Having just breezed through the Section 3A Individual Tournament with three straight pins, Justin Tongen stood in the concourse just outside of the sweltering Redwood Valley gym trying to give his first interview since earning his first trip to the State Tournament.
The tournament still thundered inside the packed gym while Tongen smiled and answered trying to ignore his coaches who giggled and offered answers like, “First, I’d like to thank God...” and “Justin Tongen is just one man.”
He’d put up with the ribbing and continue smiling through it all, knowing a dream had come true and knowing, too, the disappointments that had preceeded this moment.
“I’ve screwed up at Sections twice before... and it sucks,” said Tongen. “I just really wanted to make it this time.”
And Tongen, a senior, would make it without any doubt winning by fall in the quarterfinals (2:39), semifinals (1:46) and finals (5:16). It takes most people longer to shower than it took Tongen to win the Section Championship at 145 pounds.
“He’s hitting on all cylinders,” said Yellow Medicine East head coach David Wingert. “He’s peaking at the right time of the year and his hard work is paying off—that’s for sure.”
Tongen will have to keep hitting on all cylinders to make a run through the State Tournament. But for now, Tongen seems excited just to have finally made it and have an opportunity to enjoy his time at State.
“Hopefully I can place pretty high and just have fun,” said Tongen. “There will be a lot of tough competition, but it’ll be fun.”
Joining Tongen at the Excel Center this weekend will be 103 pound sophomore Evan Knudson who is making his second consecutive trip to the State Tournament and fellow senior Dylan Hoffman who will be making his third consecutive appearance.
Knudson would dominate both his quarterfinal and semifinal matches. First winning by fall in 31 seconds against MACCRAY’s Alex Wolf then winning by a 10-2 decision against RCW’s Travis Fagen. Knudson would miss being named Section champion by a mere point losing narrowly to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg’s Kurt Timmons 3-2.
Hoffman, meanwhile, would pin Pipestone’s Ryan Miessen before winning a nail-bitting 2-1 decision against BOLD’s Zach Revier. Like Knudson, Hoffman would also be forced to settle for Section Runner-up honors as he would lose in the championship round to Minneota’s Alex Lessman 3-1.
All three State bound wrestlers would be seeded third in the State Tournament brackets.
Other Sectional medal winners from the weekend include senior Dustin Baker who placed fourth at 140 pounds, senior Mason Hegna who placed fourth at 160 pounds, senior Cody Sander who placed fourth at 171 pounds, junior Derek Dyrdahl who placed third at 215 pounds and freshman Tim Savig who took fifth place wrestling heavy weight.
“Overall I’m proud of the boys. They had a great season,” said Wingert. We had a lot of injuries to battle back from but they fought through it. Nobody ever got down and we really kept a positive attitude throughout the season and I thought they finished real well at the end here.”
YME Individual Results
103: Evan Knudson 2-1, 2nd Place
112: Dylan Johnson 1-2
119: Justin Stock 1-2
125: Roger Paquin 0-2
130: Holdyn Sand 2-1
135: Dylan Hoffman 2-1, 2nd Place
140: Dustin Baker 2-2, 4th Place
145: Justin Tongen 3-0, 1st Place
152: Logan Johnson 0-2
160: Mason Hegna 3-2, 4th Place
171: Cody Sander 2-2, 4th Place
215: Derek Dyrdahl 3-1, 3rd Place
Hwt: Tim Savig 2-2, 5th Place
103 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Evan Knudson, YME, fall Alex Wolf, MACCRAY, :31
SEMIFINALS: Knudson dec. Travis Fagen, RCW 10-2
CHAMPIONSHIP: Kurt Timmons, KMS, dec. Knudson 3-2
112 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Ted Berckes, Can, fall Dylan Johnson, YME, 1:15
CONSOLATION: Zach Carlson, KMS, techfall Johnson 16-0
119 pounds
FIRST ROUND: Justin Stock, YME, fall Isaas Cloos 1:08
QUARTERFINALS: Christian Skillings, Min, dec. Stock 7-0
CONSOLATION: Brady Boe dec. Stock 5-3, ot
125 pounds
FIRST ROUND: Jesse Lundebrek, Ben, dec. Roger Paquin, YME, 6-0
CONSOLATION: Bryce Farringer, RV, fall Paquin :35
130 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Holdyn Sand, YME, fall Brett Feldman, RCW, 3:45
SEMIFINALS: Klinton VanHeuveln, KMS, fall Sand 1:44
CONSOLATION: Danny Miller, Can, fall Sand 2:28 Fifth place: Sand fall Josh Frentzel, Ben, 4:52
135 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Dylan Hoffman, YME, fall Ryan Miessen, Pipe, 3:45
SEMIFINALS: Hoffman dec. Zach Revier, BOLD, 2-1
CHAMPIONSHIP: Alex Lessman, Min, dec. Hoffman 3-1, ot
140 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Dustin Baker, YME, dec. Matt Jelen, Can, 15-7
SEMIFINALS: Aaron Doraska, KMS, dec. Baker 5-4
CONSOLATION: Baker dec. Logan Erickson, BOLD, 10-5 Third place: David Tweten, Ben, dec. Baker 7-3
145 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Justin Tongen, YME, fall Matt Friese, MAC, 2:39
SEMIFINALS: Tongen fall Andrew Swedzinski, Min, 1:46
CHAMPIONSHIP: Tongen fall Jadon Evans, Pip, 5:16
152 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Alex Steffel, BOLD, dec. Logan Johnson, YME, 9-3
CONSOLATION: Adam Longtin, Min, dec. Johnson 5-4
160 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Brandan Alfson, Pipe, dec. Mason Hegna, YME, 6-5
CONSOLATION: Hegna fall Rick Anderson, RCW, 3:39 ... Hegna fall Travis Diekman, Ort, :48 ... Hegna dec. Taylor Bodin, MACCRAY, Third place: Brandan Alfson, Pip, dec. Hegna 7-2
171 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Cody Sander, YME, fall Blake Abraham, Min, 4:54
SEMIFINALS: Cody Hatch, BOLD, dec. Sander 5-3
CONSOLATION: Sander dec. Myrvan Halleland, KMS, 3-0 Third place: Dylan Kor, Pip, dec. Sander 3-0
215 pounds
QUARTERFINALS: Derek Dyrdahl, YME, dec. Tyler Minkel, BOLD, 3-2
SEMIFINALS: Jon Gorter, Pip, dec. Dyrdahl 11-4
CONSOLATION: Dyrdahl dec. Jason Mertens, RCW, 13-1 Third place: Dyrdahl dec. Tyler Minkel, BOLD, 4-2
285 pounds
FIRST ROUND: Victor Montelongo, Min, dec. Tim Savig, YME, 3-0
CONSOLATION: Savig dec. Cody Schulze, Pip, 6-4... Montelongo dec. Savig 5-1 Fifth place: Savig dec. Tyler Jensen, Ben, 7-3
