Owatonna’s Peyton Robb Wins Title at Minnesota Christmas Tournament

Owatonna junior Peyton Robb won the title at 145 pounds at the Minnesota Christmas Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, beating his future college roommate in the finals.

Robb, a two-time state champion and No. 1 ranked this season, stuck David Salazar of Sunnyside, Ariz., at 1:09 in the quarterfinals to open Saturday's competition. Robb followed that with a major decision 12-1 victory over Teddy Pierce of St. Francis. In the finals, Robb faced his future teammate at South Dakota State University, Alex Lloyd of Shakopee, and prevailed 4-3. Robb went 5-0 and was named Outstanding Wrestling of the Meet.

The Huskies' Griffin Thorn took fourth place at 195. After consecutive pins on Friday, he scored a major decision win over Dominik Florez of Sunnyside to reach the semifinals. Daniel Gregory Kerkvliet of Simley beat Thorn by tech fall. In the wrestle-backs, Thorn beat Jacob Bennett of Zumbrota-Mazeppa 7-3 to reach the third-place match. He lost 6-1 to Samuel Grove of Moorhead, who Owatonna's Brandon Moen beat in last season's state championship match.

Cade King won his two matches Friday, but lost two on Saturday due to injury. Kaden Nelson went 2-1 on Friday to advance to the second day, but lost his next match.

Haden Fox, Joe Fox, Parker Westphal and Nick Staska all won a match on Friday but were eliminated in the wrestle-backs that night. Goy Tut was Owatonna's tough luck wrestler of the tournament with a pair of overtime losses on Friday.

Owatonna finished 17th in the team standings, just behind Albert Lea. Kasson-Mantorville (225 points) edged Shakopee (216.5) for the title. Kaukauna, Wis., was a distant third, followed by Anoka and Sunnyside. Thirty-four teams participated. Powerhouse Apple Valley was one of several schools that did not wrestle due to the weather.

Owatonna goes back to Rochester for The Clash National Wrestling Duals on December 30-31. Many of the same teams will be in the field, along with other national powerhouses.