ST. PAUL – Detroit Lakes' Cade Jackson made the most of his wrestle-back opportunity on the connotation bracket at the state individual wrestling tournament over the weekend.
After winning his opening-round matchup against Mora's Connor Gmahl in a 7-0 decision, Jackson fought his way through the left side of the bracket to a sixth-place finish at 160-pounds in the Class AA field. Dassel-Cokato-Litchfield's Jude Link, who eventually won the state title, sent Jackson to the consolation bracket in the quarterfinals.
Jackson then pinned Brooklyn Center-Concordia Academy's Jefferson Johnson in 1:37 before edging out Hibbing's Bryson Larabee 3-1 in the consolation quarterfinals.
Jackson took on Simley's Travis Smith in the consolation semifinal round and fell in a 13-7 decision. Jonathan Harvey of Lake City won the fifth-place match in a 4-0 decision. Jackson was the lone Laker to come away with a top-6 finish at state.
At 138-pounds, Bradly Swiers won his opening-round match against Chisago Lakes' Brycen Morely with a pin in 3:01. Swiers then fell to New Prague's Koy Buegens before pinning Minneapolis South's Brandon Reyes in 58 seconds in the consolation bracket. He then lost in a tightly-contested 5-2 decision to Princeton's Ethan Ballweber.
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Tyson Ullyot suffered a similar fate at 145-pounds. He pinned Aitkin's Kenny Erickson in his first match before falling in the quarterfinals to Simley's Kaiden Schrandt. Ullyott took on MAHACA's Caden Rose, who narrowly won 6-5 in the consolation bracket. He scored an escape point with nine seconds left in the third period to knock off the Detroit Lakes junior.
Jeffrey Moen wrestled in the opening round against St. Paul Como Park's Aaron Adekplovi, who scored a pin in 3:06. Moen didn't get a chance at a wrestle-back in the consolation bracket.
Best of the rest
United Clay Becker's Taylor Johnson took on the top seed in the Class AA tournament at 126-pounds. St. Francis' Tyson Charmoli beat Johnson in a 19-4 technical fall, sending the junior Bulldog to the consolation bracket. Scott West's Zach Tracy pinned Johnson in 2:05.
Frazee had four wrestlers compete at state. Jake Nagel fell in the opening round to Maple River-USC's Konner Harpestad in a 4-0 decision and did not get a wrestle-back opportunity. Cade Nagel suffered a similar fate after a 9-1 major decision loss against Saint Clair-Mankato Loyola's Simon Kruse at 113-pounds.
Belgrade-Brooten-Elroa's Walker Bents pinned Frazee's Bailey Peichel in 3:41 in the first round of the Class A 132-pound tournament. Peichel then wrestled West Central Area-Ashby-Brandon-Evansville's Hunter Gruchow in the first round of the consolation bracket and suffered a pin in 2:16.
Daniel Graham ran into the eventual state champion at 170-pounds in his opening-round match. WCA-A-B-E's Anthony Sykora won by technical fall in 2:33, sending Graham to the consolation bracket. Tracy-Milroy-BalatonWestbrook-Walnut Grove's Caden Johnson pinned him in 3:11.
Mahnomen-Waubun's Domanik Niesen also opened his state tournament run with a first-round match against the eventual state champion. Jackson County Central's Nolan Ambrose pinned Niesen in 1:12. His tournament ended in the consolation bracket with a 6-2 defeat at the hands of WEJW's Carson Petry.
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Will Olson made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the 160-pound consolation bracket before falling to BBE's Maximus Hanson 9-1. Olson dropped his opening-round match against Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead's Isaac Busse 12-2. Olson then beat Ottertail Central's Jaxon Rich by fall in 2:46 before falling to Hanson.
