Contributed report
The Annandale-Maple Lake Lightning wrestling coop received a bit of a break this week after a frantic previous week that saw six duals in three competition dates.
The Lightning had just one dual meet in the final week of the regular season, and it happened to be against the top-ranked class AA team, Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran.
ANML faced W-M/ML on Friday, Feb. 7 at Watertown Mayer and it wasn’t easy. W-M/ML have three wrestlers who have signed with division one programs, and a total of seven wrestlers in the state rankings. Although the Lightning only won three matches and fell 50-10, they wrestled tough in preparation for the section meet, ANML Head Coach Ben Youngs said.
“The kids who went against their top kids did not back down, and that is what we were asking of them. Seventh-grader Avery Becker stepped in to battle No. 1 Joel Friederichs, and Brayden Fobbe battled No. 1 Titan Friederichs. Although both lost, neither rolled over–they made them work for their points,” Youngs said.
To read more about the highlights and stats on this team, see the sports section of the Messenger!