BEA’s Chase Gambell earned a trip to the State Tournament this year.

Three area wrestlers, Timmy Nagel and Chase Gambell of Blue Earth Area, and Noah Gonzalez of Maple River/United South Central, competed in the individual part of the Minnesota State Wrestling Tournament held in St. Paul last weekend.

BEA

The BEA wrestlers, Nagel and Gambell, each had some success at the Minnesota State Individual Wrestling Tournament, but not quite enough to claim a spot on the medal podium.

Both wrestlers won their opening matches on Thursday, Feb. 26.

Nagel, who began the tournament with a record of 34-11 defeated Julio Alejandro of Sibley East by a 7-6 decision at 133 pounds. Alejandro’s record was 22-6 coming into the tournament.

Nagel’s second-round match was against the undefeated and No. 1 seed, Miklo Hernandez from Pipestone Area.

Hernandez picked up his 40th win of the season against Nagel when he defeated the BEA senior by a 20-5 technical fall. The Pipestone Area sophomore would go on to win the championship at 133 pounds.

Nagel’s next match was against Travis Weiss of Adrian Area who carried a 46-10 record into the tournament. Weiss prevailed over Nagel by a 4-0 decision which eliminated Nagel from the double-elimination tournament.

Gambell, who is also a senior, defeated Garrett Penning of Adrian Area by a 7-2 decision in hids first-round match. Gambell had a record of 38 wins and nine losses at the start of the tournament. Penning came into the tournament with a record of 19-17.

Gambell’s opponent in the second round was No. 2 seed George Doherty of Le Sueur-Henderson who brought a 41-2 record into the tournament. Doherty was able to pin Gambell at the 3:10 mark.

Gambell won his next match by a 16-4 major decision over Mason Lichy of Holdingford who had a record of 26-16 and lost in the first round to eventual champion Jack Carlson of Goodhue. Gambell’s victory eliminated Lichy from the tournament.

Next up for Gambell was Jordan DePestel of Canby whose regular season record was 38-17.

In a close match, DePestel defeated Gambell by one point, 4-3. Had he won, Gambell would have been guaranteed a medal. Unfortunately, the loss eliminated Gambell from the tournament.

Staples-Motley won the Class A team championship. Big South Conference member Jackson County Central defeated Minneota 30-27 to finish in third place.

USC

Maple River/United South Central Longhorn wrestler Noah Gonzalez participated at the 2026 Minnesota State High School League Class AA Individual State Wrestling Tournament on Feb. 27 and 28.

Representing Section 2AA, Gonzalez, a junior, first faced off against Bennett Kulawa, of Becker, also a junior, at 139 pounds.

Gonzlez had a season record of 27-7, while Kulawa had a record of 45-3.

Kulawa won the first round match defeating Gonzalez by a 19-3 technical fall. Kulawa would go on to take second place in the 139 pound bracket.

Gonzalez dropped down into the consolation bracket where he faced Judah Perrault, a sophomore with a 38-12 record. Perrault was from Hutchinson and represented Section 3AA.

Gonzalez lost by a fall to Perrault.