The Cloquet wrestling team is off to an impressive early-season start. Wrestling in just their second season of varsity action, the Jacks have already picked up three victories in the early going.
"The guys are working hard and wrestling well," mentioned coach Al Denman. "We have a lot of expectations out of this group."
The Jacks are led by brothers Mike and Jordan Land who are both so far undefeated.
"Mike is ranked sixth in the state at his weight and Jordan is also a top 10 wrestler at his class," explained Denman. "To have both of those wrestlers in the top five or six in the state speaks well of where we are headed."
- On Saturday, Dec. 1, the Jacks went 1-2 in the Foley Falcon Meet in Foley, Minn. The Jacks opened with a 47-25 loss to Parkers Prairie, defeated Columbia Heights 46-36 and then lost to Becker 48-36.
- The Jacks went head-to-head with two of the top programs in the state last Thursday when they traveled to Aitkin, Minn., and lost to the Gobblers and Milaca.
"In Aitkin we did about as well as we could against a couple of very tough programs," mentioned Denman. "Both of those teams get to state quite frequently and it was a great learning experience."
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- On Friday, the Jacks went to Melrose, Minn., and picked up a pair of victories in the Melrose Quadrangular.
The Jacks lost their opening match to Holdingford 52-25, then came back to beat Zimmerman 48-39 and Melrose 43-22.
"In our win against Melrose, our ninth-grade heavyweight, Nick Harms, pinned his opponent and that was huge for us," commented Denman. "To have a heavyweight is a big plus and Nick is doing a great job."
Another of Cloquet's top wrestlers is Simon Thill.
"Thill has two losses, but both of those were close losses to top five- or six-ranked opponents," explained Denman. "It really speaks highly of how good Simon is and his potential. Simon, Gage Savage and the Lands all went undefeated in that tournament.
"All of our wrestlers have performed well, including new students," continued Denman. "We had an eighth-grader, Mike Wilson, move from Alaska and Savage moved here from Park Rapids, Minn."
Cloquet also has home-grown talent performing well this season including Nathaniel Schulz, Jeremy Campbell, Sonny Hain, Patrick Kruchten, Jake Baker, Jessie Plowman, Jordan Villa and Evan Thill.
"Another key to winning dual meets is for wrestlers who lose their match to lose by points and not get pinned," stated Denman. "Our wrestlers are very young and already you can see the improvement."
