
By Brenda Erdahl
Annandale-Maple Lake wrestlers Cassen Brumm and Nathan Klatt will return to the State Wrestling arena for the second year in a row after top performances last week at sections.
Brumm, a freshman at Annandale High School, cruised to the finals at 114 pounds where he finished second to advance.
Klatt, an Annandale junior, wrestled at 285 pounds and also finished second to advance.
After a heart-breaking near miss last week at team sections the ANML Lightning competed in the two-day Individual Section 6AA meet, Friday, Feb. 23 and Saturday, Feb. 24 in Annandale.
Several other Lightning wrestlers came close to advancing but had to settle for third place despite tremendous efforts, according to Coach Ben Youngs.Brumm’s runner-up finish started strong with a pin. In the semifinals he was matched up against a Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted wrestler he had beaten multiple times this year by narrow margins. On Saturday, he left no doubt as to who was the better wrestler when he cruised to the win with a 10-0 major decision. In the finals Brumm lost to Bennett Kujawa of Becker on a 7-0 decision.
Klatt also started last week’s tournament strong, making quick work of his opponents. He won in pins of only :40 and :30 seconds. This set up the rematch with Grady Minnerath of Rocori, the eventual section champion at 285 and the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked wrestlers in the state. Although Klatt defeated Minnerath during the regular season, this time the Rocori wrestler came out on top. That sent Klatt to the wrestlebacks where he faced a solid Malich Moorhead of Princeton. Klatt came back for the win by fall in 3:02 for true second and a spot on the podium.
Klatt and Brumm will wrestle in the Minnesota State High School State Wrestling Tournament Feb. 29-March 2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Falling just short of advancing after last week’s section tournament by finishing third, was Porter Pribyl at 121 pounds; Ayden Fitzgerald at 133 pounds; Cole LaFave at 145 pounds and Carter Courtright at 189 pounds.
ANML wrestler Cassen Brumm will return to the Xcel Energy Center this weekend after finishing runner-up at 114 pounds at the Section 6AA Individual Tournament.
ANML wrestler Nathan Klatt will return to the Xcel Energy Center this weekend after finishing runner-up at 285 pounds at the Section 6AA Individual Tournament.
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