Prep athletes of the week: Anoka wrestler's new move caps five-victory run

There were 30 seconds left in the 132-pound championship match at the Orono Invitational on Saturday and Springer trailed Litchfield's Sam Tibbets, the No. 8-ranked wrestler at 132 in Class 2A, by a point. It was time, Springer thought, to pull out the new move that has fast become his favorite.

Springer executed a "slide-by,"grabbing Tibbits' head with one arm and an arm with the other, then throwing Tibbits' arm over his head and sliding around him to earn the two-point takedown needed for a 5-4 victory.

"I'd seen the move before but I'd never really tried it," Springer said. "I learned it this year and I tried it out in a match against a pretty good kid and won. I thought 'Well, this really works.' I've had a lot of success with it."

The victory capped a 5-0 week for Springer, who improved to 26-5 on the season. He hopes his performance of late will move him back into the Class 3A state rankings. He was ranked earlier in the season but fell out after a tough week in some big tournaments.

"It's motivation for me," he said. "And if I see I'm wrestling a ranked kid, it gets me more pumped."

The junior 182-pounder has won 14 of 17 matches in January. He's won seven in a row, five by pin. He stuck all three of his opponents in the St. Croix Lutheran Quadrangular on Saturday, two days after bumping up to 195 pounds and pinning a foe from Cooper.

The junior forward was instant offense off the bench in New Prague's 83-64 victory over Waconia. She scored 20 of a career-best 29 points before halftime and finished 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. This after a 16-point effort in a 69-55 victory over Chaska.

It's been quite a January for the sophomore forward. She committed to Minn.-Duluth early in the month and has taken over the scoring lead for the Class 2A, No. 3 Crimson. Last week, she had six goals and four assists in three victories, bumping her season totals to 22 goals and 45 points.

The leading scorer in the state had a goal and two assists in an 11-1 rout of Hutchinson followed by back-to-back hat tricks in victories over St. Cloud Cathedral (8-4) andMound-Westonka (12-1). Meyers, who has committed to Maine, has 34 goals and76 total pointds

The junior 182-pounder improved to 29-2, highlighted by victories over two ranked wrestlers en route to winning his weight class at the Orono Invitational. He defeated Tyler Stenzel of Hutchinson 4-3 and No. 8-ranked Dalton Miller of Anoka in the finals.

The senior won all four events and posted a career-best score of 37.85 in winning the all-around in a dual meet with Maple Grove on Thursday. She followed up with a meet-winning 37.65 to take the all-around at the Cambridge Invitational on Saturday.

JIM PAULSEN