Alan Koehler cleared the first hurdle in his attempt to win a school record three state titles.
The senior on the Prior Lake wrestling team pinned down the 126-pound Section 2AAA title Feb. 25 at Lakeville North to earn a spot in the Class 3A state individual tournament, which is March 3-4 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Koehler is one two Lakers to qualify. Senior Aidan McGowan took second at 170 pounds to earn his first-ever state berth.
The top two finishers in each of the 14 weight classes make the state field. Prior Lake had four other wrestlers — eighth-grader Liam Collins, ninth-grader Owen Throndson, junior Finn Bloomquist and junior Jide Abasiri — take third place.
Koehler, ranked No. 1 in the state at 126 pounds, takes a 13-0 record into state. He missed the first two months of the season due to an injury.
If Koehler can win another state title, he will become the only wrestler in Prior Lake history to ever win three championships. Koehler won the 120-pound crown last year and was the 106-pound winner as a sophomore.
Koehler, who will wrestle at the University of Nebraska next year, went into this season with a 77-2 record over the last two years, including a 43-1 mark a year ago.
Jake Kahnke and Alex Hart are also two-time state champions for Prior Lake. Kahnke won the 189-pound title in 2006 and the heavyweight crown in 2007, while Hart was the 220-pound winner in 2014 and won at heavyweight in 2015.
At sections, Koehler won 10-6 over Davis Parrow of Farmington in his title match. Koehler won by fall in the first round and was a winner by technical fall (22-7) in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, McGowan lost his title match 18-5 to Marcell Booth of Apple Valley. That put McGowan in a match for true second where he won by fall over Sean Jackson of Rosemount.
McGowan (23-14) won by fall in the quarterfinals and earned an 8-5 decision in the semifinals.
Throndson got a true-second match at 113 pounds, but lost by technical fall to Abram Anderson of Rosemount. Throndson won by fall in the third-place match.
Throndson won 5-1 in the quarterfinals, before losing by fall in the semifinals. He got a bye in the consolation semifinals.
Abasiri made the final at heavyweight, but lost by fall to Alex Baccoli of Eastview. That put Abasiri in a match for true second, where he lost by medical forfeit to Connor Popp of Lakeville North.
Abasiri got a bye in the quarterfinals and won 12-1 in the semifinals.
Collins and Bloomquist didn’t get a true-second matches at 106 and 132 pounds, respectively.
Collins won in the quarterfinals by technical fall (16-0) and lost 14-1 in the semifinals. In the consolation semifinals, he won 14-2 to earn a spot in the third-place match where he won by technical fall (19-3) over Jace Saulter of Rosemount.
Bloomquist also went 3-1, winning in overtime by sudden victory in the quarterfinals, before falling 7-3 in the semifinals. Bloomquist earned another sudden victory in overtime in the consolation semifinals, before winning 10-4 over Bo Bischoff of Lakeville South for third.
Other finishes for the Lakers came from ninth-grader Dominic Berg (fourth, 145), sophomore John Graham (fifth, 152), junior Zach Landhuis (fifth, 160) and ninth-grader Zach Gabler at (sixth, 138 pounds).
