1ST PLACE: Mack Reiter- Don Bosco- 4 time Champ!!! Mack went on to be a multiple AA at Minnesota.
2ND PLACE: Tony Hager- Ogden- 6th, 2nd, 2nd in HS. He went on to wrestle at Simpson College. He likely had to deal with the frustration of having to grow into 125 in college. One of my best friends (who is on this podium) had that problem. I think he wanted a 118 lb. class more than anything else at the time. Anyways, Hager has been successful in wrestling media, most notably with his ownership of IAwrestle.
3RD PLACE: Justin Swafford- Mepo- 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 7th… he was closer to being a 4 timer than people realize….no, seriously. Wrestled at UNI in college.
4TH PLACE-?!?!?! AHHH!!! Who is this kid?!
5TH PLACE– Justin Bohlke- Kingsley Pierson- 3rd, 1st and 4th in HS… this guy was difficult to score on. He is one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time.
6TH PLACE– Andy Rousch-Wilton- 3rd and 3rd in HS.
7TH PLACE– Charlie Ettelson- Hudson- 2nd, 1st and 1st in HS. He wrestled for UNI in college.
8TH PLACE– Adam Gottschalk-Hempstead- 4th, 1st and 3rd at state in HS. This cat ended up being my roommate and one of the groomsmen in my wedding.
* The Reiter-Swafford match in the quarterfinals was epic and obviously didn’t go our way, but to any neutral spectator, it was awesome and for the biased ones, it was a roller-coaster.
* The Hager-Reiter finals was a realllly close one.
* That’s one 4 time state champ (Mack)
* 2 of them won multiple titles (Mack and Charlie)
* 5 of them were state champs (Mack, Justin Swaff, Justin Bohlke, Charlie and Gottschalk).
* 6 of them were state finalists. If you tallied up their finals appearances, you’d get 14 total. Mack (4), Hager (2), Justin Swaff (3), Charlie (3), Bohlke (1), Gottschalk (1).
* At least 7 of them placed of you throw Rousch in there…
* If I could just remember who placed 4th.
