Owatonna Wrestlers Celebrate Great Season
The Owatonna High School wrestling team reflected on a successful 2016-17 season at their recent banquet at the Monterey Ballroom of Owatonna.
The Huskies (27-6) won the state consolation championship during the team dual tournament and captured the Big Nine title thanks to a thrilling victory over Albert Lea in January. Individually, Brandon Moen capped his prep career with a second straight state title. Peyton Robb and Cade King each took home silver medals.
First-year co-head coach Adam Woitalla spoke with KRFO about the team success and reviewed the results of the seven state qualifiers in the interview including below.
Moen was presented with a career achievement award, ending his career with a school-record 228 victories. Moen won his last 67 straight matches, also a school record. He overcame a knee injury a year ago to return to the varsity lineup by Christmas and amass a 37-0 record. Moen will wrestle for Division I Eastern Michigan University.
Robb, a junior, earned the MVP award by leading the team in points. He also led the squad with 26 pins and had 39 victories overall. King, a sophomore, had the most wins on the team with 43 and led the Huskies with 232 take downs. The senior most improved honor went to Goy Tut, who won 29 matches and qualified for state individually.
Senior Griffin Thorn won 38 matches. Eighth-grader Kaden Nelson won 30 matches and seventh-grader Landen Johnson reached 29 victories. Each of the three participated in the state individual tournament as well.
Junior varsity awards went to Taylor Hall for most team points and take downs. Parker Aase led the team in pins. Hunter Jensen earned the Guts Club award for not missing a practice or meet for any reason all season. The award hasn't been presented since 2008. As a team, the junior varsity was second in the Big Nine tournament with Kobie Kath, Cory Ulrich, Taylor Hall and Parker Holton winning championships. The most improved JV wrestler was Will Somers.
The OHS ninth-grade team was 9-2 and won the tier 2 consolation state championship.
The Owatonna Wrestling Association presented service awards to the Thorns and Gary Crawford. Youth service awards winners were Robb, Jade Huseby, Josie Mueller and Aase.
Owatonna graduate and current Wisconsin-Eau Claire wrestler Tyler Vogt spoke to the attendees about his wrestling career since high school and an upcoming opportunity to go on a trip to Russia.