Undefeated Willmar was voted the No. 3 seed for the Class AAA team state wrestling tournament that will be held next Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Cardinals rolled through the regular season and finished a perfect 8-0 in the Central Lakes Conference before posting three routs in last Saturday's Section 6AAA tournament.
The Cardinals will take a 27-0 record into their first-round match with Centennial (18-7). The other opening match on Willmar's half of the bracket is No. 2 St. Michael-Albertville (24-2) vs. unseeded Moorhead (18-6). The other half features No. 1 Apple Valley (19-2) vs. unseeded White Bear Lake (20-7) and No. 4 Farmington (24-10) vs. No. 5 Prior Lake (22-9). All four of the first-round duals are at 9 a.m. with the semifinals scheduled to start at 1 p.m. and the championship at 7 p.m.
This is the fourth straight year Willmar has qualified for the state tournament. The Cardinals have fallen in the consolation final in their last two trips after going 0-2 in 2012.
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City drew the tough task of trying to take down top-seeded Minneota in the first round of the Class A tournament, also next Thursday. The unseeded Falcons are 17-7 after finishing second at state last year and are making their 10th appearance overall. Minneota is 32-2 and is looking to capture its first title in its sixth visit at state.
The ACGC/Minneota winner will meet either No. 4 Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (18-8) or No. 5 Jackson County Central (21-7) in the semifinals. The other quarterfinal-round duals feature No. 2 Frazee (15-2) vs. unseeded Pierz (25-4) and No. 3 Zumbrota-Mazeppa (29-5) vs. unseeded West Central Area/Ashby/Evansville (24-2). All first-round matches start at 11 a.m. with the semifinals slated to start at 1 p.m. and the championship at 7 p.m.
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No area teams qualified for the Class AA tournament. Simley was voted the top seed, Albert Lea No. 2, Scott West No. 3, Totino-Grace No. 4 and Perham No. 5.
All third-place and consolation final matches are scheduled for 5 p.m. The two consolation semifinal matches in Class AAA are at 11 a.m. and the Class A consolation semifinals are at 1 p.m.
