Youngest Tiger ever to wrestle in state meet
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
After winning just two dual meets in two seasons, the Tigers roared to 11 victories in 2011-12, making the year a success by any measure.
"It was a great year for Tiger wrestling," second year coach Chad Olson said. "We had the most wrestlers in our youth, middle school and high school programs since the early 2000's.
"Our high school program showed tremendous improvement over last year. This was the first year in my 14 years of coaching where I wish the new season started tomorrow."
Twenty-one grapplers won varsity letters for their efforts during the season just completed, including five seniors: Trevor Breezely, Tyler Engel, Bret Hoffman, Dakoda Lois-Dupay and Ridge Raddatz.
Underclassmen winning monograms included junior Jamie Scavone; sophomores Brian Caravantes, Jacob Gabbard, Joe Hoeve, Joey Liden, Chris McCue, Kelvin O'Brien and Jake Rudeen; freshmen Kyle Benjamin, Brayden Chapman, Joey Herrera, Matt Rustad, John Walz, Logan Haakana and Jon Zeidler and eighth-grader Taylor Venz.
Venz, the youngest Tiger ever to compete in the state meet, finished the season with a team-best 32-7 record that included a 2-2 performance at the Class AAA state championships.
Joe Hoeve finished with a 27-12 record
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
Hoeve finished 27-12; Gabbard 25-5, Walz 18-14, Rudeen 16-20, Hoffman 15-16, Louis-Dupay 13-12 and Rustad 12-8.
Missota Conference and other individual awards will be presented at the team's post-season banquet Mar. 27.
Olson ticked off a long list of highlights from the 2011-12 campaign, including claiming nine places at the section individual meet; winning four consecutive dual meets for the first time since 2002; posting a fifth place finish at the ninth grade state meet; winning a section dual meet for the first time in a decade and compiling a team grade-point-average of 3.51.
"About the only disappointment was not closing the gap between us and Lakeville North in the second round of the section," Olson said.
With 35 of 40 wrestlers expected to return for the 2012-13 season, Olson said he was confident the future of his program is bright.
"We need to work on our strength and our willingness to be uncomfortable," he said. "We also need to recruit some bigger athletes to help fill and give depth to our upper weights."
