GROVE CITY -- They may look young, but the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons don't wrestle like it. ACGC will be making its fourth trip -- all in the last five years -- to the Class A State Tournament today with only four seniors in its lineup.
Of the 19 wrestlers that will be in coach Tim Roberg's lineup, 11 saw action in last year's state tourney and 10 were on the 2004 state tournament team. Junior Dave Nelson was even a member of the 2002 team, the first-ever appearance ACGC made in the state tournament.
"We have some experienced kids," said Roberg, who is 87-19 in his four-year tenure at ACGC. "Only one (kid) wasn't on last year's (state tournament) team. They've been there before and hopefully they will be ready to go the first day."
ACGC (25-3) faces New York Mills (18-4) in the first round at 7:30 p.m. today at the Xcel Energy Center. The Falcons lost to New York Mills in the consolation semifinals in the 2004 state tournament.
The Falcons have won 20 straight dual matches after starting the season 5-3. Class AAA state entrant Anoka, BOLD/Buffalo Lake-Hector, who'll be in the Class AA State Tournament, and Section 4A runner-up Yellow Medicine East have been the only teams to beat ACGC this season. All three losses were in December.
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"At the time we weren't quite ready," said Roberg of the losses. "We didn't change anything. We're peaking right now and we are having fun."
Eight Falcons -- sophomore Jeremy Anderson (37-1) at 103 pounds, sophomore Ben Meyer (38-0) at 112, junior Matt Pearson (24-10) at 125, freshman Micah Larson (26-14) at 145, junior A.J. Frederiksen (19-6) at 152, senior Eric Peterson (24-14) at 160, sophomore Nic Leither (39-0) at 171 and senior Matt Leither (33-6) at 189 -- and five wrestlers from New York Mills will also be competing in the individual tournament.
ACGC finished fourth in 2002, went 0-2 in 2004 and placed third at last year's state tournament. This is the third straight -- and overall -- appearance for New York Mills, the Section 7 champion.
