Owatonna wins Class 3A team championship
ST. PAUL – David didn’t have any work left once he knocked off Goliath, but Owatonna didn’t have the same luxury.
The top-ranked Huskies, who broke Apple Valley’s streak of six straight team titles on Friday, avoided a letdown by defeating No. 5 Simley 37-17 on Saturday to win the Class 3A team championship at the state high school wrestling tournament.
“We said that we beat Apple Valley, but it wouldn’t mean anything if we came in second place, “said senior Titon Erler, whose major decision at 140 pounds gave Owatonna the lead it never relinquished. “We knew Simley would come at us hard today, but if we wrestled hard for six minutes and wrestled our style we’d be state champs.”
The Huskies (60-1), whose only loss this season came to Carl Sandburg (Ill.) High School on Dec. 31, snapped Apple Valley’s 199-match winning streak against Minnesota schools during the season, then beat the Eagles again 27-24 in the state semifinals.
They’re also the last team to win a Class 3A title other than Apple Valley, having won the 1998 title. They were runners-up in 1999 and 2001, and were upset by Albert Lea in the section tournament last year, making this title that much sweeter.
“Every senior got a win today, “coach Scot Davis said. “And to finish as strong as we did, we needed to do that. After beating Apple Valley, we had to show that we were that good.”
Simley (23-7) had been scheduled to face Owatonna in December, but a team-wide outbreak of a skin rash forced the Spartans to cancel nearly four weeks worth of competition. They rebounded to reach the finals for the second time in three years but were left wondering if the outcome might have been different had they wrestled Owatonna earlier.
“I think it would have given us a little measure on a couple of different guys we had to match up with, “Simley coach Will Short said. “It might have made a difference for us on how we handled it today.”
Senior Russell Smith, who finished 49-0 and won the individual title at 171 earlier in the day, clinched the match with a win at 189 pounds, but according to Davis, his team knew much earlier that they were destined to be champions.
“This team gets up for all of the big meets – they did all year long, “Davis said. “They were quiet in the hallway and it kind of scared me that they were so relaxed. But it was a relaxed confidence.”
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