Section 8AAA Wresting Preview
SARTELL SABRES
Head Coach: Cody Olson
Enrollment: 992
Section 8AAA
The Sabres had a very good season and back from that team are seven section place winners; including two state qualifiers and four others with a great deal of varsity experience. Dan Vitale, Brady Goebel and Drew Bienusa should be their key leaders thru out the season. Despite the graduation of three seniors last spring; look for the Sabres to make improvement on those dual meet marks. They will have a couple of very talented junior varsity wrestlers make a big impact this season. Look for this young team to make a challenge for conference and possible section honors.
- 8-9 Overall Duals
- 5-3 Central Lakes Conference Duals
- Ten Section Place Winners/Three State Qualifiers
- First Place Spectrum Tourney: 212 Pts. (13 Placers)
- Second Place Ogilvie "Lions" Tourney: 217 Pts. (13 Placers)
- Second Place Melrose "Early Bird" Tourney: 188 Pts. (13 Placers)
- Fourth Place Big Lake "Hornet" Tourney: 158 Pts. (12 Placers)
- Fifth Place Paynesville "Bulldog" Tourney: 131 Pts. (12 Placers)
- Ninth Place Redwood Valley "River Riot" Tourney: 101.5 Pts. (4 Placers)
Returning Wrestlers
Daniel Vitale 10th 30-4 1st Section/AC
Brady Goebel 12th 34-6 1st Section/AC
Drew Bienusa 9th 24-9 4th Section
Jon Pelach 10th 23-19 5th Section
Nick Jensen 10th 19-17 5th Section
Garrett Counter 10th 19-16 Injured
Zach Pederson 12th 17-19
Jake Fernholz 9th 15-19
Zach Motschke 11th 13-26
Sam Krauel 11th 5-17 6th Section
Kyle Karolus 12th 4-13
Abe Anderson 10th 3-11
Jake Miner 12th 3-14 6th Section
Nick Lenneman 12th 1-2
Eric McAfee 12th 1-1
Quinn Anderson 12th 1-1
Graduates
Josh Halicke 23-5 2nd Section (126-45 Career)
Jed Anderson 19-21 3rd Section
Collin Wervey 2-6
ST. CLOUD APOLLO EAGLES
Head Coach: Tim Bengtson
Enrollment: 1,031
Section 8AAA
The Eagles had a very good season as they posted 14-8 dual meet marks and 7-1 in the Central Lakes Conference. Despite the graduation of several good seniors last spring including two state place winners. Look for this young team to challenge those dual meet numbers. Grant Nehring, Mitch Bengtson, Bryce Kirchner and Matt Braun should be the key leaders for the Eagles thru out the season. Overall they return seven section place winners and three others with a great deal of varsity experience. Look for the Eagles to be a force to be dealt with in both the conference and the section dual meet campaigns.
- 14-8 Overall Dual Meets
- 7-1 Central Lakes Conference Duals
- Nine Section Place Winners/Five State Qualifiers
- Final Four Section 8AAA
- Second Place Big Lake "Hornets" Tourney: 169.5 Pts. (11 Placers)
- Third Place STMA "Knights" Tourney: 142 Pts. (11 Placers)
- Third Place Albany "Purple Pride" Tourney: 156 Pts. (12 Placers)
- Third Place Foley "Tom Keating" Tourney: 136 Pts. (7 Placers)
- Eight Place Shakopee "Sabre" Tourney: 83 Pts. (4 Placers)
- Fourteenth Place Fargo "Rumble on the Red" 101 Pts. (3 Placers)
Returning Wrestlers
Mitch Bengtson 12th 43-1 1st Sec./2nd State/AC
Grant Nehring 12th 43-3 1st Sec./State Champ/AC
Bryce Kirchner 11th 22-10 2nd Section/AC
Matt Braun 12th 26-13 3rd Section
Peter Nelson 8th 19-17 5th Section
Drew VanVleet 10th 17-13 6th Section/Transfer Mora
Dylan Mehr 11th 15-20 4th Section
Devon Johnson 11th 7-15
Jake Christen 12th 4-10
Nick Graham 10th 2-14
Ryan Stok 9th 3-5
Lucas Enneking 11th 1-2
Alex Pachan 8th 1-3
Graduates
Nam Nguyen 31-4 1st Sec./4th State/AC
Grant Dullinger 36-7 1st Sec./3rd State/AC
Nick Stram 17-8 Injured
Jerad Morford 8-25 4th Section
Steve Tran 3-13
Austin Rice 3-4
Alex Braun 0-4
Paul Greunnes 0-1
ST. CLOUD TECH TIGERS
Head Coach: Bob Boeck
Enrollment: 1,241
Section 8AAA
The Tigers posted a 14-12 dual meet mark; they will be making a challenge to improve on that record. They return five section place including one state place winner and five others with a great deal of varsity experience. Despite the gradation of four good senior including three section place winners; if the Tigers can stay healthy and improve over the course of the season they should make an improvement on those dual meet marks. Jarrad Neiland, Austin Klaverkamp, Noah Voigt and Cole Schreder should be their key leaders thru out the season.
- 14-12 Overall Dual Meets
- 3-5 Central Lakes Conference Duals
- Eight Section Place Winners/Two State Qualifiers
- Third Place Staples "Don Dravis" Duals: (2-1)
- Sixth Place STMA "Knights" Tourney: 91.5 Pts. (9 Placers)
- Sixth Place Mora "Mustang" Tourney: 90.5 Pts. (6 Placers)
- 45th Place Fargo "Rumble on the Red" Tourney: 33 Pts. (1 Placer)
Returning Wrestlers
Jarrad Nieland 12th 39-7 2nd Sec./3rd State/AC
Austin Klaverkamp 11th 15-6
Noah Voigt 11th 18-12 5th Section
Cole Schreder 9th 11-9 5th Section
Joey Reed 9th 8-24 6th Section
Henry Nehk 10th 6-0
Nate Lortz 11th 6-20 5th Section
Theo Wurst 11th 4-7
Jacob Johnson 11th 5-12
Linkcoln Brouwer 12th 3-15
Patrick Niehaus 12th 1-1 Injured
Graduates
Bryant Amundson 37-8 2nd Section/AC (74 Wins)
Tommy O'Brien 23-10 3rd Sectioin (121 Wins)
Brady Brouwer 19-19 6th Section
Maurice Martin 21-15
Jesse Johnson 1-0
SAUK RAPIDS/RICE STORM
Head Coach: TBA
Enrollment: 1,078
Section 8AAA
The Storm will be looking to improve on those dual meet marks from last season. They will return seven section place winners and one other with a great deal of varsity experience. So despite the graduation of three section place winners including a state qualifier. The Storm should improve on those dual meet marks if they can stay healthy and some of their younger wrestlers continue to improve. Austin Walz, Chris Keske, Taylor Rau and Dalton Siemers should be their key leaders thru out the season.
- 7-19 Overall Dual Meets
- 1-7 Central Lakes Conference Duals
- Ten Section Place Winners
- Third Place Spectrum Tourney: 133 Pts. (8 Placers)
- Fourth Place Litchfield "Dragons" Tourney: 130.5 Pts. (9 Placers)
- Tenth Place Foley "Tom Keating" Tourney: 83 Pts. (6 Placers)
Returning Wrestlers
Austin Walz 12th 26-13 4th Section
Chris Keske 12th 24-11 4th Section
Taylor Rau 9th 22-7 5th Section
Dalton Siemers 12th 18-11 Injured
McKay Ness 12th 23-18 4th Section
Chuck Rudy 12th 9-16 5th Section
Dylan Vait 11th 2-18 4th Section
Ryan Odelius 12th 12-19 5th Section
Graduates
Erik Olson 30-9 2nd Section/AC
Sean Pearson 19-12 6th Section
Nate Krepp 15-22 4th Section
Posted By Roger Mischke
Roger Mischke is a contributing author to the Metro Sports Commission - helping bring high school sports to the forefront of Central Minnesota.








