Staples-Motley Boys’ Wrestling Returns to State Tourney After 25 Years

It’s been 25 years, but Staples-Motley boys’ wrestling has finally made it back to the Class A state tournament.

They go in as the 2-seed after an upset over Holdingford, a team they had lost to in mid-January at the Rick Lee invite, in the Section 7A final. The Cardinals finished the regular season ranked third in Class A and have seven wrestlers ranked in their weight class, five of which qualified for the individual state tournament as well.

But the squad is most excited about getting to compete for a state title as a full team.

“I know a lot of people who have been on the team and I know a lot of other people who’ve been on state teams, and … they say that it’s a lot more fun than individuals,” said 121 lb. wrestler Elijah Greenwaldt. “Last year, I was one of the few individuals to go, so I’m really excited for it. It’s going to be a whole new experience.”

“It’s just so fun to go down there, like, I was down there last year and just having the team down there is just going to be an awesome experience, but yeah, definitely a business trip,” added 152 lbs. wrestler Colbe Tappe.

“This year, there’s definitely a lot more dedication,” said 145 lbs. wrestler Blake Neelan. “Once we started winning all these tournaments, everybody just started realizing, ‘Okay, it’s something we can do. [We] just got to go and get the job done.”

“Last season we worked extremely hard. This year, in the summer, we put in extra work,” explained 127 lbs. wrestler Jack Carlson. “We knew from the start if we kept working hard and proving our abilities, that this could definitely be a possibility. And we expected that from the beginning of the season.”

Staples-Motley will face random draw Le Sueur-Henderson from Section 4A in the quarterfinal duel. The tournament will begin Thursday, February 29 at 11 a.m. at the Xcel Energy Center, and before the day is done a state champion will be crowned.

Two other area schools also competing in Class A are United North Central and Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie, both heading in as random draws.