John's Journal: On A Frigid Friday Night, The Super Bowl Of Wrestling

KASSON – A gentleman who isn’t even remotely involved in wrestling made an incisive observation shortly before two top-ranked teams took to the mat here on Friday night. With junior varsity matches happening before the varsity crews from Chatfield (ranked No. 1 in Class 1A) and Kasson-Mantorville (No. 1 in 2A) squared off inside K-M’s grand and roomy Alerus Arena – also known as the North Gym -- another competition was taking place a short walk down a hallway.

The varsity girls basketball team from Lake City was gathered in a corner of the court in Kasson-Mantorville’s more intimate South Gym. The Tigers were watching the final minutes as their JV team played K-M. As Lake City coach Drew Olinger and an unbiased traveler exchanged pleasantries, the event taking place in the big gym was mentioned.

Drew’s take: “That’s kind of the Super Bowl of wrestling, isn’t it?”

That is an apt description by the hoops coach. Not only are they ranked No. 1 in their respective classes, but Chatfield was the 1A team state champion last year while the KoMets were the state runner-up in 2A.

It was a wonderful evening for wrestling and family-friendly fun on a frigid winter night. And there were some oddities, as well … a definite basketball tone in the wrestling gym, a kid named Kasson wrestling for Kasson-Mantorville, officials designating four-point moves (new this season), and the sweet, sweet sounds of cheerleaders on pillows off one corner of the mat, performing gold-medal cheers from a seated position. No other sport has that, and K-M didn’t have that for the last three years because not enough kids were interested in being wrestling cheerleaders. It’s good to have them back because they add so much.

The wrestling crowd was mighty and primed. You know it’s a big night when the place reverberates with screaming during the JV portion of the competition. Both teams have complete JV rosters and strong groups of female wrestlers, and everybody got to wrestle on the biggest night in the biggest match of the regular season.

Separated by 36 miles, Chatfield (enrollment 297) and Kasson-Mantorville (613) have strong wrestling traditions. The Gophers have been to state five times, winning their first title in 2014 and adding a second a decade later. The KoMets have been to state 14 times, winning team championships in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018, with second-place finishes in 2022 and last year.

The rosters for Friday night’s tilt included two state champions, one state runner-up and three fifth-place finishers from the 2024 state tournament. So yes, this was big.

The preliminary matches were held with all the arena lights turned on, but for the varsity showdown switches were flipped. The result was one lone powerful spotlight, hanging low over the center of the mat, and the rest of the gym in the dark. It was atmospherically electric.

Probably not surprisingly, the wrestling was nearly flashless. There were no rapid-fire moves that brought oohs and aahs from the fans, but there were also no late shoves, no menacing glares, no untoward words exchanged. That is a testament to the sportsmanship of the great sport of wrestling, as well as two programs that take behavior seriously and don’t accept foolishness.

There also were no pins, which is another clue to how closely the competition was. There were six tech falls, with five of them going to the Gophers. Those 25 points went a long way toward Chatfield’s 35-19 win, with the visitors winning eight of the 13 matches.

When the JV matches ended at 7:20 p.m., this announcement was made to the crowd: “In roughly 20 minutes, we’ll begin the main event.”

As the varsity athletes warmed up, the crowd buzzed. One person asked another, “Where did you park?” Answer: “Down by the soccer fields.”

It was Military Appreciation Night, and a spokesperson from the Forest Lake-based Invisible Wounds Project spoke to the crowd between the JV and varsity matches. The anthem was performed on the trumpet by K-M band director Tony Boldt, while local veterans held the colors and young kids stood on one side of the mat, holding flags.

Before each match, the K-M wrestlers were introduced as they ran into the gym from a corridor with walk-up (run-up?) music playing and smoke machines going. The officials, Bill Olson from Byron and Jon Wheelock from Janesville, were masterful in keeping the athletes safe, keeping the action moving, and enforcing the rules. Those include a change in near-fall points, with wrestlers on offense now able to earn four points if the position is held for four seconds. Seeing an official put up four fingers is different, but the knowledgeable fans from Chatfield and Kasson-Mantorville are well aware of the change.

The basketball hoop were pulled up near the ceiling of the big arena. Whenever the loud horn blew to mark the end of a period, the lights around the two main rectangular backboards lit up bright red. That’s efficiently normal for hoops but just seemed funny under these circumstances. (In another basketball-themed oddity, there is no center circle on the court in the South Gym.)

The Gophers got off to a strong start in the early weights. Ninth-grader Jameson Priebe won by tech fall at 107 to get Chatfield rolling, Javier Berg got a tech fall at 121 and the lead was 9-0. At 133, Kaisen Johnson recorded another technical fall for the Gophers, as did Carson Rowland at 160 and Ayden Miner at 172.

Rowland is a defending state champ. Berg was a state champ two years ago and a state runner-up last year. The KoMets’ Owen Friedrich, ranked No. 1 by The Guillotine at 152, won by tech fall at 145.

When the wrestlers were introduced at 215 pounds, the Chatfield folks might have wondered if they heard the K-M boy’s name correctly. Yes, his name is Kasson Wynia and he is a student at Kasson-Mantorville. Which begged the question: His parents must have long-standing ties to the community, right?

Wrong. Kasson was born in Albert Lea and the family lived in Iowa briefly before moving to Kasson when he was in second grade.

Kasson (the person, not the town) said, “It’s a family deal. I just ended up with the name Kasson, I guess.”

Does he hear about it from friends and other gentle needlers?

“Oh yeah, every day, every day. Every single day,” he said with a smile after winning by major decision.

The teams didn’t compete against each other for a long time before lining up a dual last year in Chatfield. The Gophers pulled that one out by a score of 26-24 with a pin in the final match. There was no such drama this time and the two head coaches, not surprisingly, were in varying moods afterwards.

“They're a tough team,” said KoMets coach Ryan Hill. “Obviously, you saw that they're at a different level than we are right now. And if you want to get to their level, you’ve got to go seek them out, and they seek us out. And I'm glad that they did, because they're making us better.

“It's nice if you can come out on top in a dual like this. But there's a lot of six, seven, eight-year-olds sitting over there that are really excited.”

It’s a long season and it has just started, but Chatfield coach Matt Mauseth admitted that defeating the top-ranked team in the next class up was an accomplishment.

“Yeah, this is big,” he said. “We did this last year, and I think it was the first time in decades that Chatfield and Kasson had a dual. It might not look like that when we're out on the mat, but there's a lot of mutual respect between these teams and coaches. Ryan Hill has been great.

“Last year the win we had over them really propelled our season and our program. So I'm really grateful that they have worked with us to make this happen. I don't think they quite have their full team or everybody that's down to weight. All we can do is wrestle the guys who are put in front of us.”

The lights had been returned to full power as wrestlers spent time with friends and family in the gym before everyone stepped out into the nasty December air. A few drivers stopped at a new Kwik Trip convenience store across Highway 57 from the high school. Negotiating a new roundabout on the road added another wrinkle.

The traveler from the Twin Cities, whose evening began with a word about the Super Bowl of wrestling by a basketball coach, exited the school with a smile on his face and a notebook full of good stuff. He texted his wife that he was on the way home and should arrive in a little more than an hour.

On the way toward U.S. Highway 52 and free-flowing traffic, the visitor drove through the lovely, historic and lyrically-named town of Wanamingo. The downtown area was beautifully decorated for the holidays with giant ornaments hanging from the street lights. The traveler, as always, stuck firmly to the in-town speed limit of 30 miles per hour and waved to whomever was staying warm in a Goodhue County Sheriff’s vehicle that was tucked nearly out of sight at a downtown intersection.

On this night, everybody won.

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Threads at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]