Abby Ervasti, a junior for the Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale-Parkers Prairie wrestling team, is headed back to the girls state tournament after winning the 138-pound bracket at the Section 6-7A Tournament in Sartell on Saturday.
Ervasti (15-3) placed second in the first ever sanctioned girls state tournament last spring at 145 pounds.
Ervasti began her day on Saturday with a bye, followed by a pin (0:42) in the semifinals over Milaca-Park Christian’s Margaret Barnes. Ervasti then beat the second-ranked wrestler in the state (rankings by The Guillotine), Alley Altringer of Anoka, by a 6-2 decision in the finals. Ervasti broke a 2-2 tie with a takedown and 2-point nearfall in the second period.
Ervasti came into the tournament as the fifth-ranked wrestler in the state at 138 pounds.
Ervasti is now set to compete in the 2023 MSHSL Girls State Tournament from March 2-4, 2023, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
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The West Central Area-Ashby-Brandon-Evansville wrestling team nearly put two wrestlers in the girls state tournament.
The top two finishers in each bracket at the sectional tournament qualify for the state tournament.
WCA-A-B-E’s Ava Lohse (4-6, 107) earned a pair of decisions (5-3 and 6-2) over Elizabeth Ollestad (Mora) to get to a true second place match to decide who would go to the state tournament. Ollestad pinned Lohse (0:26) in the match.
Lucea Wales (12-4, 120) started her day with a pin (0:40) over Olivia Gardas (Zimmerman) in the quarterfinals. Wales defeated Kayetana Lopez-Moen (Ottertail Central) in the consolation semifinals by a 10-4 decision and Jayse Norling (Spectrum) by a 16-6 major decision in the third place match to get to the true second place match.
Nora Houglum (Mora) defeated Wales by an 18-2 technical fall in the true second place match.
On the boys side, the WCA-A-B-E program won the MAHACA Dr. Busian Invitational on Saturday.
Five Knights earned five first place finishes, one by Owen Gruchow (113), Hunter Gruchow (145), Solomon Wales (152), Anthony Sykora (182), and Justin Blascyk (285).
Owen Gruchow (29-7) earned a pin (3:17) and a 9-3 decision to earn first, while Hunter Gruchow (38-6) earned two pins (1:30 and 2:14) and an 11-3 major decision, and Wales earned two pins (2:11 and 0:36), a 10-1 major decision and a 7-5 decision.
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Sykora (41-1) earned four pins (0:36, 1:07, 1:22, 0:53) to earn first, and Blascyk (29-9) earned three pins (3:58, 3:53, and 5:44) to win his bracket.
Beau Robinson (26-10, 195) and Will Rustan (23-15, 220) each had two pins (1:30 and 2:26 for Robinson, 5:09 and 1:17 for Rustan) which helped them earn second in their brackets.
Carter Lohse (10-5, 126) earned two pins (4:34 and 1:51) en route to earn third in his bracket, while Adam Lohse (28-12, 132) earned one (1:15).
Ezekiel Sieckert (9-10, 160) earned two first period pins (0:54 and1:02) to earn third place in his bracket.
Jeremy Blascyk (16-23, 170) earned a pin (1:57) and a 2-1 decision to earn fifth place in his bracket, while Sam Olson (10-8, 138) earned one pin (2:22) and placed sixth in his bracket.
WCA-A-B-E placed first out of eight teams in the tournament and scored 229 meet points. Morris Area-Hancock Area-Chokio-Alberta (MAHACA) earned second with 178.5 points.
WCA-A-B-E hosts the Section 6A Team Tournament on Friday, Feb. 17, starting at 3 p.m.
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