Apple Valley

Q&A: Junior World Champion Wrestler Gable Steveson Talks Gophers and Wrestling Dominance

It would be hard to characterize Apple Valley wrestler Gable Steveson as a poor loser. In fact, the Gopher commit really has no experience coming up on the short end on the mat.

Steveson has not lost a match since he finished as runner-up in 2014 as an eighth grader.

Steveson is ranked as the top heavyweight high school wrestler in the country by InterMat Wrestling and was named the American Family Insurance All-USA Wrestler of The Year.

Steveson defeated Iran’s Naeiim Hassanzadeh 5-1 for the Junior World Championship gold medal in Tampere, Finland earlier this month to win his third World title and first as a junior. The win was the difference as the U.S. team defeated Russia 68-67 to capture its first world juniors team title since 1984. Continue reading at www.gopherhole.com

The Guillotine Grapevine: Two-time Cadet World Champion Gable Steveson of Apple Valley

g-steveWe kick off the second season of The Guillotine Grapevine by heading down to Apple Valley and talking with two-time Cadet world champion Gable Steveson.

Already a two-time state champion and three-time state finalist, Steveson brings an impressive 128-3 record into his junior year for the Eagles. Having clinched a state dual championship with his performance as a freshman, Steveson is fine with pressure and takes every match the same.

Steveson talks about settling in Minnesota, why he’s striving to be the best and of course, growing up wrestling with a name like Gable Dan Steveson.

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Minnesota’s Mark Hall and Tennessee’s Katie Brock named national winners of Dave Schultz and Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Awards

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Thursday announced that Mark Hall II of Apple Valley, Minnesota has been chosen as the 2016 recipient of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award (DSHSEA) and Katie Brock of Whitwell, Tennessee has been chosen as the 2016 recipient of the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award (TSHSEA).

“Selecting the winners of these two awards is always difficult for our committee because we receive so many deserving nominees, who have all excelled on and off the wrestling mat,” said Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. “We are pleased to name Mark and Katie as our national winners and believe that they are great representatives, who will continue to achieve athletically and academically at the next level.”

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Mark Hall is the Midwest Regional winner of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Thursday announced the state and regional winners for the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award (DSHSEA) and the state winners for the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award (TSHSEA).

The national winners for both awards will be announced on May 5. The winners will be presented with their awards during the 40th Anniversary of the annual Honors Weekend at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum on June 3-4 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Continue reading at nwhof.org

Mark Hall Named MWCA Mr. Minnesota Wrestler

Mark Hall’s varsity wrestling career at Apple Valley started as a 7th grader. He was impressed by the welcoming environment that he experienced and attributed it to head coaches Jim Jackson and Dalen Wasmund as well as the entire coaching staff and team.

Mark finished his high school career this past spring with an overall record of 277-4 along with six individual state titles and six team titles. In the words of athletic director Pete Buesgens, the team titles mean as much or more to Mark than his individual titles. Pete is pretty confident that the twelve gold medals in wrestling earned by Mark Hall will not be matched anytime soon.

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Defending champs pushed, but prevail

By Brian Jerzak

Wrestling fans in the south metro were treated to a highly entertaining dual meet on Thursday night. The number one ranked Apple Valley Eagles traveled about fifteen minutes south to face the fourth-ranked Farmington Tigers. Rarely are the Eagles pushed in the regular season unless they are in a tournament with teams from around the nation. Down by one point with two matches remaining, their dual with the Tigers was far from a walk in the park.

It was a back a forth duel all night. The largest lead of the night was ten – twice - for Apple Valley, but there were six lead changes with the final lead change not coming until Valley's win at 220. Obviously, Apple Valley has a number of hammers in their line-up, but Farmington has their share of ranked wrestlers as well.

It was a match without a marque match up – no single bout had ranked wrestlers on the mat at the same time, but almost every match-up featured one ranked wrestler. Obviously, the Eagles had more ranked guys, so to keep it close the Tigers had to avoid bonus points and earn bonus points when they could. They almost pulled it off.

In the end, Apple Valley had an ace in the hole. Eagles' head coach Dalen Wasmund decided to bump his number one ranked 220 pounder – Gable Steveson - up to 285.

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GG04: Apple Valley’s Mark Hall announces his intention to compete for Penn State

Episode 4 of the Guillotine Grapevine is a special edition as Apple Valley’s five-time state champion Mark Hall announced his college commitment.

With several athletes from Apple Valley signing on National Signing Day, Hall got the big treatment in the theater of the high school and a live stream on Flowrestling.

After opening statements by Athletic Director Pete Buesgens, Hall took to the stage and announced he would compete for Penn State.

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