Stillwater Area

Fun-Loving Hunter Lyden Isn’t Joking About Earning Stillwater A Team Wrestling Title

STILLWATER, Minn. (WCCO) — Stillwater wrestling has gotten very close the past few years but they’re still looking for the program’s first-ever team state title.

“If they can crack through and do it, they’ll be the first and only ever to do it first. So I think they’re excited about it,” said Stillwater head coach Timothy Hartung.

The Ponies’ leader on the mat is fun-loving Hunter Lyden.

“We will occasionally say, ‘Hey let’s get a little bit more serious,’” said Hartung. “But the fun side that he brings to the sport, and keeping things pretty loose does effect the kids around him in a positive way, especially in these environments.” Watch/continue reading at minnesota.cbslocal.com →

Team USA wraps up Cadet World Championships, earning one silver medalist and two fifth-place finishers in Greco-Roman

Stillwater’s Ryder Rogotzke goes 1-1 at Cadet World Championships

Budapest, Hungary – Team USA wrapped up their competition at the Cadet World Championships this evening, earning one silver medalist and two fifth-place finishers. The tournament finishes Greco-Roman action tomorrow, but the U.S. does not have any competitors remaining in the brackets.

In the 55 kg finals, Cory Land fell to Russia’s Valerii Mangutov, 8-0. Mangutov executed a four-point lift in the first period and a go-behind into a gut wrench for two turns in the second period to clinch the title.

Land wrestled a phenomenal tournament leading up to the gold medal match. In his opening bout, he earned a 10-0 technical fall over Berati Inac of Turkey, a 2021 Cadet European bronze medalist. He followed it up with a thrilling victory over Sweden’s Adam Silverin, 9-6. In the semifinals, he blanked Zhantoro Mirazaliev of Kyrgyzstan, 5-0.

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Ten Wrestlers Make Greco-Roman World Team at Cadet World Team Trials

Stillwater’s Ryder Rogotzke earns 80 KG spot

Wisconsin Dells, Wis. – The first day of action is done at the UWW Cadet and U15 Nationals, and the 2021 Cadet Greco-Roman World Team is set. The ten weight class winners will represent the U.S. at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary this June.

In addition to making the World Team, Jadon Skellenger brought home outstanding wrestler honors after an impressive run through the 65 kg bracket. Skellenger, a 2019 U15 World champion, downed Tyler Antoniak, a fellow U15 World champion, 8-0 in the semifinals. He followed it up with two-straight wins over 2018 U15 World bronze medalist Joel Adams, 11-8 and 8-0, to claim the World Team spot.

Aden Valencia is another 2019 U15 World champion that made his second age-group World Team. Valencia earned two technical falls, 10-2 and 9-1, over Otto Black in the 48 kg finals. Continue reading at teamusa.org →

The Guillotine – January 14, 2021

The January 14, 2021 issue of The Guillotine has arrived! Content in this issue includes: Mind Over Matter - Reid Ballantyne | The Benefits of Change – Garrison Solliday | Family Ties – Bennett Berge | Lace ‘Em Up - Watching Wrestling | Camps-Clinics-Training | MWCA Report - Positively Impacting Young People | High School Rankings | Officially Speaking - MSHSL Covid Rules | Too Good To Be True? - SAO | Performance Nutrition - Staying Focused Amidst Challenges | Mini-Wins Lead To Major Growth - Matt Everson and Saint Thomas Academy | Ask The Doc - Control The Risk | Where Have They Gone? - Tyler Tubbs.

View this issue below.

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Rough-and-tumble Reid Ballantyne seeks to achieve wrestling rarity

When he was about 10 years old, an age when many wrestlers are just getting started and finding their way around a mat, Reid Ballantyne had had enough.

Ballantyne had the experienced normal youth wrestling ups and downs — some promising victories mixed with a few emotionally crushing losses. The latter, Ballantyne thought, were just too much to endure.

So he made up his mind that he would never again be willing to allow an opponent an advantage. Losing never sat well. Giving up so much as a single point was a personal insult.

“It was never the wins that drove him, it was always the losses,” said the Stillwater senior’s father, Steve. “They were getting tougher for him to deal with every year. That’s when he became bulletproof.” Continue reading at mnwrestlinghub.com →

Mind Over Matter – Reid Ballantyne

By Brian Jerzak

Stillwater’s senior Reid Ballantyne has a chance to become the seventh high school wrestler in Minnesota history to win five individual state titles. Every one of the other wrestlers who have at least five titles has overcome obstacles and injuries. I doubt any of them had the injury issues of Ballantyne. The senior has endured so many injuries that he is gearing up for a run at a fifth straight title, and then, who knows?

The kind of effort it has taken and is going to take for Ballantyne to win that fifth title – with possibly no expectation of a wrestling career beyond high school – is the definition of dedication. His quest for five titles has been a case of mind over matter.

His dedication to wrestling started early.

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