Following an eight-day haitus due to the Minnesota State High School League shutting down all teams due to a mild Herpes Simplex outbreak, wrestlers are eager to get back on the mats.
Eleven area teams are schedule to compete today.
Rescheduling matches this late in the season did not impose a huge problem for most activities directors. Some of the non-conference matches and tournament had to be cancelled.
BOLD/Buffalo Lake-Hector was among those affected the most. The Warriors had five matches scheduled during the suspension and will only be able to make up one of them.
Several school districts combined matches to make triangulars and quadrangulars in an attempt to cram as many matches as possible before the post-season begins.
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Willmar is hosting what appears like a Central Lakes Conference tournament today. The Cardinals had matches to make up against Alexandria and Sauk Rapids and activities director Paul Schmitz noticed on the CLC Web site that other teams also had conference matches to reschedule.
"I sent an e-mail to all the athletic directors in the conference and to (CLC secretary) Roger Wilson," Schmitz said. "I asked if any of them wanted to come to Willmar to get in their matches. So we have seven teams coming and we will have six matches."
A third mat will be in place for JV teams.
The West Central Conference championship between North champion Minnewaska and South champion Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City will be made up on Saturday in Glenwood.
Mat notes
During the wrestling shut down, several individual accomplishments were brought to our attention. Nic Leither, a 189-pound senior from Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, notched his 150th career win in the West Central South Conference tournament on Jan. 27 ... In that same tournament, Yellow Medicine East 135-pounder Landen Cole was named the Most Valuable Wrestler ... Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg's 145-pound sophomore Kevin Steinhaus, who already broke Darrin Carlson's school record for career wins (132) earlier this season, benefitted from the suspended season. He had surgery for meniscus cartilage removal on his right knee after it locked up on him after a practice before the suspension. He is expected to wrestle today in the Morris/Hancock tournament.
