The Buccaneers’ Chase Gambell placed first at 285 pounds in the Section 2A Individual Meet on Feb. 21. Above, he takes on Brahyden Wezstein of Kenyon-Wanamingo who he defeated by a fall in 2:59. BEA’s Timmy Nagel also qualified for State with a second-place finish at 133 pounds.

Chase Gambell and Timmy Nagel of the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers qualified for the Minnesota State Individual Wrestling Tournament while wrestling at the Section 2A Individual Tournament in Janesville on Feb. 21.

Gambell captured first place at 285 pounds while Nagel finished second at 133 pounds.

In addition to Gambell and Nagel, eight other BEA wrestlers took a place on the podium by finishing in the top six in their weight category.

Gambell had a first-round bye at 285 pounds and then defeated Brahyden Wetzstein of Kenyon-Wanamingo by a fall in 2:59 in the semifinals to advance to the finals against Wyatt Krull of GMLOS (Grand Meadow-Leroy-Ostrander-Southland). Gambell pinned Krull in 2:34 to win the 285-pound championship and head to State.

Nagel also had a bye in the first round at 133 pounds. The senior wrestler won his second-round match by a fall in 1:30 over Logan Gregerson of GMLOS.

Nagel lost his semifinal match to Alex Ortiz of Triton by a 9-4 decision but defeated Derek Minor of Westfield by a 7-6 decision in the wrestlebacks. Next, Nagel won by a 15-0 technical fall over Ty Romnes of St. Clair/Mankato Loyola to advance to a true-second match where Nagel pinned Brenden Masso of WEM-JWP to take second place and advance to State.

Will Weerts finished third at 172 pounds. Weerts won his opening-round match by a fall in 1:11 over Abe Klankowski of Triton. Weerts was defeated 7-5 by James Wegner of Medford in the second round.

In the wrestlebacks, Weerts first defeated Noah Weller of NRHEG by a fall at the 1:17 mark. Next he pinned Charles Adams of WEM-JWP to finish in third place.

Finishing in fourth place at 139 pounds was Layden Bassett.

Bassett pinned Chase Johannsen of NRHEG in 4:36 before losing to top-seeded Brad Murphey of WEM-JWP by a fall in 27 seconds. Bassett won his first match in the wrestlebacks by pinning Brandon Won of St. Clair/Mankato Loyola in 3:31. Bassett finished fourth when he lost his next match to Isaac Fort of Westfield by a 9-0 major decision.

At 107 pounds, Jason Casey lost in the first round to Eli Hanson of Kenyon-Wanamingo by a fall in 3:07. In the wrestlebacks, Casey defeated Derek Steinkamp of GMLOS by a pin in 1:31 but then lost by a pin in 1:47 to Lukas Hogen of St. Clair/Mankato Loyola. Casey then wrestled in the match for fifth place where he defeated Demian Reyes of WEM-JWP by a fall in 1:18.

Jake Ryan Engelby’s path to a fifth-place finish began with a loss by a pin in 3:07 to Otto Root of WEM-JWP. Engelby then defeated Devan Subber of Westfield by an 18-2 technical fall. Nest Kaiden Adreon of Triton pinned Engelby in 3:04. In the fifth-place match, Engelby pinned Kyle Witter of Medford in 1:24.

Drake Engelby won his first match at 121 pounds by pinning Finn Root of WEM-JWP in 3:47. Top-seeded Ryan Lacanne defeated Engelby by an 18-3 technical fall in the second round.

Engelby lost his first match in the wrestlebacks by a fall in 3:10 to Leighton Cochran of Triton before securing a fifth-place finish with his second win of the day over Root, this time by a 20-3 technical fall.

Colton Tolzmann’s fifth-place finish was at 160 pounds.

Tolzmann lost to Brennan Flotterud of Kenyon-Wanamingo by a 17-1 technical fall but bounced back to pin Zachary Quast of WEM-JWP in 3:11.

Tolzmann was defeated in his next match by Calum Sween of GMLOS by a pin in 3:22. In the match for fifth place, Tolzmann won by an 18-2 technical fall over David Clennon of Westfield.

Cody Tolzmann at 127 pounds and Jacob Gambell at 215 pounds each placed sixth at the tournament.