File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Area’s Jaden Drill, right, wrestles Morris Area’s Levi Kellenberger on Jan. 20 at New Ulm High School. Drill will be one of four NUA wrestlers to compete at the State Wrestling Individual Championships this weekend at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

ST. PAUL — The 2022 State Individual Wrestling Tournament begins this Friday at Xcel Energy Center, and two familiar names will represent the Class AA New Ulm Area wrestling team there in senior Jaden Drill and sophomore Parker Kamm.

There will also be a new pair of NUA wrestlers to watch for at state this year also.

One new name to the state individuals this year for NUA will be Ellie Dake, an eighth-grade girls’ wrestler with a 23-10 record on the year. This will be the first year the state tourney features a girls’ tournament.

Dake went 3-0 and won her bracket at 152 pounds at the Section 1-4 Meet on Feb. 19 at Hastings High School to qualify for state. The girls’ brackets begin on Saturday.

Dake will first match up with Lindsey Nosbush (5-3) of Mora in a girls’ championship semifinals match.

Senior Dylen Carreon is the other Eagles wrestler new to state this year. Carreon qualified for state after defeating Worthington’s Tanner Hennings 7-3 in a 195-pound second-place match this past Saturday at the Section 3AA individual wrestling tourney in Redwood Falls.

After the second-place match win, Carreon said that he’s looking to wrestle hard and enjoy his state trip with his friends.

“I’m just going to try to wrestle my heart out, have some fun and just have a good time with my friends,” Carreon said. “And hopefully, something happens.”

Carreon (32-16) will first wrestle Kaden Olson (27-8) of Princeton on Friday morning.

Kamm and Drill will also first compete Friday morning.

Kamm, unranked all of last season as a freshman, ended his 2021 season with a fourth-place state medal at 106 pounds. He’s no longer flying under the radar this year, however, as he’s been ranked in the top 10 all season at 113.

Kamm (17-4) will first take on Cannon Falls’ Gavin Peterson (43-6) at 113 pounds.

After Kamm took second at the Section 3AA wrestling tourney this past Saturday, he said that he’s looking forward to a true state tournament experience this year after last season’s alternate approach.

“I definitely think it means a lot more because it’s actual state this time,” Kamm said. “We get to go Xcel, we get to see everything, 16-man brackets.”

Kamm also said that he’s aiming to place again at state this year.

Drill (36-2) makes his second heavyweight appearance at state this season as well, and he will first be taking on Max Balow (42-1) of Lake City.

Drill finished second at the section tourney this past Saturday after pinning New London-Spicer’s Marshel Johnson in a second-place match in 56 seconds.

After that win, Drill said that he was going to wrestle hard at state and see what happens.

“I’m going to wrestle as hard as I can, have a good week of practice and see what pans out,” he said.

ALSO FROM THE AREA

Springfield junior Ashtin Johnson will make his first trip to the state individual tourney this Friday. Johnson, competing at 160 pounds, had a strong showing at the Section 3A individual wrestling tourney in Wabasso this past Saturday, pinning the No. 2-seeded Bryer Hieronimus of Adrian to advance to the finals.

Johnson eventually ended up in a second-place match with Wabasso’s Chase Irlbeck, where he won 12-2 to qualify for state.

Johnson is currently 36-7 with 25 pins and will take on the Ottertail Central Bulldogs’ Jaxon Rich first on Friday morning.

Sibley East will also be well-represented at state this year as freshman Benito Diaz (113), senior Drayden Morton (145) and sophomore Omar Martinez (285) all qualified for state this past Saturday at the Section 4A individual wrestling tourney in Kimball.

Morton will be the most decorated wrestler from the area at state, boasting three state championships already in his career and looking to bring home his fourth. This will be his fifth total state appearance.

Morton (45-0), the top seed, will first wrestle Lucas Vaughn (27-19) of St. Clair/Mankato Loyola on Friday morning.

Diaz and Martinez will make their first state appearance.

Diaz (38-6) will first take on Carson Petry (22-3) of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton, while Martinez (25-7) first matches up with Kale Rich (26-16) of the Ottertail Central Bulldogs.

Diaz and Morton both won the section title at their weight classes last Saturday, while Martinez finished second.

The first individual wrestling session begins at 9 a.m. Friday, with Class AAA competing first, followed by Class A and Class AA. Quarterfinal matches begin at roughly 4 p.m. Friday, while Saturday kicks off at 9 a.m. with consolation quarterfinals, championship semifinals, consolation semifinals and girls’ championship semifinals.

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