ST.PAUL —
Taner Trembley of Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, Adam Cooling of Madelia-Truman and Nathan Rose of Sibley East share a common bond when it comes to wrestling. They've all won two straight state championships. To a man, however, they'll tell you the second-time around is a lot more difficult. "I was tight for most of the tournament," Trembley admitted Saturday night, after knocking off Hunter Retzlaff 1-0 from Sibley East to win the Class A 138-pound championship at Xcel Energy Center. "There's a lot more pressure when you're trying to defend your title. "I found myself wrestling much more defensive. I didn't open up and wrestle as aggressive as I usually do." Despite his professed shortcomings, Trembley did just fine. He finished his senior season with a 41-2 record. Cooling won the Class A state title at 160 pounds with a 2-1 decision over Jordon Rothers of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. He agreed that it's no picnic trying to win two in a row. "I felt like I was the hunted instead of the hunter up here," said the senior. "There's a lot of stress involved." Cooling ends his senior year with a perfect 44-0 record. Rose, a junior, was the 195-pound champion in Class A. He certainly didn't show his nerves during the tournament, pinning his way to the finals before earning an 11-4 decision over Blue Earth Area's Kysten Zierke. "Yeah, I was nervous," he said. "For this last match I just pretended I wasn't at the state tournament. I tried to treat it like just another match." Rose went 42-0 on the season. Le Sueur-Henderson sophomore Austin Anderley made his first trip to the state tournament this year and ended up with the 106-pound championship in Class A. He was ranked No. 1 from the start of the season and finished with a 38-4 record. Anderly capped the year with an 8-3 verdict over Seth Elwood of Medford in the championship match. "It feels amazing," Anderley said. "I had tunnel vision the whole tournament." Anderley was referring to a ploy his coaches used to keep him in the tunnel under the stands until the right before each of his matches started. "We didn't want him to get too much of a sense of the crowd," LSH head coach Scott Wilson said. "I think he missed a pretty good tournament." Trembley's teammate, Louie Sanders, also won a title Saturday. The sophomore decisioned No. 1-ranked Shane Novak of New York Mills 9-1 in the 120-pound finals. "I just tried to keep a positive mindset the whole tournament," Sanders said. "I wasn't that nervous, I just tried to stay focused." Sanders' win over Novak was payback for last year. The two met in the 2012 tournament and Novak broke open a close match at the end to win an 8-3 decision. "I don't think you ever take anybody lightly when you get to the finals but, in the back of his mind, (Novak) may have been thinking that he already beat him last year," LCWM head coach Andre Harnitz said. "But Louie did a great job. He wrestled exactly the kind of match we wanted him to." In Class AA, the only area champion was Brady Ayers of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. Ayers decisioned Jordan Theede of Lewiston-Altura 8-3 in the finals at 160 pounds. "I was nervous all day, I just wanted to get it over with," Ayers said. "But it feels pretty good. I've been dreaming about this since seventh grade." Theede defeated Ayers handily in their section finals meet but the Grizzlies' senior said he wrestled a different match on Saturday. "I knew what he liked to do and I stayed away from it. I was very good on my feet tonight." Tri-City United's Josh Selly came up short ... literally ... in his title bid. He was pinned by Jake Short of Simley in 1:09 in the finals of the 152-pound match. |
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