Huskies Have Up and Down Weekend in Gymnastics and Wrestling
Owatonna High School's gymnastics team celebrated the thrill of victory on Friday, while the Huskies' wrestling squad suffered the dismay of defeat on Saturday. The gymnasts won the Section 1AA crown by less than a point over Northfield and advance to the state meet for the fourth straight season. The top-seeded OHS wrestling team got upset by Northfield in the Section 1AAA wrestling finals and were denied a trip to Xcel Energy Center.
OHS gymnastics has finished third in each of the last two years at state and enter this year's event as the No. 2 ranked team. Owatonna scored 147.025 in the section competition at Farmington Friday to edge the Raiders (146.425) to capture the title. Individually, Lindsay Bangs won the all-around plus the beam, bars and vault. She finished fifth in the all-around at the 2018 state meet. Ali An was second in the all-around and won the floor exercise Saturday.
The state gymnastics meet team competition is Friday, February 22 at 6 pm at the Maturi Pavilion at the University of Minnesota. Individual events are Saturday at 6 pm.
The Husky wrestling team was a bit under-manned due to an injury and a disciplinary issue. After a 45-19 victory over Farmington in the semifinals Saturday at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, they found themselves behind early against No. 2 seed Northfield. The Raiders won four of the first five bouts to take a 13-6 lead. No. 1 ranked Trayton Anderson capped the run with a win over Riley Becker by major decision. Becker, like several teammates, was able to avoid giving up more bonus points. Chase Dallman's win by injury default was the Huskies only victory over that stretch.
Owatonna battled back through the middle weights with three wins in the next four matches. Jacob Reinardy won 4-3 at 138 pounds, Landen Johnson won 7-4 at 152 and Kaden Nelson bumped up to 160 pounds and won by major decision 17-8 to pull the team score to within one point, 17-16.
The Huskies' only victory over the final five weights was Cade King at 195 pounds. Northfield won the dual 36-22.
Individual wrestling takes place Friday and Saturday, February 22-23 at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.