Gable Steveson

The Guillotine Grapevine: Before and After the Steveson-Kerkvliet supermatch – GG40

In the lore of Minnesota wrestling, Friday, February 2 might go down as one of the most important in the state’s history. Not because the dual outcome impacted a state or sectional title, but because you saw two world champions collide as two of the state’s power programs met in front of a capacity crowd at Simley High School in Inver Grove Heights.

Episode 40 of The Guillotine Grapevine goes before and after the Gable Steveson-Greg Kerkvliet super match. Steveson, a three-time world champion at the international age-group levels at heavyweight faced off with Simley 220-pounder Kerkvliet, the 2017 Cadet world champion at 100kg.

We talk with fathers Robert Steveson, Greg Kerkvliet, then we talk with the combatants before finishing up with Simley AD and wrestling coach Will Short about setting up the match.

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Apple Valley vs. Simley and Steveson vs. Kerkvliet – Why Not?

With the Super Bowl just two days away, high school wrestling was treated to a Super Bowl of sorts at Simley High School on Friday night. Not only was Simley – the number two ranked AA team in the state rolling with the number one ranked team in AAA – Apple Valley – in a match many wrestling fans across the nation have been talking about, Simley’s Daniel Kerkvliet was moving up from 220 to 285 to face Apple Valley’s Gable Steveson. With both teams being in different classes and both headlining wrestlers being in different weight classes, in the scope of Minnesota high school wrestling the result of the match was going to change little in the grand scheme of the high school wrestling season. Some might say way do it. Like Kerkvliet said – why not?

The gym was packed to capacity as the two teams took the mat.

Apple Valley got out to an 8-0 lead, but Simley’s Cael Berg cut into the lead with a first-period fall. Apple Valley’s Peyton McLagan got the Eagles back on track with a 6-2 win to give his team an 11-6 lead. While Steveson and Kerkvliet was the headliner, Valley’s Sebas Swiggum against Simley’s Jake Gliva was an excellent undercard bout. Gliva was more active in the first period, but neither wrestler was able to score. Swiggum took a 1-0 lead with an early escape and seemed to push the pace more in period two.

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Steveson holds off Kerkvliet in high school wrestling battle for the ages

Vince McMahon would have been proud.

Apple Valley senior Gable Steveson certainly did his part as a promoter in the days leading up to Friday night’s much-anticipated high school wrestling showdown against Simley junior Daniel “Greg” Kerkvliet Jr. It was surprisingly close, but Steveson held on for a 3-2 win before a raucous crowd of 1,900 in Inver Grove Heights.

A dual meet between the two traditional state powers provided a worthy undercard, with the Class 3A Eagles claiming a 38-24 victory over their Class 2A foes.

“The whole atmosphere was great,” Kerkvliet said after his first loss since a freestyle match at Junior Duals last summer in Tulsa, Okla. “The hoopla around it, the media, everybody coming out — it was energetic. This was a big one.” Continue reading at www.twincities.com

Mega-match scheduled at Simley

World champs Steveson, Kerkvliet expected to face each other Friday night

One of the most anticipated matches of the Minnesota high school wrestling season – and one that couldn’t take place at the state tournament – is scheduled Friday evening at Simley High School.

On the large scale, the match between Apple Valley (ranked first in Class 3A) and Simley (ranked second in Class 2A) would be enticing enough for the sport’s followers. But they might be even more interested in the match within the match. Two world champions, Apple Valley’s Gable Steveson and Simley’s Daniel Kerkvliet, are expected to face each other in the heavyweight match. Steveson won the 264-pound weight class at the Junior World Championships last summer, and his victory also gave the United States the team championship. The previous two years, Steveson won Cadet World titles.

Kerkvliet is a reigning Cadet World champion. Continue reading at www.hometownsource.com

Apple Valley’s Gable Steveson poised for another monster season

Leaning away from an interview in the hallway after school, Apple Valley wrestler Gable Steveson called out to football coach Chad Clendening, who just happened to be walking past.

“Hey Clendening! He’s asking about football.”

Clendening turned and shook his head. “That’s a broken record. From the day he walked into Valley Middle School, I’ve been on him.”

With good reason. Steveson, a senior, is the No. 1 high school wrestler in the nation. A heavyweight with an unmatched of blend of strength and speed, balance
and bravado. He’d be devastating as a defensive end, for example. He stands just six-feet tall and weighs upwards of 250 pounds, but dunks a basketball with ease. He skated with the Apple Valley hockey team earlier this season (“I’ve skated before but that was the first time I’ve played hockey,” he said) and held his own. Continue reading at mnwrestlinghub.com

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 – May 12, 2017

The May 12, 2017 issue of The Guillotine has arrived! Featured content in this issue includes: Things I Find Interesting - Abraham Lincoln, We Just Do What We Do - Eastview Wrestling, The Guillotine Academic All-State Teams, Giving Wrestling a Shot - Henry Sibley Wrestling, and One-On-One With Gable Steveson.

More content in this issue: Greco-Roman State Championship Action, Lace ‘Em Up, MWCA Bartelma Hall of Fame, MWCA Report, Ask The Doc, High School Class Rankings, The National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Camps, Clinics, & Training, Officially Speaking.

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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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