The names of the 2021 Guillotine Academic All-State wrestlers have been released and four members of the Blue Earth Area squad have been recognized for their academic and athletic excellence.

All of the BEA wrestlers named to the squad are in their senior year. Max Ehrich and Luke Mertens were named to the first team, Ty Peterson was named to the third team and Nick Frank received honorable mention.

This year’s edition of The Guillotine Academic All-State honorees features 30 first-team members, 30 second-team members, 30 third-team members and 44 honorable mention wrestlers.

Points for the award are tallied based on current season varsity wins, current season state tournament placement and cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA).

Everyone on the first team placed fourth or higher at State this year. First-team members had an average season win percentage of 96 percent and an average GPA of 3.81.

Following is information on each wrestler provided by The Guillotine.

Ehrich wrestled at 160 pounds for BEA this year. He is a two-time state place winner. Ehrich had a 33-2 record his senior year and finished third in Class A after finishing fourth in his junior year. He ended his high school career with a record of 153-48, including 55 pins.

Ehrich has a GPA of 3.9. He was a two-time section champion in football and a three-time captain. He has been named to the all-conference teams in both wrestling and football.

Max plans to attend South Dakota State and major in Ag Business.

Mertens qualified for the State Wrestling Tournament twice. He made it at 195 pounds as a junior and then finished fourth in Class A at 285 pounds as a senior. He had a record of 32-3 this season and a high school career record of 62-31.

Mertens was one of 13 2021 honorees who have a perfect 4.00 GPA. His honors include wrestling team captain, two-time all-conference in wrestling, Minnesota State High School League Triple ‘A’ Award winner, All-District in football, District Lineman of the Year and football team captain.

Mertens plans to play football at Wisconsin-Stout and major in mechanical engineering.

Peterson ended his BEA career with a record of 101-21 and was 29-2 his senior season while wrestling at 138 pounds. His GPA is 3.728.

Frank wrestled at 182 pounds and finished sixth in the State in Class A this season. He had a record of 26-9 his senior year and a career record of 79-37. Frank has a GPA of 3.252.

BEA had a team GPA of 3.77 which was the second highest in Class A and earned the squad State Team Academic Gold honors.

The article featuring the Academic All-State honorees is in the May 13 issue of The Guillotine.