In what could be billed as the “Clash of the Titans,” No. 1 ranked St. Michael-Albertville traveled to the Eden Prairie High School gymnasium to face the fourth-ranked Eagles in a Class 3A dual meet on Thursday night.
The Knights feature nine wrestlers ranked in the state’s top ten by wrestling website The Guillotine; while six Eden Prairie wrestlers are ranked in the top ten.
STMA won the first seven matches in weight classes 106 through 145 pounds. With wins by fall in the 132, 138 and 145-pound classes, the Knights took a 32-0 lead.
The Eagles received a spark in the 152-pound class from junior Terae Dunn, who is ranked third in the state. Dunn defeated sixth-ranked Eli Davis in an 11-3 decision.
“Coach just told me to go out there and do what I do.” Dunn said, catching his breath after the match. “Try to get the team going since we are already down by a few points. I tried to get the team that energy back.”
Eagles head coach Marcus LeVesseur is in his first season at the helm of the wrestling program. LeVesseur comes to Eden Prairie after stops at Hopkins and Shakopee. He was the interim coach for the Eagles in 2021 before taking over earlier this year.
In the 182-pound class, junior Will DiAna shocked No. 4 ranked Bryon Sauvy, winning by fall. DiAna got the pin just ahead of the buzzer to end the second period at 3:48 of the match.
“I was just looking at the ref waiting for that slap,” DiAna said. “I swam behind and he was on his back. A little bit of luck, a lot of practice.”
Junior Dominic Heim, ranked fourth in the state, performed a barrage of takedowns in his match with STMA’s Evan Becker. Heim won handily in a 14-4 major victory.
In the 285-pound class, Eden Prairie’s Will Sather took just 26 seconds to pin STMA’s Logan Torkelson.
Sather, a junior, won the state championship in the 285-pound class in March. He was the only sophomore in the history of the MSHSL to win an individual state wrestling title.
Despite his unprecedented accomplishment last season, Sather is focused on the current campaign.
“I just have to stay hungry,” he said. “(The title) doesn’t really mean anything. It was last year, so I just stay humble.”
St. Michael-Albertville, who captured the team title in the state tournament last season, won the meet 48-20.
The Eagles’ next competition will be on Saturday at the annual Minnesota Christmas Tournament, hosted by the Gopher Wrestling Club at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.
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