Alan Koehler is back on the mat for the Prior Lake wrestling team.
The senior made his season debut Jan. 26 in the Lakers’ 33-32 loss at Rosemount in a South Suburban Conference dual. Koehler also wrestled in all three matches for Prior Lake in a quadrangular match at Faribault Jan. 28, winning two by fall.
Koehler is ranked No. 1 in the state at 126 pounds. He missed the first two months of the season due to an injury.
Koehler has a 77-2 record over the last two seasons, including a 43-1 mark a year ago when won the 120-pound Class 3A state title. He was also the 106-pound champ as a sophomore.
Jake Kahnke, Alex Hart and Koehler are Prior Lake’s only two-time individual state champions, so Koehler will be going for history when the postseason rolls around on the mat.
Kahnke won the 189-pound title in 2006 and the heavyweight crown in 2007 for Prior Lake, while Hart was the 220-pound winner in 2014 and won at heavyweight in 2015.
The Section 2AAA team tournament is set for Feb. 17 in Apple Valley. The individual tourney will be Feb. 24-25 at Lakeville North.
Ninth-ranked Apple Valley is the defending champion. Other teams in the field include Rosemount, Eastview, Farmington, Lakeville South, Lakeville North and Burnsville are also in the field.
Prior Lake is 4-3 against section teams with wins over Burnsville, Lakeville North, Lakeville South and Eastview, while the other two losses are to Apple Valley and Farmington.
In the loss to Rosemount, Koehler earned a technical fall (21-6) at 126 pounds for Prior Lake. Senior Aidan McGowan and sophomore Brock Zurn won by fall at 170 and 220, respectively.
Junior Jide Abasiri won by forfeit at heavyweight. Junior Ethan Andryski earned a 4-1 win at 145, while eighth-grader Devin Lechuga won 9-5 at 120 and eighth-grader Liam Collins earned a 12-6 win at 106.
In the quadrangular, Prior lake’s win was 42-33 over Tri-City United. The losses were 65-6 to No. 3 Hastings and 45-27 to Faribault.
Against Tri-City United, junior Zach Landhuis had a win by pin at 160 for the Lakers. Forfeit wins went to ninth-grader Caden Serda at 113, sophomore John Graham at 152, McGowan at 170 and Abasiri at heavyweight.
Collins won 12-3 at 106, while junior Finn Bloomquist won by technical fall (17-2) at 126 and Koheler was a 17-10 winner at 132.
In the loss to Faribault, wins for Prior Lake came from Koehler at 126 (fall), Bloomquist at 132 (forfeit), Landhuis at 160 (6-4), McGowan at 170 (fall) and Abasiri at heavyweight (fall).
Koehler had the Lakers’ lone win versus Hastings, winning by fall at 126.
This year’s Class 3A state tournament will be March 2-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The team competition is the first day, followed by the individual tourney the next two days.
Top-ranked St. Michael-Albertville is the defending state team champion.
The last time Prior Lake made state as a team was in 2015, which was the seventh appearance for the program. The Lakers won the Section 2AAA title five straight years from 2011 to 2015 and was the state runner-up in 2014.
