Prior Lake’s first trip to the state team wrestling tournament got off to a rough start, but the Lakers battled back to earn a sixth-place finish at Xcel Energy Center.

It was a tough morning for the Lakers against Class AAA No. 3 Stillwater in the opening round. Liam Collins got the team an early 6-3 lead for PL with a pin at 114 pounds at 1:11, but Stillwater was too tough, bouncing back to hand the Lakers a 52-15 loss. Also getting wins for PL were Zach Gabler (12-9 decision) and Brock Zurn (pin at 1:56).

The team turned it around in the consolation bracket against Elk River, edging out a 37-30 win. The Lakers started off with a couple wins at the lighter weights, but the Elks came back to take a 18-11 lead. A couple middleweight pins pushed PL ahead, and the Lakers took three of the final four bouts to secure the win. Earning wins for Prior Lake were Rocco Mikolyzk (20-4 technical fall), Dekai Brown (pin at 0:57), Gabler (pin at 1:43), John Graham (pin at 4:31), Charlie Nelson (4-2 decision), Thomas Wycoff (20-5 technical fall) and Zurn (pin at 0:51).

In its final dual of the tournament, Prior Lake fell 40-27 to No. 5 Bemidji in the consolation championship. Gabler and Zurn both earned their third wins of the tournament, and Brown, Collins and Graham earned their second wins in their bouts. Zurn was named to the all-tournament team after securing three pins, including two in under a minute.