Cooley a repeat champion

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

ST. PAUL -- Jeff Cooley, the repeat Class AA State Champion at 130 lbs., said just Friday that he wasn't "good enough to kill people like other wrestlers are," showed the state that he doesn't have to win by large margins to finish his senior year as an undefeated state champ.

Cooley (39-0) beat Litchfield's Joe Buschette in a 3-2 decicion. After a slow beginning, the match was tied at one with :27 left when Cooley made a take-down and kept Buschette at bay to claim the top spot in the state.

"You don't have time to get nervous in the middle of a match," Cooley said about the close match. "I just had to keep thinking, shoot, shoot, shoot, and get open for the take-down."

After his coaches congratulated him, Cooley ran up to hug his family and talk on the phone with his brother, Jared, who wrestles for Southwest State and is at a wrestling tournament in Kirksville, MO.

Jeff Cooley, who is on the Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove team, but hails from outside of Westbrook, follows in his brother's footsteps. Last year, Jared Cooley took second place in the state tournament after being beat by the three-time state champ.

"I try to compete with him, but I don't do a very successful job," Cooley said. "But we like to give each other a hard time."

Cooley plans on wrestling in college and is considering Southwest State or South Dakota State as his top choices.

Class A

Championships

After two periods, it looked as if Cole Altermatt's 135 championship match against Andy Quittschreiber of Frazee, would end in a tie. Already, referees had called three stalemates. But in the third, Quittschreiber bucked Altermatt off his back for an escape, which ended the match, 3-2.

"We both have the same style of wrestling," Altermatt said. "It was hard to score either way."

Earlier, Altermatt had said that he felt that he was nearly 100 percent recovered from the hand surgery he had in January.

"The only thing that could have been better is my conditioning," he said. "But I felt good in that match."

Altermatt, a senior at Wabasso, is not sure where he will go to school next year, but he plans to wrestle somewhere.

Sibley East's Erik Wallace didn't have as close of a championship match at 152. Wrestling against Medford's Mitch Kuhlman, who is undefeated at 47-0, he closed the gap to 5-3 with a reversal, but Kuhlman escaped and took him off his feet twice for the 10-3 final score.

Class A Consolation Bracket

Jamie Wagner (28-7), Nicollet, allowed his third-place match to be tied at seven with a minute left knowing that the next take-down would win it. Unfortunately, the take-down was not his, and Ross Kockelman, Canby, won 9-7, leaving Wagner in fourth place.

"Up here, it can go either way every time, because the matches are so even," Wagner said.

But he was not making any excuses. "I just ran out of gas," he said. "I didn't have it when I needed it."

In his semifinal match, Wagner was caught off guard by Kaleb Jacobson from New Richland-Heartland-Ellendale-Geneva (33-12), but came back to win 8-6 to advance to the third-place match in the consolation semis.

Jacobson put Wagner on the mat to begin the match, but Wagner came back with two take-downs himself, and was up 7-4.

Wagner forced Jacobson onto the mat, keeping his feet just inside the circle and stayed ahead for the win.

"He kind of surprised me by taking me down early, because I'm strong on my feet," Wagner said. "I wasn't where I should have been, wrestling light, on the balls of my feet.

But Wagner learned from the early mistake and used his natural talent to his advantage. That is what Wagner also looked to do going into the third place match, since he did not know much about his opponent.

"You need to rely on what your strenghts are ... what God has given you," he said. "You can't concentrate too much on your opponent, because that will get to you."

Wagner, who wrestles a light 171 this year, moved up from last year's 160, at which he took second place at state.

Placing third at 140 was Phil McMullen (38-2), St. James, with a 6-3 decision over Branton Newling. After a Newling escape tied the match at three, McMullen made two take-downs to seal the victory. McMullen dominated his match against Chris McPhail in the consolation semifinals 12-2. The only two points he allowed were escapes, while he made a series of take-downs.

Corey Schunk (36-5), Wabasso, took fifth place over Chris McPhail (35-8) from Pine Island in a 7-2 decision in the 140 weight class. Schunk wrestled Frazee's Brenton Newling (31-9) in the consolation semifinals. He came from behind in the second period with a big reversal to tie it at three, but even though he escaped for a point, Newling made a last takedown to win 6-4.

Brandon Greiner (39-6), Madelia/Truman, lost to Kyle Bednar (38-13) to place sixth in the 103 weight class. He came out with two early take-downs, but Bednar controlled the rest of the match, getting Greiner on his back three times to beat him 15-4. Greiner had lost by fall at :31 to Davey Kosen from Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (38-6) to drop to the fifth-place match.

St.James takes sixth place

ST. PAUL -- St. James left the State Class A team wrestling tournament with a six place finish.

The Saints won just two bouts, losing to Frazee 53-7. Chris Werth won his 125 bout in a 9-3 decision, and Phil McMullen, who took third place in individuals, major decisioned his opponent 17-5.

From there, it was all Frazee, as the Saints gave up a total of 23 points in the next four matches to three pins and a tech fall, as well as another loss by fall at 275 lb.

St. James ends their season with an overall record of 23-4-0.