Venz, Hoeve section champs; 5 to state

Five Tigers to wrestle in Class AA state meet

Farmington coach Chad Olson said he didn't know where to start in describing how well his team performed at this weekend's Section 1AAA Championships in Rochester.

"It was the best section tourney in program history," Olson said. "The guys wrestled the best they ever have.

"Five state qualifiers, 13 medal winners, 12 top-four finishers. We peaked at the right time and it was a lot of fun to watch. I am so proud of how they competed."

Defending state106-pound champion Taylor Venz and state meet returnee Joe Hoeve each finished a perfect 3-0 at the section meet to punch their return tickets to state.

Venz rolled to a 13-2 win over Owatonna's Logan Soltau in the 126-pound final while Hoeve out-pointed Northfield Sam Minske 5-3 in the 182-pound championship bout.

Defending state Taylor Venz 126 returning to state (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Two of the other three Tigers state qualifiers are also state meet veterans. Jamin LeDuc, who won a sixth place medal last year, earned a second state berth after losing a 7-3 decision to Tanner Cole of Owatonna in the 113-pound section finals.

Kyle Benjamin lost a tough 3-2 decision to Jake Anderson of Hastings in the 145-pound championship match to garner his second straight state meet berth.

The final state qualifier, 106-pounder Victor Gliva, earned his first-ever ticket to state the hard way, coming all the way through the consolation bracket to win an 8-5 decision over Hastings' Adam McSorley in the true second match.

Two other Tigers, John Walz (170) and CJ Wynings (285) also made it to a true second match and barely lost their state tournament bids.

Matt Rustad capped off his fine season with a third place finish in the 132-pound bracket and Godfrey Mpetey took third place in the 220-pound division.

Three other Farmington grapplers finished in fourth place: Skyler Raymond (120); Brayden Chapman (138) and Trevor Frost (195). Joe Liden ranked sixth among 152-pounders.

The state meet will be held next Friday and Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Joe Hoeve went 3-0 to win 182-pound title (photo by Jim Lindquist)