The pair of wrestlers ranked first nationally entering the tournament also won their weight classes. Brady Berge (Kasson-Mantorville, Minn.) had a technical fall, pin, and three major decisions prior to reaching the championship final at 160 pounds. In that championship final, Berge beat No. 2 Jake Allar (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.) 5-3 for a second victory over him in as many tournaments.
Gable Steveson (Apple Valley, Minn.), the top overall junior wrestler in the country, torched his way through the 285 pound weight class. He won all six bouts by fall. In fact the first five pins came in the first period, before a second period pin over returning state champion Blaze Beltran (Pewaukee, Wis.)
On the team side of the spectrum, No. 27 Montini Catholic, Ill. used its top end firepower to earn its third Cheesehead Invitational title in the 19-year history of the event, and second in the last four years. Three Broncos wrestlers won weight class titles: Dylan Ragusin (106), No. 12 Joey Melendez (113), and No. 8 Real Woods (126). Another trio from Montini finished in second place: Fidel Mayora (132), No. 11 Will Lewan (145), and Matthew Ortiz (152). Two others placed within the top nine, both in the top four, Jake Stiles (138) finished third and Peter Christensen (170) took fourth. The Broncos scored 506.5 points.
Despite not having a single individual champion, defending tournament champions Mt. Carmel (Ill.) finished as tournament runners-up with 506.5 points on the strength of ten wrestlers finishing inside the top seven. Kendall Coleman (138) led the Caravan with a runner-up finish, while Yahya Thomas (145) placed third. Additional top seven finishers were Rehan Uribe (120), Dillon Hoey (152), and David Riojas (170) placing fifth; Colton Drousias (106), Kaleb Guzior (126), and Jack Mulay (160) earning sixth; with David Devine (132) and Emanuel Terrell (195) taking seventh.
The only team other than Montini Catholic to win multiple weight class titles was No. 26 Kasson-Mantorville, Minn. No. 19 Noah Ryan (220) joined Berge in standing atop the podium, his title coming by 4-3 decision over Evan Foster (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.) on the strength of a very late takedown. The Komets had five other wrestlers finish in the top nine to score 480.5 points on the way to a third place tournament standing. Those other placers were Patrick Kennedy (170) in third, Jared Johnson (113) in seventh, Robby Horsman (120) and Ethan Shea (152) in eighth, with Keaton Schorr (132) placing ninth.
Steveson anchored the effort for No. 33 Apple Valley, Minn. The Eagles finished fourth in the tournament with 466.5 points and seven total top eight finishers. Others to earn those placements were Kyle Rathman (138) in fourth, Sebas Swiggum (132) and Tyler Kim (195) in fifth, Jalen Thul (170) in seventh, with Tony Watts (160) and Tanyi Besong (220) in eighth.
Despite the absence of Powerade runner-up Ronald Tucker, Jr. at 285 pounds, No. 24 Lockport, Ill. had an impressive nine wrestlers finish in the top nine. However, they only scored 456.5 points in a fifth place finish. Leading the way was tournament champion Abdullah Assaf (132); Matthew Ramos (106) placed fourth; Trevell Timmons (160) and Peyton Fernandes (182) placed fifth; Anthony Molton (113), James Pierandozzi (120), and Baylor Fernandes (145) placed sixth; Brandon Ramos (138) placed eighth; and Yousif Salah (195) placed ninth.
Austin O'ConnorThe other two nationally ranked teams in the field finished sixth and eighth in the tournament standings. No. 35 Southeast Polk had seven wrestlers finish between second and sixth in scoring 431 points, while No. 48 Kaukauna had six wrestlers finish between third and ninth in scoring 381.
Rounding out the weight class champions were Anthony Cheloni (Marmion Academy, Ill.) at 138 pounds, Austin Yant (Waverly-Shell Rock, Iowa) at 152, and Johnny Mologousis (Lyons Township, Ill.) at 170.
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