B-B-E wrestlers shine in state quarterfinals (UPDATES)

Re-capping the state individual quarterfinals...at 126, Ryan Jensen won by pin in just 42 seconds to advance to the state semifinals. At 132, Walker Bents won a 10-1 major decision to also get into the state semis! The win was also his 200th of his career! He was also named to the Class 1A state tournament Wells Fargo All-Tournament team yesterday.

At 152, Blaine Fischer won a 10-0 major decision to become the third Jaguar to get into the state semis!

At 160, Maximus Hanson lost a 6-2 decision to his weight's top seed. He will be able to continue his tournament journey in the wrestleback round.

Carson Gilbert's quarterfinal match at 182 pounds started at 5:47 p.m. *Update: Gilbert lost a 3-1 decision in this match.

At 220 pounds, Ethan Spanier won an 11-5 decision in his state quarterfinal match! The Jaguars went 4-2 in the state quarterfinals tonight. Awesome!

Wrestleback updates will be posted tonight.

**Friday night update: at 160 in the wrestlebacks, Maximus Hanson won a 10-0 major decision against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville sophomore Tucker Zigan (23-23). To stay alive in the tournament, Hanson (38-9) now faces Mahnomen/Waubun senior Will Olson (34-6) in the consolation semifinals.

At 182 pounds in wrestlebacks, Carson Gilbert lost by fall to junior Tytan Small (34-10) of St. Charles. Gilbert, the youngest wrestler competing for B-B-E in the individual tournament, finishes his freshman season 37-11 overall with back-to-back trips to state.

I haven't had a chance to get through all the state brackets, but I saw that in his state semifinal match, Ryan Jensen (45-3) will take on Border West junior Eli Larson (33-2).

For Walker Bents (44-1), standing in his way to get to the state title match at 132 pounds is Chatfield sophomore Owen Denstad (44-4). Denstad won by fall (1:29) in his opener and then by a 3-2 decision in the quarterfinals.

In his semifinal match, Blaine Fischer (42-3) gets a familiar opponent in Royalton/Upsala senior Jacob Leibold (49-2). Leibold won by fall (3:15) in his opener and then by a 9-2 decision in the quarterfinals.

Basketball update: out west at Hancock high school, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team saw their 15-game winning streak come to an end in a 57-55 loss. Hancock (21-5), who won the game tonight on a buzzer-beater to break a 55-55 tie, has now beaten the No. 2 and No. 1-ranked teams in Sub-Section 6A-South to make the playoff prognostication very interesting.

B-B-E shot just 7-of-16 at the free throw line in the game. They struggled in the second half at free throws by making just six of 14 at the line after halftime. The home team was also poor on free throws while making 4 of 11 free shots in the second half and 11-of-20 overall in the game.

Hancock lost in the Pheasant Conference championship game to West Central Area 58-41 at Hancock on February 28. WCA went 7-1 to win the title, while Hancock took second place at 6-2. WCA just earned the No. 3 seed (by coaches vote) in Sub-Section 3AA-North behind Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta and New London-Spicer. Paynesville Area is the No. 4 seed in Sub-Section 3AA-North. Playoff seedings will be posted in a new blog post on Saturday.