Three Titan wrestlers advance to state

One will be making his first appearance. One will be making his second appearance. One will be making his third appearance.

Three Tri-City United wrestlers have advanced to the Class AA State Individual Tournament after winning their respective weight classes at the Section 2AA Meet Saturday in St. Peter.

Seniors Cole Franek, Caden O’Malley, and Marco Reyes will start their State Tournament experience Friday, March 3 at 9 a.m. at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Three section 2AA champions is the first time in a very long time for TCU wrestling,” co-head coach Shaun Timmerman said. “All the boys wrestled well, wrestled smart, and they should each be getting some confidence going into the State tournament.”

O’Malley will be making his third trip after winning the Section 2AA 182-pound weight class. As a sophomore he did not place and last year he finished third. He is the No. 1 seed and is among eight state rated wrestlers in this year’s bracket.

O’Malley brings a 44-4 record to State and a 171-64 career record. He will open with a match against No. 7 ranked sophomore Evan McGuire (40-8) of Mahtomedi. If he wins this match, O’Malley will face either Minneapolis South senior Nate Odren (31-8) or Zumbrota-Mazeppa senior Ryan Lexvold (35-6) in the quarterfinals.

Other state-rated wrestlers in O’Malley’s side of the upper bracket include No. 4 rated Zak McPhee (41-1) of Proctor/Hermantown, No. 10 rated Brian Thilges (33-8) of Mankato East, and No. 5 rated John Murphy (7-1) of Big Lake. No. 3 rated Tate Link (31-0) of Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield, No. 6 rated Jacob Williams (33-6) of Aitkin, and No. 1 ranked Travis Smith (44-5) of Simley are in the lower half of the 16-person bracket.

Reyes will be making his second strip to State. He did not...Read the remainder of this story in the March 2 edition of the Montgomery Messenger. Subscribe online.