THOR wrestling club is state champ
On Sunday, October 7 at the “MN/USA Annual Awards Banquet” in St Paul, the Minneota-based “THOR Freestyle /Greco Wrestling Club” was named the 2018 State Champion.
The runner up was from Forest Lake with third place the Northfield team. THOR Freestyle/Greco Wrestling Club includes wrestlers from Minneota, Canby, Tyler, Marshall, Redwood Falls, Granite Falls, Dawson-Boyd, Madison, Hancock and the Morris Area.
The wrestling club is a chartered USA Wrestling Club. The club is managed and coached by Brock Buysse, Wade Gillund, Kyle Rose, Eric Rose, Steve Banks and J.D. Pesch.
“The club has guest clinicians from time to time and this year we were fortunate to have All-American (Eighth Place) Luke Zilverberg of SDSU, National Champion Seth Gross of SDSU and World Champion Ronna Heaton,” said Pesch.
Thor Wrestling Club has been extremely successful and has exceeded all expectations for coaches and parents the past three years.
“We practice two nights a week starting in mid-March and wrestle at 7-10 tournaments across the state, including: Eastview in Apple Valley, Apple Valley High School, Jackson, St. Francis, Forest Lake, West Central Area, Stewartville and Owatonna,” said Pesch.
The Club has seen tremendous growth in the past three years, since it was formed in 2016. “We had 52 wrestlers, aged 5-18 from towns around the area.
In our second year, 2017, we had over 70 wrestlers and received the high honor of Club of the Year and placed first in Greco and third in Freestyle for team points,” Pesch said.
“This year we had 83 wrestlers,” he added. This announcement happens in the fall of each year as the points for each club are accumulated throughout the spring/summer season.
The most points are accumulated at the State Tournament in May, but additional points are awarded for wrestlers making the State Teams and wrestling in Regional and National events throughout the summer. The team placements are not tallied until all the summer National events are completed.
The State Tournament was held in Rochester May 12-13th. THOR Wrestling Club had 42 Medalists.
Medal Winners in Greco/Roman State Champions. Davin Rose, Brodie Rasmussen.
2nd Place-Destin Fier. 3rd Place-Derek Fier, Adam Devlaeminck, Dain Mortenson, Keaton Haas.
4th Place-Caden Rose, Zack Fier, Zack Stahl, Grant Louwagie, Josh Steffens, Teddy Pesch.
5th Place-Brock Fier, Eli Gruenes, Brett Regnier, Trevon Johnson, Austin Kloos.
6th Place-Peyton Gillund, Lincoln Fink, Eric Carrasco.
Medal Winners in Freestyle CHAMPIONS-Brodie Rasmussen, Kaleb Haase.
2nd-Keaton Haas.
3rd-Derek Fier, Adam DeVlaeminck, Dylan Louwagie, Zack Fier, Dayne Mortenson, Lincoln Fink.
4th-Caden Rose, Davin Rose, Josh Steffen, Austin Kloos, Grant Louwagie.
5th-Brock Fier, Lane Fink, Kade Lozinski, Jonah Gruenes, Brett Regnier, Trevon Johnson.
NATIONAL TEAM MEMBERS Davin Rose-MAHACA, MN Keaton Haas-UNITED Dayne Mortenson-UNITED Josh Steffen-Canby
Photo: THOR CLUB State Team Photo includes: (Front Row, left to right) Destin Fier, Adam DeVlaeminck, Sam Regnier, Derek Fier, Brock Fier and Eli Gruenes. Middle Row: Lincoln Fink, Peyton Gillund, Caden Rose, Zack Fier, Dayne Mortenson, Layne Fink, Dylan Louwagie, Brett Regnier and Davin Rose. Back Row: Zack Stahl, Josh Steffen, Keaton Haas, Eric Carrasco, Kade Lozinski, Grant Louwagie, Trevon Johnson, Austin Kloos, Teddy Pesch and Jonah Gruenes. Special Photo.