BEA’s Nick Frank, above, advanced to the next phase of the individual wrestling tournaments. A total of eight Bucs and four Rebels are still in the running for the State Tournament.

Twelve area wrestlers advanced to the super sectional wrestling tournament which was held in Windom on March 20. Results from that tournament will be in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.

Eight members of the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers and four United South Central Rebel wrestlers earned the chance to compete in the next round.

All five of the seniors on the Bucs’ squad advanced to that next round.

Ty Peterson, Max Ehrich, Nick Frank, Logan Johnson and Luke Mertens were undefeated for the day. Each of the five wrestlers won two matches.

Sophomore Parker Meyers, and juniors Kean Hicks and Adam Schavey also qualified but it took each of them three matches. All three won their first match, lost their second and then won their third match to advance.

The four wrestlers from USC to advance were Bryce Sonnek, Ethan Elvebak, Micah Hamson and Konner Harpestad.

Sonnek and Hamson both made it through the day unscathed for the Rebels while Elvebak and Harpestad each opened with wins before recording losses in their second matches. Both wrestlers won their third match to extend their seasons.

Sonnek was the first area wrestler to punch his ticket to the next round.

The senior grappler pinned Braxton Simon of Maple River in 1:10 in his opening match. The 120-pounder gained another fall in his second match at the 4:48 mark against Hunter McCann of St. Clair-Mankato Loyola (SCML).

Elvebak began his day with a 7-1 decision over Isaac Sower of Maple River at 132 pounds but lost by a pin in 56 seconds to Cade Christianson of Westfield in his next match. Elvebak came back to pin Gavin Krause of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown-Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (WEMJWP) in 3:17 to earn his spot in Windom.

Ty Peterson became the first Buc to guarantee his spot in the next round.

Wrestling at 138 pounds, Peterson pinned Ethan Greenwald of WEMJWP in 33 seconds and then scored a fall against Dylan Novak of Le Sueur-Henderson (LSH) in 3:35.

USC’s Hamson scored a 13-1 major decision over Clay Stenzel of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (NRHEG) in his opening match at 145 pounds.

Hamson’s win set him up to face BEA’s Parker Meyers who had advanced to the second round with a pin in 3:35 over Nick Slater of Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (LCWM).

Hamson defeated Meyers 8-5 to earn his spot in the super-sectional. Meyers advanced when he recorded a 16-0 technical fall over Jordan Grinde of LSH in the wrestlebacks.

Konner Harpestad was the last USC wrestler to qualify. He downed Cael Becker of Westfield by an 18-1 technical fall before losing by a 14-0 major decision to Gerron Hoffman of Medford.

Harpestad regrouped to earn a fall in 2:50 over Jack Klinder of SCML and earn a spot in the March 20 competition.

The Bucs advanced a wrestler from each of the next six weight categories.

Max Ehrich won his first match at 160 pounds with a fall in 59 seconds over Matteo De Raffaele of Maple River. He finished his day by pinning Alex Harnitz of LCWM in 1:09.

At 170 pounds, Kean Hicks won his first match over Isaac Quast of WEMJWP by a pin in 1:01. The junior lost his next match by a 5-2 decision to Cooper Ochsendorf of Maple River. Hicks then defeated George Doherty of LSH by a fall at the 1:18 mark.

Nick Frank advanced at 182 pounds by pinning Isaias Sanchez of LSH in 1:59. The senior then upset the No. 2-seeded Tyler Archer of Westfield with a pin in 5:32 to move on to Saturday’s competition.

Schavey pinned Dylan Heiderscheidt of Medford to win his opening match at 195 pounds. No. 1-seeded Carter Quam of Kenyon-Wanamingo pinned Schavey in 1:21 in the next round forcing Schavey into the wrestlebacks.

Schavey faced Justin Slater of LCWM and won by a fall in 55 seconds to keep his wrestling season going.

Logan Johnson was the next Buc to qualify. The 220-pounder won his first match against Matt Beyer of USC by a fall in 2:14. Johnson then upset the No. 2-seeded Logan Meyers of Kenyon-Wanamingo by an 8-2 decision to advance to the super sectional.

Luke Mertens started his quest to move on with a pin over Dizel Butler of Maple River in 21 seconds in the 285-pound weight class. Mertens extended his season when he earned a 9-3 decision over Makota Misgen of NRHEG.

Five other Bucs wrestled but were unable to advance and saw their season come to an end. They were ninth grader Cooper Peterson at 106 pounds, ninth grader Caleb Langager at 113, 10th grader Carson Sturtz at 120, 10th grader Blair Lunz at 126 and ninth grader Cory Kitchel at 152. BEA did not have anybody compete at 132 pounds.