30, one win behind team leader Kyle Drehmel’s 31. Not to be outdone by Drehmel in each category, Breuer turned in a team-leading 50 takedowns and a whopping 21 falls. Statistically, this means Mitchell pinned 50% of any opponent he faced this season, and 70% of the wrestlers he would go on to defeat!
As it does each year, the program says goodbye to a group of seniors. This year saw a collective 67 individual wins, defeating nearly 70% of their opponents. Like the rest of the team, seniors Tyler Breuer, Zach Carlson, Charlie Dicke, and Tyler Lexvold were excited when fellow senior Ty Stecklein was cleared in January to wrestle in his final season, returning from a knee injury that kept him from the sport his entire junior year. Four of these seniors went on to place at the 2011 Section 1A individual tournament: Tyler Lexvold (4th), Charlie Dicke (6th), Tyler Breuer (4th), and Ty Stecklein (3rd). Thank you to these young men for their fine careers at Goodhue.
There were many other accomplishments that should be noted. Charlie Dicke (145#) and Kyle Drehmel (119#) earned HVL All-Conference honors, with Mitchell Breuer (135#) earning Honorable Mention. Mitchell Breuer, Kyle Drehmel, and Charlie Dicke won their weight classes in the Chisago Lakes Invitational, and Kyle Drehmel and Matthew Lexvold each championed their bracket at the Cresco, IA Flanagan Invite.
Numerous career accomplishments were reached by the end of the season as well. Seniors Tyler Breuer, Tyler Lexvold, and Ty Stecklein finished with 50+ career wins, and Charlie Dicke came just nine wins short of 100. All of the four seniors had 25+ pins in their career. And sophomores Mitchell Breuer and Kyle Drehmel each secured their 60th win this season as well.
As student-athletes, the following students were able to carry a grade-point average of 3.25 or greater during the season: Zach Carlson, Dan Clugston, Kyle Drehmel, Matthew Deneen, Casey Deneen, Jordan Taylor, Matthew Lexvold, Mitchell Breuer, Logan Breuer, Jacob Gilsdorf, and Nathan Altendorf.
Finally, these wrestlers earned some very prestigious team awards. Olivia Drehmel earned the program’s “Extra Mile” award for all of her efforts behind the scenes. “Most Valuable Wrestler” went to Charlie Dicke and “Hardest Worker” went to Kyle Drehmel. Because so many wrestlers had made such remarkable improvement from the previous season, the “Most Improved” award went to three deserving individuals: Matthew Lexvold, Justin Simmons, and Ryan Tipcke.
Here is a PDF flier of the area camp opportunities for Goodhue wrestlers. Other camps throughout the state and region can be found at the Guillotine. All wrestlers 7-12 are encouraged to attend the Luther Team camp this year July 17-20. Also, more information for the Goodhue elementary camp to be held in July will be coming out soon.
The Land of Lakes Board of Directors has announced that the 2011 annual meeting has tentatively been scheduled for September 21, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. in the Goodhue High School Multi-Purpose Room.
The charter board member positions are set to expire this upcoming fall after their one-year term. From now on, board positions terms have a length of 3 years. If you are interested in serving in a board position and would like to learn more and/or get your name on the ballot, please contact Coach Grant.
Also, the next regular board meeting will be held July 27th at 7 p.m. in Coach Grant's classroom.
Reminder: The Goodhue Athletic Banquet will be held Monday, May 11th at 7 p.m. in Gym #2. Also, the Goodhue Athletic Booster Club requests that all wrestlers dress appropriately with a nice pair of pants and a collared shirt.
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has determined new weight classes to be implemented with the upcoming 2011-2012 season.
