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  • Senior Spencer Johnson of Windom/Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin is in the state tournament finals for the second straight season at the Class AA individual tournament in St. Paul. Pat Christman

    Class AA wrestling 3/6

March 6, 2010

Area wrestlers to square off in Class AA

WMLBO’s Johnson, Scott West’s Kroells to meet for 189-pound title

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — Windom/Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin senior Spencer Johnson made it by an eyelash in triple overtime. Scott West’s Michael Kroells did the same thing with a one-sided victory.

In spite of the differing matches, Johnson and Kroells will meet for the 189-pound championship today when the Class AA wrestling tournament concludes at Xcel Energy Center.

The third-ranked Johnson battled No. 1-rated Anthony Gullickson of Totino Grace in Friday’s semifinals and neither could score a point in regulation. In the first overtime, the duo again went scoreless.

The second OT had Johnson starting on the bottom, and he quickly escaped for a 1-0 lead. The positions were reversed for the third OT, and Johnson was able to ride Gullickson for 30 seconds to get the win.

“He was strong, but I was stronger,” Johnson said. “I have a ride that I’m usually able to get pins off of, but it wasn’t working against him. At the end, I just had to stay on as tight as possible.”

Kroells controlled his semifinal match from start to finish, ending with a 7-1 victory over Cody Welch of Wabasso/Red Rock Central. Kroells has allowed just two points in his three individual matches, earning a first-round pin followed by two 7-1 decisions.

The Johnson-Kroells championship match will be the third meeting this season between the wrestlers. They met twice at the Rumble on the Red tournament in Fargo, N.D., with Kroells winning both times.

“I really wasn’t in very good shape for those matches,” Johnson said. “My conditioning has improved a lot since then.”

Johnson finished second in last year’s state tournament and said he won’t be satisfied with the same results.

“I’m going for first. That’s my goal.”

The only other area wrestler to reach the Class AA finals was Johnson’s teammate, Drake Borsgard, at 119 pounds. The No. 3-rated WMLBO sophomore slipped past fifth-ranked Brandon Fiedler of Dassel-Cokato 6-4 in the semifinals. Borsgard will take on No. 1-ranked Joey Munos of South St. Paul in the championship round at 3:30 p.m. today.

Montgomery-Lonsdale/Le Center’s Zach Friederich was not as fortunate in his semifinal match. He dropped a 3-1 decision to second-ranked Jake Short of Simley.

New Ulm’s No. 1-rated Pat Brinkman was also unsuccessful in his semifinal. He got caught by unranked Austin Goergen of Caledonia in the final minute and was pinned in 5:25.

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