Cole Ranweiler fell to Afton Kaping (Litchfield) by a 7-3 division, while his older brother Hunter dropped a 3-1 decision to Antonio Cortez (South Saint Paul). Stark fell to Carter Marx (Plainview-Elgin-Millville) by a 2-1 decision.

With the losses, each NUA wrestler was eliminated from the consolation bracket, which could have led to as much as a third-place finish.

Despite the early losses in Day 2, New Ulm coach John Rieser was proud of his wrestlers that made it to state this season.

“Obviously the kids have worked hard all year,” Rieser said. “We always talk about, the end of the year is the goal, and I thought we had wrestled really great all year. We had some nice placings in all our tournaments, came through the section tournament, advancing four kids to the state tournament with 10 of the 12 kids placing at the section tournament. We were real happy with that.

“You get up into this atmosphere [state] and it’s a different environment,” Rieser added. “Every kid is pretty good, a lot of close matches and stuff like that. Every one our kids won a match up here, but unfortunately not enough wins to get a kid to place.”

Cole Ranweiler wraps up a 30-17 freshman year, while Hunter Ranweiler finishes his career with a 41-4 season. Stark finishes his career with a 32-12 season.

Rieser said that it will hurt to lose his two state seniors, but he is glad to have had them and is proud of what they were able to accomplish.

“Obviously any time you lose two kids that have been to the state tournament twice, it’s going to hurt your team,” Rieser said. “Everyone else is going to have to step up and help fill that void. But those two have put in a lot of time over the years. I appreciate all the hard work they put in, and it’s been a fun ride for them. We’re going to miss them next year.”