The Pine Island wrestling program has a storied history, marked by significant milestones and consistent competitiveness. From its early days to its current role as a leader in girls' wrestling, Pine Island has demonstrated a commitment to growth and excellence.
Early Years and Evolution
Minnesota held its first high school State Wrestling Tournament in 1937. There were very few programs competing interscholastically for the first several years, but in the late fifties and early sixties, wrestling gained a lot of popularity throughout the state. Pine Island joined the ranks in the 1959-1960 Season under the leadership of Coach Curt Cornelius. They lost their first dual meet 27-23 to Lake City and had a 1-5 dual meet record that year. Maurice Klingsporn placed 4th in the post season District 3 tournament. In 1937 teams had 9 weight classes.
By 1959 we were up to eleven weights. In 1960-61 it became 12. We went to 13 in 87-88, and to the present 14 varsity weight classes in 2002-03.
Schools of all sizes were competing together in the same post season tournaments until the 1975-76 season. That year, they began a two class system with single A being the smaller sized schools and AA designating the larger half as divided by enrollment. 1976 was also the year that Minnesota became the first state to conduct a team dual meet tournament to crown the state championship team.
Previously, a school gained the title on points scored by individuals as they placed at the state tournament. That being said, we in Pine Island have fared better over the years than many of the other wrestling schools throughout the state. Participation levels dipped in the early eighties and through the nineties.
Read also: The Pine's Enduring Symbolism
Coinciding with that were budget problems for schools that never seem to abate. The result for wrestling was that some schools dropped their programs and in order to survive, some districts combined their school’s teams to support 1 single team to save money and fill the squad. We have many of these paired programs now and some of them are still fighting low participation rates.
Locally we now have; Zumbrota-Mazeppa, Triton (Dodge Center, West Concord, Claremont), GMLOK (Grand Meadow, Le Roy, Ostrandrander, Spring Valley, Wykoff) and Filmore Central ( Harmony, Preston, Fountain, Mabel-Canton, Lanesburo) among others. But Pine Island struggled through some tough years in the early 80s and became Wasioja Conference Champions in 1987 on their way to becoming a consistently competitive wrestling team.
While most teams struggle to get 30 wrestlers out per year in grades 7-12, the Panthers were between 38 and 52 grapplers from the early ‘90s through about 2007. In our early days it was uncommon to have more than 20 individual matches a season, most wrestlers accumulate well over 30 per year now. The Panthers ended their long time affiliation with the Wasioja Conference after hosting the Conference Tournament in 1989.
We switched over to the Three Rivers Conference from 1990 through 1993 and then joined the Hiawatha Valley League in 1994. The Wasioja Conference no longer exists but most of the old members are now in the H.V.L. conference.
In 1995 Junior Heavyweight Ben Meyer placed as runner-up at the State Tourny. He followed that up his senior year as Pine Island’s first State Champion wrestler! We claimed our second individual State Champ in 2005 when Chris McPhail went 40-0 in his senior season to achieve his title at 189 lbs! In 2015, sophomore Noah Bauer became the Panther’s third State Champion at 113 lbs.
Read also: Learn about Island Jiu-Jitsu West
Girls Wrestling: A Rapidly Growing Scene
Fast forward to Saturday, when at STMA there were 16 teams with full 13-weight lineups as part of the first girls wrestling dual state championships. The event was put on by the Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Association, a group that hopes the event will one day soon become an MSHSL-sanctioned tournament.
Saturday offered indisputable evidence that could be the logical next step for a sport that has seen participation grow by 600% since that first year in 2021-22. "When we started three years ago, to imagine that we can be in this type of environment is pretty awesome," Byron coach Ryan Radke said. "We are up to 1,500 girls (participating) in the state.
It's something even the athletes had a hard time coming to grips with. "If you would have told me even last year that we would have something like this, I would have said yeah, 'OK, you're funny,'" Byron standout Hattie Mathre said.
Read also: RI Martial Arts Styles
The Rise of Girl's Wrestling
Pine Island's Madilyn Grabau (right) wrestles Bemidji's Jadyn Eichberg during a dual at the MWCA Girls Dual State Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
Byron, Chatfield and Pine Island all represented southeastern Minnesota in the state's first-of-its-kind event. No. 10-ranked Pine Island finished eighth, knocking off Sauk-Centre-Melrose 46-30 in the first round before falling to Bemidji, Milaca and Mora in physical and competitive duals. The battle with Milaca saw a pair of Kasson-Mantorville graduates square off in Milaca coach Darrin Brown and Pine Island coach Coltan Laganiere.
It was all a part of a memorable day for the Panthers and the sport. "It's just really special for us to be a part of it," Laganiere said. "We've sort of been trying to stay ahead of the pack and be leaders in the girls wrestling scene and really enforce it. Now to see this and see a bunch of full, competitive teams, we're really grateful to be here. We're really grateful for the opportunity to always compete and really grateful that girls wrestling continues to grow. It isn't just our program. We want all programs to excel. If all the programs excel, then it's going to excel ours too."
Chatfield beat Byron in the 13th-place dual 54-18.
Chatfield's Maizee Priebe goes for the pin against Byron's Reagan Tucker during a dual at the MWCA Girls Dual State Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
The Gophers dropped their first two duals before bouncing back against Coon Rapids and the Bears. This was also the Gophers' third straight day of wrestling action, having faced St. Charles Thursday and participated in the Century Invitational on Friday. bus ride - was simply too good to pass up.
"It's so cool, seeing some of the teams that were not as big last year and to see the deck they have now," Chatfield coach Savannah Vold said. "We are still working on filling out our lineup, but the girls we have are tremendous and they work hard."
Pine Island too had a tough 24 hours, having had a stellar showing at the Simley Invitational on Friday. It's all good preparation for area programs in regards to the upcoming two-day Section 1&2 tournament set for Feb. "A lot of good lessons, especially for the new girls," Langaniere said.
No. 2-ranked Forest Lake ended up winning the title, upsetting No. 1 ranked Apple Valley 42-35 in the final. Those two programs have more than 30 girls on their rosters. So does St. Michael-Albertville, which finished fifth. Hastings and Bemidji also have a number of athletes out. All of it is a great sign and an important step in getting a dual girls wrestling state tournament sanctioned by the MSHSL.
"Hopefully it gets sanctioned here pretty soon to get more teams coming up, growing the rosters," Vold said.
It is believed that is still a year or two away, though. MSHSL bylaws state that there needs to be 32 programs with dual teams in order to have a four-team state team tournament. "Hopefully this shows, we can try to get them into the Excel (Energy Center) and the big show," Laganiere said.
"I mean girls wrestling is ready in my eyes. We got a boys dual tournament, get the girls in there, too. It's just as exciting, if not more exciting a lot of the times." Saturday was the latest example.
Chatfield fans celebrate a pin from Brynn Horsmann during a dual against Byron at the MWCA Girls Dual State Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
Chatfield's Kendyl Nolte wrestles Coon Rapids' Lily Mathiason during a dual at the MWCA Girls Dual State Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
Byron head coach Ryan Radke talks with his team after defeating Hopkins in a dual at the MWCA Girls Dual State Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.