There’s a special place on the wall of Simley’s wrestling room reserved for the names of state champions.
Austin Grzywinski’s name was not on there prior to this week. It’s going up now.
After placing second at state a year ago, the Spartans senior got the job done in his last go at it Saturday, winning the Class 2A, 114-pound title with a 7-0 decision over Watertown-Mayer’s Joel Friederichs in St. Paul.
Grzywinski’s name isn’t the only new addition to Simley’s winner wall.
Simley freshman Turner Ross completed a 48-win season by winning the Class 2A, 107-pound title — his first state championship.
Eighth grader Justus Heeg also claimed his first title, winning at 133 pounds.
Simley senior Cash Raymond had a chance to do the same in the 152-pound bout, which wasn’t completed at the time this edition went to print.
Cash’s sister, Charli, won her third straight state title. The freshman completed an undefeated season with a major victory to win the 118-pound crown and is still on pace to win six titles for her career.
Two titles
Eastview’s Riley Myers won a state title in 2022 — the inaugural season of girls wrestling under the MSHSL umbrella. After a second-place finish a year ago, the senior wrapped her high school career Saturday with a 130-pound crown.
Myers noted this time around, she managed to truly savor the entire experience.
The hard way
The 139-pound, Class 3A bracket may have been one of the toughest in the state. There is no better example of that than the first-round match — usually a no-contest in favor of the favorites — where top-seeded Davis Parrow of Farmington trailed Shakopee’s Connor Warren for much of the match before emerging with a 9-6 victory.
Fast forward 36 hours, and Parrow edged out another tight one — a 3-2 decision over Eden Prairie’s Charles Vanier — to claim a state crown.
Vengeance
After falling to St. Michael-Albertville eighth grader Lincoln Robideau in Thursday’s Class 3A team final, Mounds View junior Brett Swenson got his vengeance Saturday night via a 5-1 decision over Robideau to win the Class 3A, 114-pound individual crown.
History maker
Northfield’s Caley Graber, who became the first girl in state history to win a match in the individual tournament against a boy and reached the Class 3A, 107 pound semifinals, placed fifth in her bracket.
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