ST. PAUL -- Area wrestlers earned a record 22 medals at this year's state wrestling tournament at the Xcel Energy Center, shattering the previous record of 16.
Included in the medal roundup were champions Beau Penk of Litchfield and Jeremy Anderson and Matt Leither of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.
Five other wrestlers, Sean Glenz of Paynesville, Pat LeVasseur of BOLD/Buffalo Lake-Hector, Matt Williams of Yellow Medicine East, Nick Leither of ACGC and Trevor Larson of Minnewaska Area all were state runners-up.
Meanwhile, all eyes were on Zach Sanders in the Class A individual tournament and the bullseye on his back might have just gotten a little bigger. The 112-pound junior from Wabasha-Kellogg beat Ethan Kern of Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale to win his fourth Class 1A individual title. His brother Eric is one of two five-time champions.
St. Michael-Albertville's Mike Thorn won his third state title, this time at 125 pounds.
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Anoka's Dusty Iverson wasted no time in earning his second straight title at 189 pounds. Also becoming a two-time champion was Minneapolis Edison's Terrance Young, who won at 119 pounds after last year's 112-pound title. Jason Adams of Coon Rapids joined Iverson in the ranks of the unbeaten, capping off an undefeated 45-0 season with the championship at 135 pounds.
In team competition, Winning its third straight AA championship, St. Michael-Albertville dismantled Milaca/Faith Christian 50-3 in the championship round Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.
It was the seventh straight state tournament and 16th overall for St. Michael-Albertville.
St. Michael-Albertville also qualified an individual wrestler to the state tournament in each of the 14 weight classes.
Windom Area/Mountain Lake/Butterfield/Odin senior Travis Elg picked up his third individual Class 2A title at 140 pounds. Other repeat winners were Mankato East's Cody Adams at 112 pounds and Waconia-Mayer Lutheran's Joe Nord at 215 pounds.
In Class A, Canby edged Frazee 25-24 with heavyweight Evan Hacker's pin providing the winning points.
In Class AAA, Apple Valley finished off its seventh title in eight years, and 14th overall, with a 35-22 victory over Albert Lea.
