New Prague moved up in the team rankings with their win over Anoka and improved their dual record to 4-2.

Colby Dunkel remains ranked but this week at #6 at 106lbs.

Joey Novak #10 at 113lbs.

Nick Novak   #3  at 120lbs.

Max Scheffler  #9 at 152lbs.

Brennan Rutt #5 at 195lbs.

Go Trojans!

New Prague improves their season record to 4-2 with victories over Rochester John Marshall and Tri-City United.

New Prague rolled over Rochester John Marshall with a 73-6 rout. Everyone wrestled pretty well for the Trojans in what was a relatively easy match for them.

The second dual of the night under the lights was a little closer than anticipated. New Prague came our firing as usual with a pin by Joey Novak at 106lbs, a tech fall by Dunkel and another pin by Nick Novak to give the Trojans a 17-0 lead. The tides were turned over the next four matches with TCU taking all four.  TCU bumped up their 120 pounder #10AA Nick Johnson to 126lbs and he came away with a pin over Dorweiller. At 132lbs, Ryan Wagner got caught in a lateral drop and pinned by Caleb Whipps. Another surprising match had Simon Kajer getting caught in a cradle for another TCU pin and at 145, Jacob Vaughan seemed to shut down and had no offense losing 4-0. That brought the team score to 21-17 TCU. New Prague would recover and win the next six matches. Max Scheffler, #9 152AAA  made his season debut and came away with a nice major victory 20-8. Ethan Gregory picked up a decision at 160. Jay Skogerboe pinned Riley O'Malley at 170.  Jake Trachte had a decision win at 182, at 195, Will Busch continued his winning ways with a hard fought 3-1 victory over Tyler Schroer. Senior captain Brennan Rutt continued his perfect season with a pin over Sam  Miller. New Prague would drop the 285lb match and the final score was New Prague 42-TCU 27.

The New Prague Trojans hosted a few powerhouses at the New Prague Invite, which was held on Saturday. New Prague welcomed #2AA Simley, #7AAA Anoka and Eden Prairie .

New Prague started the morning off with a dual against Eden Prairie. The Trojans jumped out to a 18-0 lead after three matches with pins by Joey Novak, Colby Dunkel and Nick Novak. Simon Kajer, Jay Skogerboe, Jake Trachte, Will Busch, Brennan Rutt and Evan Anderson, all picked up victories. The Final score was 47-26.

New Prague would then face arguably one of the best teams in the stat,  Simley,  I think I'm seeing a trend here, as New Prague jumped out to an early lead with a pin at 106 from Dunkel, a decision win by Joey Novak at 113 and a pin by Nick Novak at 120. 15-0 was the score but then the Trojans ran into why Simley is ranked #2. The next six wrestlers are all ranked in the top 4.  5 straight pins including one from former New Prague wrestler Cael Berg, currently ranked #1 at 138. New Prague would stop the bleeding at 220 with a pin by Brennan Rutt and a great pin by Evan Anderson at 285. That brought the final score 44-27.

New Prague finished the day with #7AAA Anoka, again the Trojans were able to jump out to a quick lead with a surprising pin in the 106 match that had two top 10 wrestlers battling. Colby Dunkel ranked #6AAA at 113 pinned #7AAA at 106 Brendan Howes. Joey Novak continued his perfect season with a decision win over Brad Howes. Nick Novak improved his record to 4-0 with a decision over Carter Ban at 120.  Anoka would get the next three victories tying the match at 13. One of the pivotal matches occurred at 145, where Jacob Vaughan was filling in for Max Scheffler. Vaughan wrestled tough and even frustrated the Senior Tyler Young, to cause Anoka to lose a team point. Vaughan came away with a 7-6 victory, his first of the year. New Prague would drop the next two matches by forfeit and pin. Anoka would take a 25-16 lead into 170lbs.  The Trojans rattled off 5 straight wins the biggest being a pin by Brennan Rutt that actually put the meet out of reach. Evan Anderson was wrestling a good match when he made a mistake in the third period to lose by a fall.

Final score New Prague 31-30, the one point penalty after the 145 match was the difference. New Prague improves to 2-2 on the season.

Up next for the Trojans, we will be hosting TCU on Thursday night with varsity starting at 7PM.

The grapplers came out fighting in the first weight classes with nice victories. Joey Novak an 8th grader, recorded his first varsity victory with a decision over Zach Tracy at 106. Colby Dunkel continued with a major decision win over Tory Pumper. #3AAA  Nick Novak  at 120 had an impressive pin over Ashton Holbrook to make the score 13-0. But the tides would turn over the next several matches. 9th grader Luke Dorweiler made is varsity debut and actually wrestled pretty well against a strong Colton Bahr. Luke was in a close match but made a few mistakes late and gave the major decision to Bahr.  Simon Kajer had a tough opponent in #5AA Justin Stauffaucher at 132. Stauffaucher came away with a pin. The Trojans were missing three starters in the next three weight classes and it was a touch task for the fill ins starting with Ryan Wagner, who was wrestling for the injured Bryce Lofton. His opponent was #2AA ranked Tyler Shackle, a 2nd period pin made the score, 16-13 Scott West. At 145lbs #8AAA ranked Max Scheffler was out of the lineup which put an undersized Jacob Vaughan up against Jack Forgarty, which ended in a major decision for Forgarty. At 152lbs, New Prague was with out Carter Bornholdt with and injury, so 9th grader Jeff Bisek got his first varsity match against Colton Kerkow. Kerkow was too much and recorded a Tech fall.

New Prague was looking to get some matches back starting with Ethan Gregory at 160lbs, but he ran into #8AA Jace Demmers, Demmers came away with a major decision. At 170lbs, Jay Skogerboe lost a close match to Jeffrey Kasper. at 182lbs, Jake Trachte faced off against #10AA Jon Huss, Huss got out to a 7-1 lead and int he 3rd Trachte tried a big move an was caught by Huss for the pin. That brought the score out of reach of for the Trojans with the score 38-13. Will Busch scored a nice decision win over Trent Rasmussen. The lone senior in the line up for the Trojans was Brennan Rutt #6AAA at 195. Brennan came away with a pin over Hunter Stuffert. With the match out of reach coach Wagner decided not to throw 9th Grader Evan Anderson out to face #4AA Calvin Menke. The final score was 44-22.

The matmen are back in action tomorrow as they will be hosting the New Prague Invite. Teams that will be in town are #2AA Simley, #7AAA Anoka, Eden Prairie and United South Central.

New Prague will start wrestling around 10AM.

The PreSeason Rankings were released on Friday and the Trojans are ranked #11 in AAA. The Trojans also have 4 individuals ranked in the top 10. Nick Novak, Sophomore  #3 at 120lbs, Brennan Rutt, Senior  #5 at 195lbs, Colby Dunkel, Junior  #6 at 113 and Max Scheffler, Junior #8 at 152lbs.  The other Section 2AAA teams that are ranked: Shakopee #1, Apple Valley #2 and Rosemount #12.

The Trojans start practice on the 19th of November and start their dual season on November 29th at Scott West, #5 2AA, that dual will be wrestled at Belle Plaine HS with JV starting at 6PM.

A full weekend of wrestling will be held in New Prague on Dec 1st and 2nd at the New Prague High School. The Varsity will be hosting the New Prague Invitational on Saturday. It should be a great day of challenging matches with Anoka, Simley, Eden Prairie and United South Central coming to town. Wrestling will begin at 9AM.

On Sunday, the future Trojans take over the mats with The Doc Berg Classic. This is a MN/USA State Qualifier with youth wrestlers from around the state trying to punch their ticket to the State Tournament that is held in Rochester in March.

New Prague Wrestlers will be representing a few teams at the National Middle School Duals held in Toledo, Ohio this weekend. Wrestling for Pinnacle will be Joey Novak 105lbs, Colton Bornholdt, 100lbs, and Koy Buesgens, 90lbs. Lawson Eller will be wrestling for Wayzata Wrestling Club at 75lbs.

Representing New Prague were sophomore Nick Novak, 8th graders Joey Novak, Colton Bornholdt, Evan Farley, and Koy Buesgens, as well as sixth grader Lawson Eller.  Nick Novak wrestled in the 120 pound weight class. He finished the tournament with a record of 5-3 and finished in 8th place. Colton Bornholt competed in the 7th and 8th grade 98 pound bracket and came up one one match shy of placing.  He went 5-2 losing in OT in the “blood round”. Joey Novak competed in the 7th and 8th grade 105 pound bracket. Joey went 5-2 on his way to a 4th place finish. Also competing in the 7-8 105 pound bracket was Evan Farley. Farley battled hard and ended the day with a 1-2 record.  Rounding up the middle school kids was Lawson Eller wrestling in the 5th/6th grade 75 pound bracket. Eller ended the tournament 2-2 falling just short and losing his final match in OT. I’m beyond impressed with our kids willingness to go out and find the best competition in the country.  NP Trojans don’t back down!

Coach Wagner

On October 6th and 7th Koy Buesgens wrestled in the Journeymen Fall Classic in Schenectady New York.  He competed in the 90 pound middle school bracket.  This is considered one of the most prestigious preseason HS/MS tournaments in the country where athletes from 30 different states were represented.  Buesgens went 3-1 on his way to a third place finish.  Congratulations to Koy!

We had another middle school student athlete represent New Prague two weeks ago in the Midwest Mat of Dreams Girls National Duals in Iowa.  Destiny Lofton was invited to represent team MN.  She wrestled well and finished the tournament with a record of 2-2 while twice wrestling up a weight class.  Way to go Destiny!

New Prague had four individuals represent the Trojans at the competitive Intermat Classic in Edina MN.  8th Grader Colton Bornholdt wrestled tough but came up just shy of placing.  He went 2-2 on the day in the 100 pound weight class.  Another 8th grader, Joey Novak, competed in the 106 pound weight class.  Joey went 2-2 as well and placed 4th.  Sophomore Nick Novak wrestled at 120 pounds and took home 5th place.  Novak went 3-2 along the way.  Finally, senior Brennan Rutt finished in 4th place at 220 pounds.  

Click on the Registration tab !

Let's Go Trojan Wrestling!

November 29 @ Scott West

December 1  NP Invite (Anoka, Eden Prairie, Simley, USC)

December 6  Triangular (TCU, _______)  (Home)

December 13  @ Hutchinson

December 15  Northfield Invitational (NF, Henry Sibley, CF, Faribault, Lake City, Lakeville S., Mahtomedi, ME, Park, Roch Century, Rosemount, St. Charles, SSP, WEM/JWP)

December 18 Triangular (BEA, LeSueur)  (Home)

December 28-29 Rumble on the Red

January 5  TCU Invitational (TCU, LSH, PEM, ME, Triton, St. Clair)

January 11  HWY 13 Battle  (Home)

January 17  @ Delano

January 19  Zelinski Memorial @ Whitnall High School (Greenfield WI)

January 24  Orono (home)

January 26  Orono Invitational (Orono, Anoka, BSM, C. Heights, DC, East Ridge, Elk River, Hopkins, LCWM, Litchfield, Minn Edison, Minn South, Minn Washburn, MW, Osseo, St. Cloud Tech, St. Thomas Academy)

January 31  Waconia (Home)

February 7 Rosemount (Home)  

February 9 Minnetonka Duals

February 13 Opening round of team sections

February 15 Team Sections (Burnsville HS)

February 22-23 Individual Sections (Rosemount HS)

February 28-March 2  MSHSL State Tournament (St. Paul)

Guest Clinician - Hayden Zilmer

- 3x Mn state champion
- Divison 1 All American
- Currently wrestling for Mn Storm (International wrestling club/team)
- 2x Greco Roman National (USA) Team member
- 2x Freestyle National (USA) Team member
- Runner up @ the 2018 US Open Championship
- 2018 World Team Trials Chamipion
- Runner-up @ the 2018 Final X Championship

Guest Clinician - Rylee Streifel

- 3x Junior National All American
- 2x Junior National Finalist
- Fila National Champion
- Varsity Division 1 Heavyweight for the Minnesota Gophers

Guest Clinician - Jayson Ness

- 4x All American for the Gophers
- NCAA Division 1 National Champion for the Gophers
- Hodge Trophy Winner (Awarded to the nation's best college wrestler)
- Currently wrestling for Minnesota Storm; International Freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling team/club

The Summer Wrestling Training Registrations are now open!

Go to the Registrations Tab and click on Summer Wrestling Training!

Champions are made in the Off Season!

In order to qualify for NYWA State, a wrestler must place 1st or 2nd in districts to advance to regionals.  Then, that competitor must place in the top three at regions to advance to state.  To make it to state is an accomplishment, let alone place.  The three New Prague Wrestlers who competed at the NYWA State Tournament and placed were Lawson Eller, Colton Bornholdt, and Joey Novak.  Eller is in 5th grade and placed 3rd in the 70lb 5th & 6th grade bracket.  Bornholdt is in 7th grade and placed 2nd in the 95lb 7th & 8th grade bracket.  Finally Novak is in 7th grade and was the CHAMPION of the 100lb 7th & 8th grade bracket!

New Prague Wrestling had six individuals compete at Postseason USAW Folkstyle Nationals in the University of Northern Iowa's UNI-Dome at Cedar Falls, IA.  This USA Wrestling Sanctioned National Tournament attracts wrestlers from all over the Country.  Placing here means USAW All-American Honors.....  

Brady Westall Novice 82lbs 3-3 6th Place
Koy Buesgens Schoolboy 83lbs 5-2 5th Place
Colton Bornholdt Schoolboy 97lbs 1-2 DNP
Joey Novak Schoolboy 102lbs 3-3 8th Place
Nick Novak Cadet 113lbs 4-3 8th Place
Brennan Rutt Junior 195lbs 2-2 DNP

Corn Cob Nationals attracts some of Iowa's toughest competition to the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, IA.   New Prague Wrestling had 2 make the trip for the chance to bring home "The Golden Corn Cob".  

Cody Thompson competed in the 10U 75lbs bracket.  Cody wrestled tough and went 0-2.  Cody's second loss in the consolation rounds was close and ended in O.T by a  4-6 dec. New Prague Wrestling head Coach Dan Wagner said "Although Cody did not place, he had a very important experience against some of the toughest competition in the country".

Colin Buetow competed in the 10U 95lbs bracket.  Colin went 3-2 for a 4th Place finish.  After a loss in the quarters by a  4-6 dec to the eventual Champion.  Colin wrestled his way back to the 3rd place match.  After a close 10-11 dec Colin brings a 4th Place medal back to the New Prague Wrestling room.

The Weekend of Mar. 9th-11th made for a busy weekend for the New Prague Wrestling Family.   The MN/USA State Folkstyle Wrestling Tournament was hosted at the Rochester RCTC.  Of the almost 1800 Youth Wrestlers competing, 37 were representing New Prague Wrestling.   With some brackets exceeding 50+ wrestlers, the 37 NP Youth Wrestled a combined 147 matches.   Grandparents, Parents, siblings, and several Varsity Wrestlers & Parents made the trip to Rochester to support the Young Trojans.

Varsity Head Wrestling Coach Dan Wagner keeps a close eye on the Future of New Prague Wrestling.  He said "It was great to see so many kids, not only qualify for the Tournament, but have the courage to compete against the best in the State!  Of the 37 wrestlers competing, 11 placed in the top six!  I am extremely proud of all kids in the NP Wrestling program.  It takes a lot of courage to push yourself and seek out the best competition.  For those who did not place or maybe didn't win a match, know its not the destination...  but the journey that matters.  THOSE THAT STAY WILL BE CHAMPIONS!"

Team Stats:       # of Wrestlers      Total Match points      Avg. points/wrestler

1. Shakopee                  46                                      720                                      15.6
2. Anoka                         53                                      693                                       13.0
3. St. Francis                 31                                     677                                        21.8
4. New Prague            37                                      643                                       17.4
 

Individual results:

PeeWee Division:
Thomas Vanasek 0-2 DNP
Mick Flynn 2-2 DNP

Bantam Division:
Brandt Tisdel 2-2 DNP
Charlie Wagner 5-2 5th Place
Gavin Rau 3-2 DNP
Graham Lofton 4-2 DNP

Intermediate Division:
Henry Langeberg 5-2 5th Place
Hayden Malecha 1-2 DNP
Beck Swanapoel 0-2 DNP
Forester Lofton 2-2 DNP
Grady Connelly 3-2 DNP
Mason Deutsch 6-2 DNP
Hayden Braith 2-2 DNP
Vinny LaBelle 3-2 DNP
Zach Weeman 0-2 DNP
Andrew Baur 0-2 DNP
Cody Thompson 2-2 DNP
Owen Johnson 4-2 4th Place

Novice Division:
Elijah Lofton 0-2 DNP
Isaac Pumper 1-2 DNP
Easton Farley 0-2 DNP
Lawson Eller 5-1 3rd Place
Tommy Vaughan 2-2 DNP
Hayden Ungs 1-2 DNP
Austin VonEnde 1-2 DNP
Brady Westall 5-1 2nd Place
Colin Buetow 0-2 DNP
Luke Berg 1-2 DNP
Reven Tietz 1-2 DNP
Luke Herder 0-1 2nd Place
Luke Jacobson 2-2 DNP

Schoolboy Division:
Brandon Michel 2-2 DNP
Koy Buesgens 3-1 2nd Place
Colton Bornholdt 4-2 4th Place
Cole Herrmann 0-2 DNP
Joey Novak 4-1 2nd Place

Girls Division:
Hope Lofton 2-2 5th Place
Destiney Lofton 0-0 1st Place


 

The wrestling team finished with a season dual record of 24-6; while facing eleven teams ranked in their perspective class at the time we wrestled.  The Trojans ended the season ranked #12 by the guillotine in the programs first season in class AAA. The team made it to the section 2AAA semi-finals where they fell to Shakopee by a score of 12-48.

One of the highlights of the season was taking the team to Greenfield WI to compete in a 16 team dual tournament.  This was the first time in its 31 year history that the Zelinski Memorial tournament had a non-Wisconsin team competing.  The Trojans went 4-1 on their way to taking home second place. The only loss on the day was a 28-44 loss to Stoughton, who won the DIII state dual title in 2018.  The trip was a great experience for the program. The NP Trojans also competed in a six team round robin dual tournament at Minnetonka. The Trojans went 5-0 on the day and took home the title for the second consecutive year.  

Besides dual competition, the team competed in four individual tournaments in preparation for individual sections and state.  The first of four tournaments was at Northfield. The team finished 4th of 16 teams and had two champions in Nick Novak and Gaige Giles.  Max Scheffler also made the finals and took home runner up honors. The next individual tournament was a two day tournament in Fargo, ND. The Trojan team placed 16th out of 84 teams.  Individuals who placed were Gaige Giles (8th), Colby Dunkel (7th), Brennan Rutt (6th), and NIck Novak (2nd). One of the biggest asset of the Rumble on the Red is that everyone can compete.  We had a total of 35 matches between eight wrestlers competing. At the JV level we had two placewinners. Connor Scharf went 7-1 and finished 3rd and Bryce Lofton went 5-1 where he finished runner up.   The other two individual tournaments were the TCU invitational and Orono Invitational. At TUC the Trojans took home the team title with 220.5 points. Totino-Grace was in second place with 186.5 points. The trojans placed top 5 in all 14 weight classes at TCU.  Colby Dunkel, Gaige Giles, and Will Busch all took home titles while Taylor Woodyard, Jake Trachte, Brennan Rutt, and Tony Wacker took home second place. The final regular season individual tournament was at Orono High School. The Trojans placed 4th of 16 teams and had 6 individual placewinners.  Ethan Gregory, Max Scheffler, and Gaige Giles placed fourth while Brennan Rutt and Simon Kajer placed third. Nick Novak was the lone Trojan to take home an individual title.

The team competed in the Wright County Conference and had a record of 2-2 within conference competition.  Nick Novak, Gaige Giles, and Colby Dunkel were named All-Conference with Jay Skogerboe being selected All-Conference Honorable Mention.  

In the section 2AAA individual tournament, the Trojans had nine of thirteen wrestlers place in the top 5.  Two of these wrestlers were runner up and advanced to the individual state wrestling tournament. These wrestlers were Nick Novak (106) and Brennan Rutt (195).  Other top five place winners were Jacob Vaughan (4th), Bryce Lofton (5th), Carter Bornholdt (5th), Max Scheffler (3rd), Gaige Giles (3rd), Jake Trachte (5th), and Connor Scharf (5th).  Seven of the aforementioned will be returning next season for the Trojans.

Both Novak and Rutt experienced their first ever trip to the MSHSL State Wrestling Tournament.  Rutt wrestled well and went 2-2 and falling just one match shy of placing. However, he got some extremely valuable time at state that he can lean on next season.  Freshman Nick Novak went 3-3 on the tournament and took home sixth place, making him the first Trojan to place in state in class AAA.

Besides competition, the team was successful in other areas.  Once again the team gave back to the youth program through helping out at practices and competition.  The team, combined, put in just over 280 hours. Josh Anderson lead the way with a total of 23 community service hours towards the youth teams.  The team also earned an academic award from the MN Wrestling Coaches Association. The team was named a Gold Academic Team for the 2017-18 season as they had a combined GPA of over 3.5.  This is calculated by taking the top 10 of the teams 19 man postseason roster.

Nick Novak, a Freshman placed 6th at the MSHSL tournament at the Xcel Energy Center. Novak won his first round match with a pin over Tanner Holt of Eastridge. Nick's next opponent was the #4 seed, Blake West from Owatonna. This was a close match that was unfortunately decided by a judgement call by the referee. Novak was hit with two stalling calls which gave West 1 point. The final score of the match was 5-4 West. In the wrestle backs Novak had the lone female in the tournament, Emily Shilson of Centennial. Shilson is trying to make history as being the first female to win a match at the MSHSL tourney. Novak wanted no part of that history and came away with a nice 9-2 victory. After a pin in the blood round against Brendan Howes of Anoka, he would have the number two ranked wrestler in the state, Ryan Henningson of Winona. This too was a close match but Henningson's first period take down was the difference, 2-0 loss for Novak. That put Nick in the 5th place match against West again. Nick was looking for redemption. This one was a higher scoring match but the result was the same, West with a 12-7 win for 5th. Nick had a tremendous year and the future is looking bright for him!

Brennan Rutt also had a nice tournament going 2-2 and just missing the podium. Rutt had a nice first round win 5-4 over Nolan Schmitz from the AAA Champions STMA. Rutt scored a late take down for the victory. His second match would put him against the #3 seed and what would turn out to be the crowd favorite in Richie Hammonds from Anoka. Hammonds would defeat Rutt 16-6. Rutt rebounded with a Pin over Dan Van Ort of Mounds View. That would place him in the blood round against Hunter Schoenborn of Bemidji. That match ended with Rutt losing 7-0. A great second half of the season for Brennan just a Junior so we will be looking for big things from Brennan next year.

Congrats to both wrestlers on a tremendous season and representing New Prague Wrestling with grit and class at the State Tournament.

Junior Brennan Rutt and Freshman Nick Novak qualified for state after competing in the tough 2AAA Section Tournament. Rutt placed second at 195lbs.  after losing a close one in the finals against #1 Seed Jared Stewart from Lakeville South 5-3 in overtime.

In the 106lb championship, it was another clash of titans with Novak ranked #4 at 106lbs vs #3 Paxton Creese in the finals. This match was determined by a 1st period takedown by Creese, final score 2-0.

Rutt and Novak will begin their quest for a state title on Friday starting at 11AM from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.  Good Luck to these fine young men.

New Prague had a really good showing in one of the toughest sections in the state. Other place winners were:

Jacob Vaughan 4th 113lbs.
Simon Kajer 6th 120lbs.
Bryce Lofton 5th 132lbs.
Carter Bornholdt 5th 138lbs.
Max Scheffler 3rd 145lbs.
Gaige Giles 3rd 160lbs.
Connor Scharf 5th 220lbs.

The Future Is Looking Bright!

The final rankings are out just before the start of Individual Sections. The Trojans finish the season with a 26-6 Dual record and were ranked 12th in AAA. Great Season Guys!

Individually we have 4 ranked wrestlers in the top 10.  Nick Novak with a record of 41-1 is ranked #4.  Nick has a fantastic shot at not only going to state but placing.  Max Scheffler has a 26-11 record and is ranked 9th at 145. Senior Gaige Giles is ranked #8 at 160 with a record of 40-9. Brennan Rutt cracks the top 10 at 195lbs  with a record of 36-12, he is ranked 9th and he too has a great shot at making the State Tournament.

Good Luck at Sections!

The Grapplers came into the Section tournament as the #4 seed which meant they would need to get past #1 seed Shakopee in the Semis to advance.  The Trojans had an easy time in their quarterfinal match with Eastview winning 60-13.

The Semi finals would be tough as we would be facing the #1 ranked team in the State, Shakopee. The first match of the night would be an exciting one. #3 Ranked Paxton Creese from Shakopee vs #4 ranked Nick Novak.  After a scoreless first period, Creese scored the first points on a reversal to start the second. Novak would score an escape bringing it to 2-1.  A take down by Creese made it 4-1. Things would get interesting as Novak was awarded 2 points for a clasp and another for a full nelson. But that would be how the match ended  with a 4-3 victory for Creese. Colby Dunkel had is work cut out for him wrestling against a much bigger #5 ranked Ben Lunn. The size difference would prove too much and Lunn wins 14-0. Simon Kajer would put the Trojans on the board with a 9-6 win over Johnny Kroll at 120. Shakopee would go on to win the next 5 matches bringing the team score to 27-3. #8 ranked Senior Gaige Giles would pick up the second win for the Trojans with a 6-2 victory over Connor Raines. The only other victory was at 195lbs when Brennan Rutt picked up a fall. The final score was 48-12.

Shakopee went on to make history as they defeated #2 ranked Apple Valley in the finals 34-30 to reach the State Tournament. This will be the first time since 1982 that Apple Valley will not be at the State Tournament as a team.

Individual Sections will be held at the Shakopee High School with Quarterfinal Matches starting at 4:30 on Friday Feb. 23rd.

Gopher State Nationals attracted 1157 Pre-K - 8th grade wrestlers to the Monticello High School this past weekend.  With several different states represented.   This wrestling Tournament brought some of the best from the Upper Midwest together to compete.

New Prague Wrestling scored a total of 325 total match points, enough for 5th highest match points scored in a line of 252 different teams competing.   With 9 of 21 wrestlers placing 6th or better there was no shortage of medals or valuable lessons brought back to the New Prague Wrestling room.  Traveling Youth Coaches "are very proud of the hard-work, commitment and attitudes that our wrestlers bring day-in and day-out". 

With the MN USA State Tournament ~25 days away motivating the youth, not to mention High School Tournament time.  Expect the wrestling room to be busier than ever!

Gopher Nationals Most Total Match Points:
1. 435 Legends of Gold
2. 361 No Nonsense
3. 339 LAW
4. 334 Nebraska Boyz
5. 325 New Prague

New Prague Wrestling individual results:
Koy Buesgens 4-0  CHAMPION 80lbs 7/8th grade
Lawson Eller 4-1 2nd Place 70lbs 7/8th grades
Lawson Eller 4-1 3rd Place 65lbs 5/6th grades
Henry Langeberg 4-2 4th Place 50lbs 2nd grade
Grady Connelly 3-2 4th Place 60lbs 3rd grade
Evan Farley 3-2 4th Place 90lbs 7/8th grades
Joey Novak 4-2 5th Place 100lbs 7/8th grades
Andrew Bauer 0-5 6th Place 75lbs 1/2nd grades
Luke Jacobson 1-3 6th Place 155lbs 5/6th grades
Colton Bornholdt 3-3 6th Place 95lbs 7/8th grades

others competing:
Charlie Wagner 1-2 DNP 45lbs 1/2nd grades
Gavin Rau 1-2 DNP 55lbs 1/2nd grades
Hayden Malecha 0-2 DNP 55lbs 1/2nd grades
Zac Weeman 1-2 DNP 70lbs 1/2nd grades
Vinnie LaBelle 0-2 DNP 72lbs 3/4th grades
Owen Johnson 0-2 DNP 95lbs 3/4th grades
Mason Deutsch 0-2 DNP 60lbs 4th grade
Isaac Pumper 0-2 DNP 66lbs 4th grade
Tommy Vaughan 1-2 DNP 65lbs 5/6th grades
Brandon Michel 0-2 DNP 78lbs 6th grade
Brady Westall 1-2 DNP 86lbs 6th grade
Luke Herder 0-2 DNP HWT 5/6th grades

Jacob Vaughan a Freshman took home 4th Place 113lbs. at Minnesota 9th Grade State over the weekend! Vaughan came out with nice wins of 6-0 and 11-0 in the first two rounds. That put him in the Semi Finals against Blake Jagodzinske from Fairmont County West. Vaughan would lose to the eventual champion 9-0. In the 3rd place match, it was shaping up to be a good match with Vaughan getting the first take down, an escape and a take down by Dane Jorgensen of Bemidji made it 3-2. On a restart, Vaughan attempted a stand up only to get caught in a cradle and was unable to escape and got pinned. It was a nice two weeks of wrestling at Sections and at State for Vaughan.

Evan Farley a 7th Grader also qualified at 94lbs. This bracket was stacked with talented wrestlers and Evan ended up going 1-2 for the day. A great job by Evan representing New Prague Wrestling!

THE FUTURE IS LOOKING BRIGHT!