Independent file photo Canby’s Eli Greenman (back) wrestles an opponent during the 2024 individual state wrestling tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on March 1, 2024. Canby will compete in today’s team state tournament, marking its first berth in the event since 2008.

CANBY – Culture and legacy seep through the Canby Lancers wrestling program. It’s evident when you look at the back wall of the wrestling room, which displays the program’s eight state championships.

The culture’s foundation was laid decades ago by longtime coach Gerry Gingles, who passed away in July 2024, so it’s fitting that the Lancers broke their 16-year state tournament drought this year in his honor.

“His values are still with us, and that’s what I keep telling the kids,” Canby wrestling coach Gary Stoks said. “Look at the wall and look at all he accomplished. It’s just trying to keep our tradition alive and staying to the form of that tradition.”

As a former wrestler for the Lancers himself, Stoks knows all about the program’s tradition. So does his group of assistant coaches, including Dan Deslauriers, Alex Kontz, Tyler Baer and Ross Kockelman, who are also all former wrestlers for Canby.

“I love the coaching group I’ve got,” Stoks said. “They’re young. They’re good. They know what they’re doing, and that helps a lot. We’re all on the same page.”

A unique aspect of the coaching staff is that three of the assistants – Deslauriers, Kontz and Baer – were wrestlers on the 2008 squad that was the last team to advance to the state tournament.

“That’s what makes it nice,” Stoks added. “Alex, Dan and Tyler all were on that 2008 team, and they are all coaches now. It helps when they hear it from others besides me saying ‘This is the way it’s done; this is how you have to do it.’ Now they hear it from the other coaches with the same verbiage.”

That 2008 team defeated Madelia/Truman and New York Mills to advance to the state championship bout, where the Lancers came up short against Jackson County Central.

For this year’s team to advance to the state tournament, it had to first wrestle its way through the gauntlet also known as Section 5A.

“You knew it was going to be a grind,” Stoks said.

In its opening match, Canby earned a 40-24 win over Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City on Thursday, Feb. 13. The Lancers then defeated Paynesville Area 43-17 in the Final Four on Feb. 15 to set up the section championship dual against rival Minneota.

Earlier in the season, Minneota edged Canby 28-26 on Jan. 23, with Ryan Meagher earning the Vikings three points in an ultimate tiebreaker over Jordan DePestel. Heading into the section championship’s heavyweight bout, the dual was still up for grabs, with Meagher and DePestel once again pitted against each other with a state berth on the line.

This time, DePestel earned the decisive points to help send the Lancers back to the state tournament.

It was a moment of breakthrough for a program that has come up just short many times in recent memory, as Stoks described it.

“We always seem to get there,” he said. “It’s just a matter of getting the kids mentally ready for it. Last year, we had a lot of sickness going around at the same time. Not using that as an excuse, but it was just bad timing. The kids had a tough time with it. But in any sport, you have to be ready when it’s time to go and not go by when we’re healthy.”

Stoks agreed that last year’s loss in the section championship served as fuel for the team this time around.

“It helped a lot,” he said. “We kept telling the kids, ‘I don’t care how good teams are, it’s our time, we’ve got to go.'”

Culture is set through building on repeated success, but it is the upperclassmen that lead the way and help set the tone for how successful the team will be each year.

“I have excellent captains this year,” Stoks said. “They’re pushing the younger kids and they’re pushing each other. They get on each other, and it’s all for a good cause. Our captains made a big turnaround this year, and everybody’s on board with it.”

The team’s seven seniors are Sam Drietz, Blake Giese, Eli Greenman, Issac Guzman, Bryant Hansen, Allen Maldonado and Sawyer Verhelst. Seniors tallied 19 of the team’s 33 points in the section championship win over Minneota.

“It’s a special group of seniors,” Stoks said. “Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re always special, but this one just seems a little different where they have their goals set and it’s big goals. Not just getting to the Final Four, but they want to win. That makes you feel good as a coach that they’re talking like that to all the kids.”

Stoks added that one of the things he appreciates most about the seniors is the approach they bring to the mat every day.

“They all show a little part of what it’s going to take to get it done,” he added. “They’ve been right there the last couple years. It’s a special group because they talk it, they do it, they work hard, they show the kids what we have to do. If someone’s not doing something, they don’t get on them in a mean way but they’re saying ‘if we want to do this, we all have to do it together.'”

Stoks said he knew the group had a chance at a special season with the way the guys were competing in some of the bigger tournaments during the season. At the Rumble on the Red in early January, Guzman placed third at 114 pounds and Sam Drietz placed second at 160 pounds.

“It’s been really cool seeing these kids improve and get better,” Stoks said. “You see the maturity in them. That’s been one of the things for me; it’s more about taking care of the kids. Seeing that they’re bonding together is huge and that’s when they become a really good team, which is what I think we’re heading towards.”

The Lancers will be the No. 5 seed in this weekend’s Class A field, and will open the state tournament against No. 2-seeded Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area from Section 2A. The rest of the field includes No. 1 seed Chatfield from Section 1A, No. 2 seed Staples-Motley from Section 7A, No. 3 seed JCC from Section 3A, and random draws LeSueur-Henderson from Section 4A, West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville from Section 6A and United North Central (a Menahga and Sebeka co-op) from Section 8A.

Thursday morning’s quarterfinal dual is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

In his eighth season leading the Lancers, Stoks has the wrestling program back in familiar territory – even though some of the kids on the team weren’t alive for the school’s last state tournament berth in 2008. He still finds joy in leading the program he once played for and the team is confident going into the state tournament.

“They work hard,” Stoks said. “When you see that, you feel satisfied as a coach. That they’re going above what you expect. They’re not backing down from any task you throw at them. That’s making it exciting.”