Woodbury fared well on Saturday at the Section 3AAA individual tournament, sending 7 wrestlers to the 'X' next Saturday in St Paul for the State Tournament.

Qualifying for Woodbury were Alex Braun, Brad Little, Will Bents, Cade Johnson, Sebastian Zamorano, Tre Hockenberger and Mason Barrows.  All are first-time qualifiers except Barrows, who qualified in 2019.

Overall, 13 of 14 Woodbury wrestlers found the podium:

* Braun (106), 2nd place

* Little (113), 1st place

* Ryan Holt (120), 3rd place

* Bents (126), 1st place

* Johnson (132), 1st place

* Jack Anderson (138), 3rd place

* Zamorano (152), 2nd place

* Dave Hawley (160), 5th place

* Ahmed Abdelal (170), 6th place

* Omar Abdelal (182), 4th place

* Hockenberger (195), 2nd place

* Barrows (220), 2nd place

* Ethan Chaney (HWT), 5th place

Braun pinned his first two opponents before dropping a decision in the final.  Alex is a #8 seed in his first state tournament and will go against Max Ricks of Rogers.

Little earned a bye in round 1 and proceeded to pin his opponent in the semis as well as the final to win his weight class championship.  Brad enters his first state tourney and will face #4 seed Parker Janssen of St Michael-Albertville.

Bents also earned a first-round bye before winning by fall in the semis and earning a hard-fough 6-2 victory in the finals.  First-timer Bents will face #3 seed Chase Murphy of Northfield.

Johnson had the mat slapped 3 times on Saturday, finishing all of his matches with pins.  Cade head to St Paul for the first time and will face #5 seed Dan Vanacker of Forest Lake.

Zamorano pinned his neighbor to the south from East Ridge in his opening match and won by medical forfeit in the semis.  He dropped the finals match and won by fall in the true second place matchup.  Sebastian goes to the 'X' for the first time and will face the #1 seed Landon Johnson of Owatonna.

Hockenberger took the first two matches of the day by pin, but fell in the championship match.  He was able to qualify by pinning his foe from Hastings in the true second place matchup.  Tre will make the trip downtown for the first time and will face Isaac Atchison of Blaine, who is the #8 seed.

Barrows earned a bye in his opener and won a thrilling 4-2 decision in OT in the semis.  Mason fell in the finals matchup but took 2nd overall to earn a repeat trip the the state tournament.  Barrows will face Walter West of Robbinsdale Cooper, who is the #3 seed.

The tournament begins Thursday with the team portion.  Our Royals wrestlers begin the individual portion of the tournament on Friday morning at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul.  Action starts at 9:00am and runs continuously throughout Friday and Saturday.  Ticket prices are below:

Woodbury's quest for a team section championship fell just short on Friday, as the Royals were edged by Hastings in the section final dual 33-29.

In the opener against East Ridge, the Royals were dominant, taking 11 of 14 matches.  Alex Braun opened up the dual with a pin, and Brad Little, Ryan Holt and Will Bents followed up with forfeit wins.  Cade Johnson won by fall in just under a minute, Sebastian Zamorano won a tech fall and Dave Hawley won a major decision.  Finally, Omar Abdelal (fall), Tre Hockenberger (fall), Mason Barrows (forfeit) and Denis Tokin (forfeit) swept through the final five matches to make the final score 63-15 in favor of the Royals.

In the semifinal against Eagan, Braun and Little started with falls and Ryan Holt won a tough and bloody decision.  Bents and Johnson both pinned their opponents in under 50 seconds to give the Royals an early 27-0 lead through five matches.  Eagan, however, took the next four matches to narrow the lead to 27-19.  But Ahmed Abdelal (major decision), Omar Abdelal (decision), Tre Hockenberger (decision) and Mason Barrows (fall) gave the Royals a cushion and the final score was 46-22 in favor of Woodbury.

The final against Hastings would be a classic.  Braun (decision) and Little (fall) gave Woodbury an early 9-0 lead, and Bents (decision) and Johnson (fall) made the score 18-6.  Hastings tied the score at 18 through 145 pounds and Zamorano would give the Royals a 23-18 lead with a technical fall.  But Hastings would take the next 3 decisions to take a 27-23 lead with 3 matches to go.

Hockenberger and Barrows won decisions to give Woodbury a 29-27 lead but Hastings took the final match by fall to win the section final and a berth at the State Team Tournament, 33-29.

Woodbury finishes the season with a 17-10 dual record and now the guys prep for Saturday's individual section tournament at Park High School.  Wrestlers placing 1st or 2nd at their weight earn a trip to the Xcel Energy Center and the State Individual Tournament held February 28-29.  Action starts at Park HS on Saturday at 10:00am.

The Suburban East Conference JV tournament was held on Saturday at Stillwater HS, with 3 Royals placing in the tournament.

Congratulations to Caleb Howe (3rd place), Kaiden Kirby (2nd place ) and senior Ethan Chaney (champion) who all placed at the tourney.

The Woodbury Royals wrestlers took down Goodhue but couldn't get past #11AA Hutchinson or #10AA Princetonon Saturday at  the Armstrong Duals.

Opening up against a tough Goodhue squad, Alex Braun again started the Royals out strong with a tough 7-3 decision.   The Royals ratted off 4 straight bonus point wins with Brad Little's pin, and Will Bents, Cade Johnson and Jack Anderson winning major decisions.  Woodbury took the final 6 bouts with Sebastian Zamorano, Omar Abdelal, Tre Hockenberger and Mason Barrows winning by fall, Nick Sieczkowski winning a technical fall and Denis Tokin taking a forfeit to round out the scoring in a 56-15 Woodbury victory.

Against Hutchinson, Braun opened with a fall and Bents, JOhnson and Sieczkowski joined the pin party.  Omar Abdelal won by forfeit and Anderson continued his impressive day with a 10-6 win by decision.  But Hutchinson took pins in the final 3 weights of the day to take a 42-33 victory from Woodbury.

In the final dual against Princeton, Braun bumped up a weight and eeked out a tough 10-8 decision to open Woodbury's scoring.  Bents and Johnson won by pin, Barrows and Tokin took forfeits and Zamorano won an impressive 5-0 decision, but it was not enough as Princeton took the dual 42-30.

Winning matches for the JV were Gais Algazi, Logan Ryan, Stanley Iturrino, Dave Hawley, Caleb Howe, Ethan Chaney, Blake Tinsley and Gavin Wilson.

This week, we honor our seniors on Thursday night in a home quadrangular against Tartan, Cretin-Derham Hall and Harding.  Action starts at 4:30pm.  Join us in celebrating for Senior Night!

On Saturday, the Suburban East Conference JV tournament will be run at Stillwater HS.  Action starts at 10:00am.

The Royals wrestlers took care of business against Roseville  and got corralled by #1 AA Simley Thursday night in a triangular at Roseville High School.

Against the Raiders, Woodbury took 11 of 14 matches, including five forfeit victories.  Royals winning matches include Alex Braun (fall), Brad Little (fall), Will Bents (fall), Tre Hockenberger (fall), Mason Barrows (fall) and Denis Tokin (fall).  Royals win the dual 66-12.

Woodbury then took on the top-ranked Spartans, who had a lineup riddled with ranked wrestlers from top to bottom.  Royals winning matches against Simley include Will Bents (major decision) and Denis Tokin (fall), with the final score ending in favor of Simley at 64-10.

For the Junior Varsity, winning bouts on the night include Ethan Chaney (2-0), Caleb Howe (1-1), Blake Tinsley (1-0), Gais Algazi (1-1), Jack Anderson (1-0), Stanley Iturrino (1-1) and Dave Hawley (2-0).

Woodbury travels to Robbinsdale Armstrong on Saturday morning for the annual Armstrong Duals.  Woodbury will face Goodhue, #10 AA Princeton and #11 AA Hutchinson.  Action starts at 9:00am.