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Six Punch Ticket to State

By Tom Schardin, 02/23/15, 8:00AM CST

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The Prior Lake wrestling team continued its late-season surge with six state qualifiers Feb. 21.

The Lakers had five individual champions in the Section 2AAA individual tournament at Bloomington Kennedy - the most of any team in the field.

Ninth-grader Zach Smith (113 pounds), senior Dylan Sogge (132), ninth-grader Kenny O'Neil (145), senior Rylee Streifel (220) and senior Alex Hart (heavyweight) each won titles.

Ninth-grader Curtis LeMair was runner-up at 106 to also qualify for state.

The Class 3A individual tournament is Feb. 27-28 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Hart will be going for his second straight title after winning the 220-pound crown last year.

Hart is ranked No. 1 in the state at that weight. If he can win the title, he'll join Jake Kahnke as the Lakers' only two-time state champion. Kahnke won back-to-back state titles in 2007 and 2008.

Hart enters state with a 31-0 record. He earned a 4-1 decision over John Zielder of Lakeville North in the section title match after winning by fall in the first two rounds.

Meanwhile, Streifel takes a 37-2 mark in to state. Ranked No. 2 at 220, he won all three of his section matches by fall, including pinning Adam Lucast of Lakevile South in the final. Streifel was third at state last year at 195.

Smith, ranked No. 9 at 113, pulled off an upset in the final with a 7-5 decision over No. 2-ranked Alex Crowe of Shakopee. It was Crowe's first loss of the season. Smith (27-10) won by fall in his first two matches.

Sogge, ranked No 10, earned a 5-2 decision over Brady Bastyr of Lakeville South in the final. Sogge (23-7) won by fall in the first two rounds.

O'Neil, ranked No. 8, earned a 4-0 decision over seventh-ranked Alex Coleman of Shakopee in the final. O'Neil (36-6) won by fall and technical fall, respectively, in his first two rounds.

LeMair (30-12) lost a close 2-1 decision in the final to sixth-ranked Samuel Webster of Shakopee. LeMair had to win a true-second match to get to state, earning a 7-0 decision over Xaiver Judge of Bloomington Kennedy.

Sophomore Gunner Charbonneau (20-12) also came to close to state at 126. He earned his way to the final, before losing a 3-2 decision to second-ranked Wade Sullivan of Lakeville North. He then lost a 4-3 decision in the true-second match to Collin Oleveson of Chanhassen.

Junior Wyatt Benson also lost a true-second match at 138, falling 7-0 to eighth-ranked Tyson Leon of Shakopee. Benson lost in the first round, but won three straight wrestleback matches for a shot at state.

Ninth-grader Theo Smith also finished third at 120, going 2-1 with one fall.

Other place winners for the Lakers: senior Tyler Hanson at 152 (fourth), senior Anthony Perez at 160 (fourth), sophomore Lucas Pumper at 182 (fourth) and junior Collin O'Brien at 195 (fourth).

Before the individual tourney, the No. 5-ranked Lakers will be in the Class 3A state tournament Feb. 26. Prior Lake (22-9) and earned the the No. 5 seed and faces fourth-seeded Farmington (24-10) in the quarterfinals.

Other first-round duals: top-seeded Apple Valley (19-2) versus White Bear Lake (20-7), second-seeded St. Michael-Albertville (24-2) meets Moorhead (18-6) and third-seeded Willmar (27-0) gets Centennial (18-7).

The Lakers are making their fifth straight state appearance after finishing a program-best second last year. Prior Lake knocked off top-seeded Shakopee 34-22 in the title match Feb. 7. It was the fifth straight year the Lakers beat the Sabers for the crown.

For more on section results and state pairings, go to:http://theguillotine.com/wp/2015/02/2015-high-school-tournament-time.