30 Straight and Counting: Apple Valley Wrestling Team Claims State Berth

At the beginning of the meet, the gym at Apple Valley High School was a hive of activity, packed with eight teams—competing on four mats—and their fans for the section 3AAA wrestling tournament.

But slowly but surely, the fans and vanquished competitors trickled out as their seasons—the team portion of them, at least—came to an end. And by the end of the night the host Eagles had sent them all home, on the way to claiming a state berth for an amazing 30th straight year.

Rosemount was the last to go, but, as expected, did not provide much drama in the finals, losing to the six-time defending state champions 65-2.

In fact the only real drama of the night came in the quarterfinals, when Burnsville built a huge lead against Park, only to see that lead evaporate as Park won four straight matches from 170-220—three of the four by pin—to set up a winner-take-all heavyweight match.

There Burnsville's Ethan Morgel won a 7-4 decision over Craig Sargent to send the Blaze through to the semifinals.

In other first-round action, Rosemount topped Eagan 39-24, Henry Sibley eliminated Eastview 45-21 and Apple Valley blanked East Ridge 84-0.

Apple Valley and Rosemount both won with relative ease in the semifinals, the Eagles 68-9 over Burnsville and the Irish 43-14 over Henry Sibley.

The same group of teams will reconvene next weekend at Park High School for individual Section 3AAA competition. The top two finishers in each weight class will advance to state as well.