Seven Owatonna Wrestlers Qualify for State; NRHEG to Send Two, Medford One

Half of Owatonna's wrestling lineup qualified for the state individual tournament during the Section 1 meet at the Mayo Civic Center. State is at Xcel Energy Center on February 26-27.

Four of Owatonna's qualifiers have previous state meet experience. Defending state champ Peyton Robb (sophomore) captured the title at 120 pounds with a 15-2 major in the finals. Junior Brandon Moen earned his fifth straight trip by winning the title at 195 pounds. Junior Tanner Cole scored a takedown as time expired in the championship bout at 138 pounds for the victory and his fourth trip to the state tournament.

Freshman Cade King finished second at 132 pounds to return to state. King placed at state for Waseca in 2015.

Three other Owatonna wrestlers won true-second matches to qualify for state. Ninth-grader Riley Becker at 113 pounds, junior Bryce Goodwin at 145 and junior Griffin Thron at 182.

Senior Austin Abbas lost a true-second match. Junior Goy Tut finished fourth.

The state meet schedule from the Minnesota State High School League shows the team competition on Thursday and the individual action beginning Friday. Listen to KRFO Radio for live coverage from the Xcel Energy Center.

NRHEG qualified two for state during the Section 2A meet at Blue Earth Area. Cordell Peterson at 126 pounds and Wyatt Fitterer at heavyweight will compete at state. Medford's Willie VonRuden earned a trip to state as well.

Blooming Prairie had a pair of third-place finishers at sections with Jon Hansen and Seth Peterson. Triton also had two wrestlers finish second with Ethan Otterbein and Randy Henderson.