The Owatonna Wrestling Team’s regular season has come to a close as varsity takes a week break before heading into team sections. The Huskies ended their regular season with a loss to Mounds View. Mounds View is the number one ranked team in class AAA. The Huskies finished with a 22-11 record with 10 out of 11 losses being to ranked teams. They finished with a 8-2 record in the conference and have landed themselves the three seed in the section tournament.
With their eyes on a state tournament berth, the Huskies are looking to beat section rivals Albert Lea and Northfield to get themselves into the state tournament bracket.
The team is very young compared to other teams in their section, yet the Huskies were able to land themselves a top-three seed in their section. Head Coach Derek Johnson said, “We are prepared mentally and physically for sections. We have been working hard day in and day out for this week and I believe we can get past our section.”
The Huskies have had a long 13 weeks of practice and tournaments to prepare for team sections and they plan on using all they have learned this upcoming Thursday.
Huskies wrestlers have had a long and draining season. As they come into sections, their expectations are very high as they want to come out on top after all this time and hard work. Standout junior Donny Sorenson said, “ If the team wrestles well, we all stay solid, and save team points, we could easily take this team to the X”.
At this point in the season, all the wrestlers want to be at their best to keep their season going. They all have the same end goal in mind and are striving to make their goals happen.
The Huskies have not made it to the team state tournament since 2020 when they had a heavyweight thriller to win their section. This is the best team they have assembled in recent years and they want to take advantage of that.
Coach Johnson said, “Our team is all young and have had a few years of chemistry together. To be this young and to compete like we do is to make a statement every time we step into a gym. We know we have the talent to make it to the X, And so does everyone else.”
The Huskies will travel to Northfield for team sections on Feb.15 at 6:00 pm. Individual sections will be on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 10:00 am. at Mayo Civic Center.
