ANML state dreams doused, look to this week

By Brenda Erdahl

Sports Editor

The Annandale-Maple Lake Lightning ended its hope of a state meet berth and its season at the Section 6AA wrestling tournament last week with a winning record of 27-5. Now the team’s focus is on the individual section tournament Friday, Feb. 23 and Saturday, Feb. 24 at Annandale where they hope to advance some athletes to state. Wrestling begins at 5 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.

ANML 38, Princeton 27

The Lightning, as the high seed, played host to the Section 6AA tournament on Thursday, Feb. 15 at Maple Lake High School where they defeated Princeton in the first round to advance to day two in Foley on Friday, Feb. 16.

The Lightning dominated the Tigers through most of Thursday’s contest until Princeton rallied with four straight pins, but it wasn’t enough.

“Princeton had a hard time putting points on the board, as the Lightning won every match but one through the 152-pound weight class,” Lighting Head Coach Ben Youngs said. “Princeton’s only win was a narrow 2-point victory by their state-ranked 127 pounder.”

The Lightning called on Abby Gindele to get things started and she did with a win.  Porter Pribyl almost pulled off an upset against a state-ranked wrestler  at 127 pounds and Ayden Fitzgerald avenged an early-season loss at 133 pounds. The three ANML seniors all got wins, putting the Lightning up 32-3. Then the Tigers rattled off four straight pins.

“We had two starters out due to injury and illness concerns, and they took advantage. However, the Lightning had Nathan Klatt – who has only one loss this season – to seal the victory.”

HL-W-W 29, ANML 29 (Tie Breaker: wins: 7.0 vs. 6.0)

In the semifinal match, Murphy’s Law took over, and what could go wrong did against the Lakers, Youngs said.

The Lakers had seven wins, and that proved to be the difference, giving them the one extra point as the tiebreaker.

“We lost two matches with kids we had beaten earlier in the season, we lost some close matches, and we gave up a couple of pins in matches where we were wrestling well,” Youngs said.

In the deciding bout, freshman Adam Klatt almost pulled off the upset against senior and state place-winner Colton Long, but Long found a way to score near the end of the third and give the Lakers the win.

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