Injury kept Victor Franco from wrestling much of this season.
But the Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield senior made sure Saturday that he will get a little extra time on the mat, taking second at 120 pounds in the Section 6AA individual tournament and earning a trip to the State Class AA Tournament.
The State Wrestling Tournament is Thursday through Saturday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, with the Class AA individual tournament set to begin at 9 a.m. Friday. Individual championship matches are set for 4 p.m. Saturday.
It will be Franco’s third trip to the state tournament. He made it in 2020 and 2021 before missing the trip last year.
Franco will be joined by fellow teammate and three-time state entrant Tate Link, who won the section championship at 182 pounds.
Additionally, Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield claimed three other pieces of hardware, with Spencer Henke taking third at 220 pounds, Gabe Nelson finishing fourth at 126 pounds, and Luis Serrato taking fifth at 285.
“Days like (Friday and Saturday) are hard, fun, frustrating, stressful and exciting as you see the athletes you have worked with for the last 60 days trying to achieve a goal they started back in November and for some of them, several years ago,” DC/L co-coach Bryan Clemen said. “You will see guys achieve some of those goals and see others fall short. You have seniors walking off the mat for the last time. We had a little bit of all this (Saturday).”
Franco entered the Section 6AA meet with just 12 matches under his belt this season, less than half the competitive total of the top wrestlers in his weight class. But he found his wrestling stamina, and his winning form, just in time.
Despite his lack of matches, Franco earned a first-round bye, then met Zimmerman’s Christopher Belair in the quarterfinals, where he registered a quick pin in 1:01.
That moved him into the semifinals to meet junior Cyler Ruhoff of Foley, who entered the section meet with a 35-7 record and was ranked sixth in the state in Class AA at 120 pounds. Of course, Franco was ranked seventh in the state, and he rolled into the finals with a 10-2 decision.
Franco’s run came to an end there, however, as he lost to top-seeded and No. 2 in the state Tegan Sherk. The St. Francis junior, who entered the tournament with a 29-3 mark, validated his ranking with a 14-5 win to claim the title.
But as section runner-up, Franco will still return to the state tournament, where he will hope to find the same kind of run he had as a sophomore in 2021 when he finished fourth.
Link was dominant in his run to the Section 6AA title. He moved to 34-0 on the season with three consecutive wins. Link opened with a pin over Spectrum’s Nate Jorgenson in 56 seconds, than recorded a 13-5 major decision over Becker’s Owen Angell in the semifinals.
Things got much tighter in the championship match, where Link met Big Lake’s Johnathon Murphy, who was ranked fifth in the state at 182 pounds. Link, ranked third in the state, emerged with a 9-7 win and his second consecutive section title. Link finished fourth in the state at 182 pounds last season, when his older brother Jude won a state title at 160 pounds.
How Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield’s other medalists earned their hardware:
- Henke lost in the quarterfinals, but bounced back to claim four consecutive wins in wrestlebacks, including a 6-4 decision over Cristopher Perez of Monticello in a third place match. It was sweet revenge for Henke, who’d fallen to Perez 3-2 in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep the roll going. Falling 7-2 to Nathan Klatt of Annandale/Maple Lake in the true-second mach.
- Nelson lost by pin to eventual section champion Kaden Nicolas of Becker in the semifinals, but won a wrestleback match to advance to the third-place match before losing to Jack Major of Rocori 4-0. Nelson, a senior, finished his final high school season with a 38-15 record.
- Serrato, who entered the section meet with an 8-11 record, fell to Big Lake-s Kane Lapointe on a pin in just 47 seconds. Seemingly unfazed, the Charging Dragons junior stormed through the wrestlebacks, earning consecutive second-period pins, before losing to Annandale/Maple Lake’s Adam Klatt 5-2 in the consolation semifinal and falling into the fifth-place match. There, Serrato closed his season with a 35-second pin over St. Francis’ Easton Johnson.
