Photo by Ari Selvey Canby’s Sam Drietz competeS in Saturday’s Class A individual tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

ST. PAUL — Canby’s Sam Drietz and Minneota’s Adam Devlaeminck each earned runner-up finishes in Saturday’s Class A individual state tournament, headlining a group of seven athletes to earn medals at the Xcel Energy Center.

The finish marked Drietz’s second consecutive year finishing on the podium after he took home a 145 third-place finish with a 5-1 win over Frazee’s Bailey Peichel in 2024.

Competing in 152 this year, Drietz earned a 4-2 decision and 13-4 major decision in his first pair of individual matches on Friday. To start Saturday, Drietz defeated Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Area’s Ryan Palmer in the semifinals by a 10-1 major decision.

Dietz matched up with Carson Rowland of Chatfield in the championship round. After a scoreless first period, Rowland earned an escape in the second, then a takedown to go up 4-0. Drietz earned an escape to end the period, then escaped again to start the third and put the score at 4-2. Needing a point, Dietz got caught diving and was taken down once more as Rowland built a 7-2 lead. One more escape didn’t lead to any more points and Rowland took the 7-3 decision. 

Drietz also helped the Lancers earn a fifth-place team trophy on Thursday, marking the Lancers’ first state hardware since their 2008 state runner-up finish. Canby head coach Gary Stoks was also named the Section 5A Coach of the Year on Friday while Dan Deslauriers was named the Assistant Coach of the Year.

Devlaeminck was also making a return to the state podium for the Minneota Vikings in 133. Devlaemicnk placed fifth in the 2023 113 bracket but fell shy of any hardware in 2024 with a medical forfeit in the fifth-place match.

This year, Devlaeminck earned a 10-2 major decision and a 1:17 pin on Friday to set up his semifinal match against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton’s David Schuh, which he won 11-7.

DeVlaeminck took on Mille Lacs’ Zach Remer in the finals. The two stalemated in the first period, going scoreless. DeVlaeminck started up in the second and managed a 2-point near fall to take the lead. However, Remer was awarded a point for stalling, then another in the third after a neutral start to tie the match at 2-2. The match went to a tiebreaker, and Remer tripped up DeVlaeminck to score a takedown for a 5-2 decision. 

Schuh went on to earn a sixth-place medal in the 133 bracket. He fell to Fosston/Bagley’s Ian Phrakonkham in his first consolation match in 4:18 and had to medically forfeit his fifth-place match against Kaden Harfmann of Medford. It marks Schuh’s second consecutive year placing sixth in the weight class.

Drietz was far from the only Lancer to go home with a medal on Saturday. Additionally, Issac Guzman finished third in 114, Eli Greenman placed fourth in 121 and Blake Giese placed sixth in 160.

Greenman’s result marked his third state medal after placing third in 113 in 2023 and fifth in 121 in 2024. This time around, Greenman earned a 16-1 technical fall and an 18-4 major decision before falling 21-5 to Pipestone Area’s Miklo Hernandez in the semifinals. Greenman bounced back with a narrow 8-7 decision over Trinity School’s Micah Gregory in the consolation semifinals but fell by 16-1 technical fall to Chatfield’s Javier Berg in the third-place match.

Guzman returned to the state tournament after last participating in 2023. While he fell to Paynesville Area’s Jamison Meagher 10-8 in the semifinals, he bounced back with a 10-5 win over Pipestone’s Mason Fruechte in the consolation semifinals and defeated Jackson County Central’s Kayden Eller in the third-place match with a 3:32 pin for his first state hardware.

Giese also claimed his first state hardware with his sixth-place finish in 160. Giese lost to United North Central’s Zach Davidson in the championship quarterfinals by a score of 13-8 on Friday but rebounded with a 5-2 decision over Frazee’s Blake Sonnenberg to remain in contention on Saturday.

Still, Giese lost an 11-5 decision to Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa’s Brett DeRoo in the consolation semifinals and lost a 4-1 decision to Davidson in a rematch in the fifth-place match.

Eli Gruenes gave Minneota a second podium wrestler with a fifth-place finish in 189.

After falling to Holdingford’s Jaxon Bartkowicz 3-2 in the championship quarterfinals, Gruenes defeated Fulda/Murray County Central’s Carson Klein in the consolation bracket with a 9-1 major decision on Friday.

On Saturday, Gruenes picked up a 9-5 decision over Zach Plank of Lewiston-Altura-Rushford Peterson before losing to Paynesville’s Peyton Hemmesch. Still, Gruenes ended his prep career on a high note with a 4:39 pin of United North Central’s Riley Livingston in the fifth-place match.

-Ari Selvey contributed to the report with championship-round play-by-play.