With all-around athlete Scot Edwards leading the way, the Adrian / Ellsworth Dragons are once again fielding a highly-competitive high school wrestling team this winter.
Edwards, who wore #60 for the Dragons as an offensive and defensive lineman in football last fall, was an amazing 28-2 on the mat last winter and finished the ’18-19 season as the Class A heavyweight runner-up. He is currently ranked second in all of Class A by the Guillotine, Minnesota’s High School Wrestling Magazine.
Edwards qualified for the state track and field meet last June as a shot putter. He is a big-time contributor to Adrian High School athletics.
Sophomore Brayan Anaya wrestled in the state meet last February as a 106-pounder. A bit bigger this year, Anaya is listed fifth in Class A at 113 pounds in the Guillotine’s pre-season rankings.
Senior Logan Taylor, who earned state-meet advancement two years ago as a sophomore, is another top-notch wrestler who will help Adrian / Ellsworth compete with conditioning and execution on the mat this winter. Veteran head coach Gregg Nelson has several other returning wrestlers with plenty of varsity experience as the Dragons have not graduated a senior in the past two seasons.
At Fulda / Murray County Central, Nick Henning is the head coach. A very good football player for the Fulda Raiders, Henning was a state wrestling champion for the Warriors in 2006 at 189 pounds. He later wrestled collegiately for Augustana in Sioux Falls.
Henning’s nephew, Ryder Henning is a fine all-around athlete who enjoyed a fine season in football (for Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda) and has had success as a pole vaulter in track and field. Ryder placed sixth in the section wrestling meet last year as a freshman at 160 pounds.
Another top-notch returning wrestler for the Warriors is sophomore Christian Kuball, who excelled as a lineman for MCC in football last fall and could be among the better area wrestlers at either 170 or 182, two weight classes which are always keenly competitive.
The 14 weight classes in Minnesota High School Wrestling are as follows: 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285.
Okabena’s Ray Bleess was a two-time one-class state wrestling champion in both 1959 and 1960 at 120 pounds as a junior and senior at Blue Earth High School. Ray did a lot of extra running many days after practice as he frequently ran all the way home — a distance of more than six miles. Look for more on that “story” in a future Bleacher Views.
While the newly-paired Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda boys basketball team has just three seniors on its roster this winter, both Murray County Central and Adrian / Ellsworth are loaded with seniors.
The Rebels, who graduated a bunch of talented seniors off an excellent team which won 13 of 16 Red Rock Conference games in ’18-19, still have eight seniors on the ’19-20 roster under the leadership of first-year head coach Tim Cariveau with both Paul Counter and Tom Pryor returning as assistants.
Kyle Deacon, Alex Galvez, Justin Clarke, Trevor Ackerman, Tyler Winter, Thomas Murphy, Aaron Johnson and Raiden Thunder Hawk are the eight Rebel seniors who look to provide plenty leadership for the MCC boys.
At Adrian / Ellsworth, head coach Blake Miller (assisted by Ethan Van Briesen, Greg Harner and Mark Lonneman) has a whopping total of 12 seniors on his roster. Those 12 players are Nathan Rahe, Noah Reyne, Brady Vortherms, Tyler Wolford, Tristan Thier, Ian Stamer, Grant Jansma, John Heidebrink, Caleb Hornstein, Brandon Schnoor, Lance Luettel and Rondae Nave.
The Dragons are deep — very deep — with a total of 11 juniors, eight sophomores and 10 freshmen giving them a combined roster of 41 potential players, grades 9-12.
Adrian opened last Saturday with a 79-61 loss to a very aggressive and athletic Luverne squad.
The Dragons host Westbrook-Walnut Grove (2-1) Friday (the 13th), travel to Tyler Saturday (3 p.m.) for a game against Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and then host Windom next Monday, December 16.
MCC (0-3) will travel west to Edgerton Friday and tangle with one of the area’s very best — Southwest Minnesota Christian, which has started fast with wins over Pipestone Area (66-60) and Worthington (80-51).
HL-O / Fulda (1-2) hosts Windom Thursday (December 12) and travels east to Truman next Tuesday (the 17th) for a clash with the Jaguars of Truman / Granada-Huntley-East Chain / Martin Luther.
The Gophers will play Auburn in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida on January 1 (noon kickoff). I will have more about that in an upcoming Bleacher Views.
The next few days are going to very cold — but we are nearly 30 percent through winter (almost, by the middle of next week, it will be slightly over 30 percent).
