Big Bear tournament final results

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned their best-ever finish at the annual Big Bear tournament this weekend. The Jaguars finished fourth place out of 41 teams with 154 points. They were barely edged out of third place by Big Lake, who tallied 154.5 points.

In second place was Minnewaska Area with 163.5 points.

The 2019 Big Bear tournament champion was Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville, who had 216 points. They are also the defending Class 1A state champions.

For the Jaguars, Canon Swanson repeated as an individual champion, Also earning top-eight finishes were Walker Bents (second), Michael Doubek (fourth), Tyler Jensen (fourth), Maximus Hanson (fifth), Blaine Fischer (fifth) and Mark Jenniges (eight).

How's this for a tale of two paired wrestling programs? I admit that I only know the overall record when it comes to the Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling program. Beyond that, all I could tell you is the coaching staff names listed at the MSHSL website. They have a current dual meet record of 1-5 this year. One of their five losses was to LPGE/Browerville by a 75-3 score. That match was held last Tuesday, December 17 in Grove City at the ACGC triangular.

On the same night, LPGE/Browerville smacked A-C-GC by a 41-15 score. The ACGC Falcons are no slouch by any means. In fact, they are the No. 2-ranked team in the latest Guillotine Class 1A state rankings. Their overall dual meet record is 12-1, and they are a favorite to win the Section 4A team title next February and advance to state for the third straight season.

For the record, ACGC defeated Sauk Centre-Melrose 74-3 at their home triangular on Tuesday.

Area boys' basketball scores on December 21:
Hancock 76, Benson 73 (two neighboring rivals meet in the championship of the Benson tournament; Benson defeated conference rival Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 83-81 on Friday in the semifinals)
Little Falls 66, Upsala 41
Mora 65, Brandon-Evansville 53
Kimball Area 72, PACT Charter 51
Mound Westonka 81, New London-Spicer 53
Minneota 76, Westbrook-Walnut Grove 62

Area boys' basketball scores on December 20:Minnewaska Area 50, Montevideo 37 (Lakers improve to 5-1 overall)
BOLD 75, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 62 (BOLD is 5-0)
Hancock 49, MACCRAY 48
(Late Thursday result) Paynesville Area 58, Holdingford 48