State wasn’t as successful at sections for Buffalo this year, with all four competitors losing in the first round. Going into the first round today things were looking tough for Buffalo when unranked Senior Lucas Mock , weight 126 lbs, wrestled against 5th ranked Michael Pleski of Forest Lake. Mock lost with a final score was 10-1. 9th ranked Senior Tanner Maus, 160lbs, was ranked higher than his opponent from Saint Cloud Tech, Bryant Amundson, who was ranked 10th. In the end, ranking wasn’t the deciding factor when Amundson won a close match of 6-5. Junior Jonathan Wirrkkala, 170lbs, was not ranked nor was his opponent, Levi Rubin. To qualify for state Wirkkala faced a wrestler who had a record of 30-3 (30 wins and 3 losses) while his record was 16-21. He took home the win in a close match that came down to the end. But today that was not the case leading the whole way Wirkkala was pinned in the second period after getting trapped in a hold. Eighth grader Adam Treptau , 220lbs, was ranked 8th and faced Coyte Kuefner from Owatonna who was ranked 3rd in the state. His first trip to state did not end the way he hoped when he was tech fouled (a loss by more than 15 points) in the second period.
Overall this was not what Buffalo was expecting. Realistic expectations had been set and Maus was expected to advance. When he did not win his match Buffalo’s coach Ben Wandmacher‘s expression showed that this was not what he was expecting. With no one advancing to the finals Buffalo is hoping that the boys’ opponents will succeed in their next matches so Buffalo will have someone wrestling in the constellation wrestle backs. For individual details of each match click on first mention of the athlete’s name.
