Holy Moly!!! Don't look now! But for the first time ever, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team has a two-time state champion!
B-B-E senior Walker Bents is a two-time state champion after he won the 132-pound state title tonight with a 5-3 decision in the finals against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove senior Ayden Horner (46-4). Bents finishes his senior season 46-1 overall. Two years ago, Bents won the 106-pound title, and he finished his career at B-B-E with over 200 wins. He placed third at state in 2019, and he took second place last year when state was held at St. Michael-Albertville high school.
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| Just after winning a state title at state on March 5, Walker Bents gets a hug from big brother Tyler Bents, as their father, Nick, looks on at the Xcel Energy Center. |
In the 132-pound title match:
Bents scored a takedown with just 10 seconds left in the first period to go up 2-0. Horner earned an escape 10 seconds into the second period and then a takedown just five seconds later for a 3-2 lead. Bents countered with an escape with 58 seconds left to tie it at 3-3.
To start the third period, Horner gave Bents an escape. The two locked up fighting for a takedown on the mat, but with 1:50 left, Horner was called for clasping to give Bents a penalty point and a 5-3 lead.
Bents and Horner fought the rest of the period, and Bents took the title in a 5-3 decision.
At 126 pounds, sophomore Ryan Jensen finished as a state runner-up for the second year in a row. He lost a heartbreaker tonight in a 3-2 decision to junior Alex Diederich (45-4) from Royalton/Upsala. Diederich earned an escape with 1:21 left in the third period to break a 2-2 tie. Jensen finishes this season with a 46-4 overall record. He had an outstanding tournament in which he had to defeat the No. 2 seed in the state semifinals to get into the championship match.
**Here's a video clip from the 132-pound championship match tonight:
Soon I will have the honor of watching no fewer than FIVE Jaguars step onto the state medals podium at the Xcel Energy Center!! What a wonderful moment for the wrestling program!!!
Here's a video from when this whole show started on Saturday morning at Xcel Energy Center:
I'll add this in its own blog post later tonight, but I also am excited to report that the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 58-41 in the sub-section semifinals tonight over Pine River-Backus (13-13). Their next playoff game is on Wednesday, March 9 at Wadena-Deer Creek high school at 7 p.m.
THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms, Coop's Corner of Belgrade and the Bonanza Valley State Bank of Brooten for sponsoring this Jaguars Sports state tournament update!
