The Minnewaska Area wrestling team closed out the 2024-25 season with an overall record of 17-7, which included a 5-1 mark in the WCC to finish second behind Team United (Montevideo, YME and DB).

The Lakers were seeded second in their half of Section 8AA and beat Alexandria in the opening round (39-24) before falling to DGF in the “Final Four” semifinals, 51-12.

Minnewaska Area also sent three wrestlers to the State Tourney where Miles Wildman highlighted the effort of the Lakers with a runner-up finish at 121 pounds.  He became the eighth MAHS wrestler to finish second at the State Wrestling Tourney.

It was also the third-straight state trip for Wildman, who beat the second-ranked wrestler in the semifinals, 10-2, on the way to the silver medal.  He went 3-2 at state as an eighth-grader to place fifth and was also 3-2 last year as a ninth-grader to earn fourth.

Also competing at the State Tourney were sophomore Landon Schiffler and senior Chase Smith.

Smith, competing in his fourth-straight State Tourney, lost twice and was eliminated the first day, while Schiffler was appearing in his second-straight state tourney and upset the top seed in the opening round, but then fell twice to be eliminated. 

Just missing out on state berths this season were Alex Adams (114 pounds), Isaiah Rosario (139), Riley Dell (215) and Noah Jensen (285) who all finished third and one place away from state at the section meet.

Seniors on this year’s Laker wrestling team are Noah Jensen and Chase Smith.

Wildman, who was ranked fifth at 121 pounds in the final The Guillotine.com state Class AA rankings, had the top record for the Lakers this season with a 45-5 mark.  Other Minnewaska Area wrestlers with at least 10 wins were Alex Adams (36-16), Landon Schiffler (35-14), Chase Smith (33-11), Isaiah Rosario (32-20), Noah Jensen (32-15), Riley Dell (26-11), Braylen Scharmer (25-20), Jude Bailey (17-17), Blair Kindel (13-12), Austyn Schuler (12-23) and Sawyer Erickson (11-24).

Lucky for Laker fans eight of those wrestlers will return  next season along with five others that earned at least five varsity wins this season.

Minnewaska Area lost three close matches at the Pelican Rapids quadrangular to Frazee (34-30), Pelican Rapids (37-36) and DGF (50-16) to fall to 2-3 overall, but the Lakers went 15-4 from then on, losing only to Harrisburg, SD (52-15), Team United (41-27), Little Falls (44-26) and DGF again in the postseason (51-12).

Winning individual titles at invitationals throughout the regular-season were:  Chase Smith was first at the Big Lake Invitational and Minnewaska Invitational and also second at the Thief River and Pine River Invitationals, while Alex Adams was first at the Big Lake Invitational and second at Minnewaska, Miles Wildman was first at the Minnewaska Invitational and second at Thief River, Landon Schiffler was second at Big Lake and Thief River, Riley Dell was second at Thief River and Noah Jensen was second at the Minnewaska Invitational.

Waska wrestling awards

Among the wresting awards recently announced by coach Chip Rankin, Miles Wildman earned the Lakers’ MVP Award for 2024-25, while Grady Braaten and Brayden Erickson were named the co-winners of the JV MVP honor, and Zayden Johnson won the 9th grade league MVP Award.

In addition, Alex Adams was named the Rookie of the Year for varsity, while Blair Kindel earned the same honor for the JV team.  The Varsity Hearts and Guts award went to Tate Anderson, while Soren Jergenson earned the similar award for the JV team.

Earning the Character Award were Isaiah Rosario (varsity) and Caleb Ashler (JV), while selected for the Adversity Award were Chase Smith (varsity), Hank Cihlar (JV) and Adrien Radil (JV).

Landon Schiffler won the varsity Most Dedicated Award and Evan Armstrong earned the honor for the JV squad, while Noah Jensen and Braylen Scharmer both won the Mr. Clutch Award for varsity, and Callan Erickson and Gage Boelke won Mr. Clutch for the JV.

•  Named to the All-Academic Team for 2024-25 were Landon Schiffler, Chase Smith, Riley Spindler, Alex Adams, Miles Wildman, Evan Armstrong, Jack Payne, Soren Jergenson, Sawyer Erickson, Grady Braaten, Kaylen Blair, Adysen Hess, Brielle Hess and Rachel Rankin.

Serving as team captains this year were Wildman, Smith, Scharmer, Jensen and Dell.  Those five were also named to the All-Conference team this year, while Adams and Rosario were both named honorable mention.  

Finally, winning the varsity Most Improved Award was Jude Bailey and for JV, Evan Armstrong.

•  For the girls wrestling team, winning team awards were Clara Rankin (MVP), Kira Ashler (Adversity), Lillie Rogers (Most Improved), Sadie Daniels (Character), Mari Jordahl (Most Dedicated), Jayda Hormann (Mrs. Clutch), and Brooklyn Rosario (Hearts/Guts).

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!