Those four wrestlers guaranteeing themselves at least a sixth-place state medal Saturday are New Ulm Area’s Evan Thompson and Lake Crystal Wellcome Memoria Area’s Parker Kamm, Nick Slater and Ryan Palmer.

In the Class AA portion of the tournament, New Ulm Area’s Kane Johnson, Winsten Nienhaus and Thompson all won their opening matches.

In the Class A tournament, Sibley East’s Benito Diaz, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area’s Kamm, Zach Palmer, Ryan Palmer and Nick Slater all won their first matches. Kamm, Ryan Palmer, Slater and Thompson all won their second match and will advance to the semifinals round Saturday.

The wrestling started with the Class A wrestlers. Diaz came away with a pin in 1:36 over Wabasso’s Kaysen Harms at 133.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area's Parker Kamm (blue single) and Sibley East's Benito Diaz (black singlet) grapple during the second round of the State Individual Wrestling Tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

“He took a shot on me and I sprawled on him,” Diaz said. “I got around him and I did a cradle on him at first, but he got out of that. Then I did a butcher on him for the pin.”

Diaz said that wrestling at the state tournament was a combination of excitement and nerves.

“I think it’s pretty fun,” he said. “Because you’ve got your teammates here, you have a hotel, you’re having fun in the hotel. But it’s also pretty nerve racking, because you have thousands of people watching you, all your friends and family are there rooting for you to do your best. It’s fun and nerve racking.

Kamm got a 7-0 decision over Goodhue’s Hayden Holm at 133 as well, while Zach Palmer won at 139 over Trinity School at River Ridge’s Dominic McNamara with a pin in 1:31. Ryan Palmer took a 16-0 technical fall in 5:26 over United North Central’s Zach Davidson at 152.

Slater wrestled against Frazee’s Jack Graham at 189. Slater started off the match with a quick takedown and a pair of 3-point near falls in the first period. Slater chose down in the second period, getting a reversal before Graham got on the board with an escape to put the score at 10-1. Slater got another takedown and a 3-point near fall before the end of the period. In the third, Slater scored another takedown for a 17-1 technical fall in 5:02.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial's Nick Slater works for a pin against Frazee's Jack Graham during the opening round of the State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

NUA had a solid start on Day 1 of the individuals.

“They all come up here confident and they all come up here with goals,” New Ulm head coach Kevin Briggs said. “That first round, we were the aggressors and we came out victorious.”

Johnson got a 7-1 decision at 114 over Minneapolis Patrick Henry’s Adam Her, scoring a reversal, a 3-point near fall, an escape and a takedown in his win.

Nienhaus followed that up with a match against Seth Cossentine of Rockford at 145.

“I went into this knowing he’s a big leg rider,” Nienhaus said. “They said he was really aggressive on his feet, so I knew I couldn’t just take him down and cut him.”

Nienhaus got an early takedown and worked for a 3-point near fall, but Cossentine managed to get a reversal on Nienhaus to put the score at 5-2. Cossentine got another reversal to open the second period, but Nienhaus responded in kind with a reversal of his own and another 3-point near fall. One more reversal by Nienhaus in the third period set him up for a cradle pin on Cossentine with 25 seconds remaining.

Nienhaus, who missed out on last year’s state tournament due to a broken wrist, said that while in some ways the matches felt the same, there is definitely something different when thousands of people are there in the stadium with him.

“I really just think it’s just going out there and wrestling another match,” Nienhaus said. “But it’s so much bigger than that. The atmosphere’s way different. You’re used to these high school gyms where there’s 200 people. There’s thousands of people here right now, and they’re all watching these eight matches. You’ve got hundreds and thousands of people watching just you wrestle, and it’s crazy. It’s just a great experience up here so far.”

Nienhaus’ pin over Cossentine was his 20th pin of the season.

Thompson also got a pin at 285 on his first opponent Nathan Woodward from Rockford, who appeared to suffer an injury on a takedown by Thompson and was pinned in 1:11.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Area's Winsten Nienhaus works against Roseau's Seth Cossentine during the opening round of the State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Diaz and Kamm matched up in the second round of the tournament. Kamm quickly got a takedown on Diaz and pinned him in 1:57, advancing to take on Chatfield’s Gage Bartels Saturday.

Ryan Palmer took home a 4-2 decision over Royalton-Upsala’s Sawyer Simmons and will wrestle Staples-Motley’s Colbe Tappe in the semifinals.

Slater matched up against Staples-Motley’s Luke Bjerga in the second round. Slater opened the match with a takedown, followed by a 3-point near fall to take a 5-0 lead after one. Slater got another takedown and a pair of 3-point near falls to take a 13-0 lead, and in the third got his third takedown for a 15-0 technical fall in 4:27.

Slater now will face Paynesville Area’s Peyton Hemmesch on Saturday.

Thompson had by far the longest match of any of the area wrestlers on the day, going into tiebreakers. The first three periods were a stalemate, with neither Thompson nor his opponent, Pequot Lakes-Pine River’s Riley Peters, willing to give an inch. The overtime was much of the same, with both wrestlers realizing they were going to have to capitalize on the smallest advantages.

At the end of OT, the match went to tiebreakers. Thompson was down for Tiebreaker I, managing to score the first point of the match with an escape. Peters was unable to match Thompson in Tiebreaker II, giving Thompson the win.

“That was a grind of a match, obviously, overtime,” Briggs said. “He did enough to get the win, and he’s made the podium. Now it’s time to refocus and set another goal, and bring it again in the semis.”

Though Diaz didn’t come away with his second win, he won his first match in the consolation bracket and will face Deegan Birkaker of Ogilvie tomorrow for a chance at third place. Other wrestlers who will have a second chance in the consolation bracket are Zach Palmer, who will wrestle Kimball Area’s Mark Schiefelbein, and Nienhaus, who will face Rocori’s Jack Major.

Wabasso’s Harms was denied a wrestleback, while Wabasso’s Zeke Olson dropped a 189-pound match to Staples-Motley’s by a 7-2 decision and was also denied a wrestleback. Harms ends his season with a 30-13 record, while Olson ends his at 30-8.

The tournament resumes 9 a.m. Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center.