The Scott West wrestling team pinned the field at the Eastview Invitational Jan. 21.
The No. 5-ranked Panthers placed 14 of their wrestlers who competed, including two champions in junior Matt Randolph and senior Landon Church, to win the title. Scott West scored 199 team points 20 better than Wayzata, ranked No. 9 in Class 3A.
Farmington ended up third in the 15-team field with 125.5 points, followed by Little Falls (119.5), Faribault (107.5), Woodbury (101.5), St. Thomas Academy (98) and the host Lightning (95).
The Panthers went into the invite with two wins in its own triangular Jan. 19 — 57-17 over Northfield and 78-6 over Sibley East.
Scott West (11-2 overall in duals) is starting to gear up up for the Section 2AA team tournament, which starts Feb. 16 with the opening round and concludes Feb. 18 while the semifinals and title match in New Prague.
Second-ranked New Prague and No. 7 Watertown-Mayer are other teams ranked in the field, along with the Panthers.
St. Peter, Mankato West, Glencoe-Silver Lake/Lester Prairie, Mound Westonka, Mankato East, Tri-City United, Orono, Delano and Rockford are also in the field.
The Panthers fell 42-20 to Watertown-Mayer in the Section 2AA semifinals last year. Scott West lost in the section title match in both 2019 and 2021 and in the semifinals in 2020.
Before that, the Panthers had made the Class 2A state field 15 times in the previous 19 seasons.
Meanwhile, at the invite, Randolph and Church won titles and 132 and 145 pounds, respectively.
Randolph, ranked No. 1 in the state at 132, went 3-0 winning by technical fall and by fall in the first two rounds, before earning an 11-2 victory over Liam Anderson of Rosemount in the title match.
Church also went 3-0, winning by fall and major decision (9-0) in the first two rounds, and the dominated his title match. He took down Ethan Horn of Rosemount for a 15-1 victory.
Six Scott West wrestlers finished second — ninth grader Allen Krenik at 106, junior Leo Siekmann at 170, sophomore Dylan Thomas at 195 and junior Carson Schoenbauer at heavyweight.
Junior Caleb Tracy finished third at 113 pounds for the Panthers, as did ninth grader Isaac Williams at 126.
Other finishers included junior Ethan Strack (4th, 106), sophomore Tristan Holbrook (4th, 182), senior Luke Meriweather (4th, 220), senior Hunter Lilleskov (5th, 195), seventh grader Cam Tousigant (6th, 120) and junior Ethan Dvorak (6th, 152).
In the win over Northfield, Scott had five wins by fall. They came from Williams at 132, Randolph at 138, sophomore Daniel Callahan at 152, Siekmann at 170 and Schoenbauer at heavyweight.
Church, Holbrook and Meriweather had forfeit wins at 145, 182 and 220, respectively.
Krenik won 6-5 at 106 for the Scott, while Tracy earned a 2-0 decision at 113 and Thomas claimed a 6-3 victory at 195.
Against Sibley East, getting pins for the Panthers were Krenik at 106, Tracy at 120, eighth grader Bennet Balk at 126, Randolph at 132, Church at 152, Thomas at 195 and Schoenbauer at heavyweight.
Forfeit wins went to Tousignant at 113, Williams at 138, sophomore Jonah Harding at 145, Siekmann at 170, Holbrook at 182 and Meriweather at 220.
The individual section tournament will be Feb. 24-25 in St. Peter. The top two finishers in each of the 14 weights make the state field.
This year’s Class 2A state tournament is March 2-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The team tourney is the first day, followed by the individual competition the next two days.
