Trey Beissel entered state tournament week with an undefeated record and a strong likelihood of securing a second individual state championship to go with the team title he helped Hastings secure in 2023.
But Beissel suffered a knee injury in the team quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon. An official diagnosis would wait until after the weekend, but Beissel believed he injured his meniscus. The injury kept him out of the Raiders’ team semifinal match against St. Michael-Albertville. The question was – would it end his high school career altogether? The 133-pound, Class 3A tournament awaited Thursday morning.
He couldn’t move his leg without pain, much less bend it or be athletic on it. Wrestling on it? It sounds far fetched.
Yet when Beissel woke up Thursday morning with the decision to withdraw or wrestle staring him in the face, he couldn’t imagine selecting the former.
“Just thought, in my senior year, gotta go out there and show some heart and just wrestle,” said Beissel, a Gophers commit.
Fearless, tough, maybe a little crazy – a wrestling response if there ever was one.
It went astonishingly well – perhaps not aesthetically. One of the state’s top wrestlers required ibuprofen, a heavy tape job and a massive wrap just to take the mat, the latter prevented the leg from going into the dreaded bending motion.
Beissel effectively dragged a stiff limb along for the ride.
“It’s just crazy grit and determination, just showing how much he wants it,” said his teammate, Hastings freshman Beckett Edstrom, who won the Class 3A, 121 pound title. “It’s just inspiring.”
Beissel won the first three matches, somehow doing so rather convincingly. Beissel admitted he was surprised by his success.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to get to some legs (for takedowns), and I was able to do that,” Beissel said. “Once I was on my feet, I was good there.”
It was when he was on bottom that was the issue. It’s tough to build a base on one leg. And opponents targeted the injury in an attempt to … get a leg up.
“There’s not much I can really do there,” Beissel said. “Every period I was thinking the same thing: Just going out there, trying to do what I do best and go score some points.”
Beissel ultimately fell in the title bout to St. Michael-Albertville’s Brody Bergeron in a match that was tied 1-1 in the final period. His immediate disappointment was evident in the moment. But roughly an hour later, as he gingerly made his way toward the exit, even he could acknowledge the pride in what he’d just achieved over the course of three grueling, painful days.
“Definitely changed my mindset a little bit that you can do anything, really,” he said. “You can push through anything. Just a little injury, just another setback. You’ve just got to push through it.”
The impact of that lesson – the ones this sport, in particular, has a way of teaching – will last far longer than the difference in color of ribbon.
“Not even just in wrestling, but anything,” he said. “There’s always something in the way you’ve got to get past.”
Preparation pays off
Stillwater’s Noah Nicholson celebrates after defeating Buffalo’s Gabriel Roehl during the 127-pound to win the Class 3A individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)
Stillwater junior Noah Nicholson learned a maneuver from a Minnesota Elite Wrestling camp that he deployed numerous times this season.
It’s common for two wrestlers to get into a deadlock standing position where they have one another’s heads held down by their arms. It’s a neutral position that traditionally leads to a stalemate call from the official after a sustained lack of action.
But at a camp, Nicholson was taught to pop your head out of the position, come around the side and throw your opponent over.
“I’ve hit it a few times,” he said. “It’s not like my go to (move), but it’s been there before.”
And it presented itself early in the Class 3A, 127-pound title match. Nicholson and Buffalo junior Gabriel Roehl got locked up early in the match. Nicholson popped out, then put Roehl on his back and won by pinfall just 24 seconds into the opening stanza.
Hastings’ Beckett Edstrom, top, wrestles St. Michael-Albertville’s Grant Bergeron during the 121-pound match of the Class 3A individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Edstrom won the match to take the state title. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)
Edstrom’s preparation paid off later in his title match. He held a 6-3 lead over St. Michael-Albertville’s Grant Bergeron to open the third period, which Edstrom would start in the down position. At that point, the Hastings freshman knew what was coming – the cradle. It’s a move frequently attempted by Bergeron, and could generate the back points needed to erase a deficit.
But Edstrom had diagnosed the maneuver on film, and repped out a rebuttal. He stuck his leg between Bergeron’s and rolled into a reversal.
“I did it one time before,” he said, “and I knew it was going to be there and it worked.”
Practice makes perfect.
“Most definitely,” he said. “You just don’t feel as panicked and you know what you’re doing.”
Both Nicholson and Edstrom noted the state titles – the first for each grappler – meant a lot.
“It really helps me with my future goals,” Nicholson said. “Hopefully I can get some offers, that definitely is a big step towards that.”
Gotta go
Simley’s Jake Kos Becker’s celebrates after defeating Beckers Levi Thompson during the 145-pound match in the Class 2A individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)
Simley’s Jake Kos won his second individual state title Saturday via a second-period pin in the Class 2A, 145-pound title match.
While others soak in moments of glory and celebration after achieving the feat, the junior completed his handshakes then raced off the mat and into the tunnel before breaking right into a post-match sprint through the bowels of Grand Casino Arena.
“It just comes to me,” Kos said of the ritual. “My heart rate is up, what I want to do is keep it up. I’m so excited, I love wrestling and I just wish it was a little bit longer being on the mat.”
Kos knows what an honor it is to win a state title. He constantly tries to put himself in the mindset of a senior to remember that such moments are fleeting and they need to be cherished and enjoyed.
But he’s not afraid to admit he’s constantly chasing bigger goals, as is the case for many of the state’s truly elite talents. Kos’ coaches have encouraged him to dream big. He competes in some of the nation’s top tournaments and is chasing a spot on a national team.
“When you go to the (USA Wrestling Junior and 16U Nationals), everybody is a state champ,” he said. “So it kind of opens your eyes that there’s always something bigger to accomplish, bigger to chase after. It makes these moments special, but it’s like a stepping block to that next stage.”
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