Apple Valley matches number for record of individual champions

After Apple Valley's first four competitors completed their assignments Saturday, the Eagles appeared on their way to another record-setting performance. Last year, they tied a state record by winning five individual titles at the wrestling state tournament, and this time, eight Eagles qualified for the championship round.

The record book will be a bit more crowded, but not with a new mark. Apple Valley once again crowned five winners in Class 3A, matching its mark from last year as well as Forest Lake's five champions of 1993. The Eagles strung together four early titles, by freshman Dakota Trom at 112 pounds, sophomore Matt Kelliher at 119, freshman Brandon Kingsley at 125 and senior Justin LaValle at 130, who won his second title.

Three-time defending champion Destin McCauley, a sophomore, lost to Bloomington Kennedy senior Robby Fisher at 135 and senior Joe Fessler lost to Hastings senior Luke Vaith at 140.

Junior Tyler Lehmann got victory No. 5 for the Eagles at 171, and senior Craig Kelliher was leading Coon Rapids senior Erik Berdahl 3-0 in the third period at 189. But Berdahl turned the tables and pinned Kelliher with 27 seconds to go.

"The whole state pretty much knows that my big move is the headlock," Berdahl said. "I was just waiting because I knew I could probably hit it in the third period if I was down. It feels great. I worked so hard for this."

Anoka had two champions: seniors Jake Begin at 152 and Jake Kettler at heavyweight. In a battle between future Gophers wrestlers, Danny Zilverberg of Wayzata beat Pat Smith of Chaska 3-2 at 145. The other 3A champions were eighth-grader Mitch Bengtson of St. Cloud Apollo at 103, Zak Coates of Henry Sibley at 160 and Tony Nelson of Cambridge-Isanti at 215.

St. Michael-Albertville's David Thorn capped a brilliant individual career with his fourth state title, defeating Kasson-Mantorville's Garret Garness 11-3 in the 125-pound title match. Thorn was the first of five University of Minnesota-bound wrestlers to compete in the individual finals Saturday.

"I want to get out there as soon as possible and start cheering the other guys on," he said.

• With his arms aching and his body fighting exhaustion, Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran's Drew Fleming held on to Simley's Dylan Wright and kept him from gaining a late escape to clinch a 3-2 victory, his second title in a row at 112 pounds.

"I thought about all the work I had done coming down to that one point," said Fleming, who finished 40-4. "I was not going to give it up no matter what."

• Unranked Devon Bonds of St. Paul Humboldt completed a dream run with a 6-3 victory over Fulda/Murray County Central's Justin Reinsma at 130 pounds. Reinsma is the brother of Elissa Reinsma, who made history earlier this week as the first female wrestler to compete at the state tournament.

• Matches at 130 and 145 pounds pitted the top two wrestlers in the state in 1A. Both times, the No. 2-ranked wrestler prevailed. At 130 pounds, it was LeSueur-Henderson's Jason Sunderman taking a 5-3 victory over River Valley's Tony Vaske. At 145, it was Benson's Ryan Thompson over Staples-Motley's Jordan Bendson.

• Christian Skillings of Minneota (112) won his second consecutive title, knocking off Jake Long of Canby 7-0 in the title match. Oddly enough, another Jake Long -- of West Central Area -- competed in the 140-pound title match and won 10-6 over Medford's Zach Kanzenbach.