ROCHESTER -- The Ridgewater wrestling team won the MCAC state championship, placed fifth at the Region 13 meet and advanced nine wrestlers to the national tournament Sunday.
The Warriors scored 109 points in the overall region standings. They beat Rochester by 43 points for the state title.
Eight Ridgewater wrest-lers qualified by placing at least fifth in their individual weights. The Warriors didn't have an individual champion, but had Travis Peralta at 174 pounds and Martin Hagen at 184 take second. Jake Patnode at 133, Chase Tempel at 157 and Ryan Krause at 165 finished third, Tyler Stempler at 149 was fourth, and Nate Friederich at 125 and Charlie Gelhayne at heavyweight took fifth.
Mike Christians at 141 was sixth, but earned a wildcard and will compete at the national tournament, which runs Feb. 26-28 in Des Moines, Iowa.
"I was hopeful we would get all 10, but it was very much what I expected," said Ridgewater coach Tom Beyer.
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Team scoring
(1) Iowa Central 180 (2) Iowa Lakes 139.5 (3) Northern Iowa Area 135.5 (4) Ellsworth 119 (5) *Ridgewater 109 (6) Rochester 66 (7) Minnesota West 16 (8) Itasca 18
* - won MIAC state title
How Ridgewater fared
Key: (Weight, name, won-loss, falls)
125: Nate Friederich 2-2, 5th place (qualifier) ... 133: Jake Patnode 3-1 (2), 3rd place (qualifier) .... 141: Mike Christians 1-3, 6th place (qualifier) ... 149: Tyler Stempler 2-2, 4th place (qualifier) ... 157: Chase Tempel 2-1, 3rd place (qualifier) ... 165: Ryan Krause 3-1, 3rd place (qualifier) ... 174: Travis Peralta 2-1, 2nd place (qualifier) ... 184: Martin Hagen 2-1 (1), 2nd place (qualifier) ... 197: Aaron Samuelson 0-2 ... Hwt: Charlie Gelhayne 2-2 (2), 5th place (qualifier)
