Following action from the Section 4A Individual Wrestling Tournament the week prior, two Cubs wrestlers – junior Mark Schiefelbein (152) and senior Hank Meyer (189) – left their home gym with section titles and trips to the state wrestling tournament. Both left the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul at the conclusion of the state tournament March 1 with fourth-place medals hanging around their necks.
Entering the tournament as the seventh seed, Schiefelbein opened his tournament with a pin over Pelican Rapids’ Calvin Norton with 52 seconds remaining in the second period. Advancing to the quarterfinals, Schiefelbein jumped out to a 3-2 lead over Canby’s Sam Drietz after one period, but gave up a reversal and two near-fall points in the second to head to the final period trailing 6-4. Schiefelbein eventually fell by a 13-4 score to the eventual state runner-up.
Dropping down into consolation action, Schiefelbein scored a first-period takedown to go into the second period up 3-0 on Staples-Motley’s Riley Reese. He didn’t look back, pulling away for the 10-3 win to advance to the second day, one win away from a state medal.
Schiefelbein earned that state medal with a 20-2 technical fall with 36 seconds left in the match over Pipestone’s Haden Mulvihill. Schiefelbein kept moving up that podium, scoring a third-period escape with 1:22 left, and holding off Holdingford’s William Pilarski late take-down attempts for the 1-0 victory.
Moving on to the third-place match, Schiefelbein fell into a 13-0 hole versus Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial’s Ryan Palmer, thanks to three different tilts that led to 10 total near-fall points. Schiefelbein gave up two more near-fall points nine seconds into the second period to fall by a 15-0 technical fall and place fourth. Schiefelbein finished his season with a 36-6 record.
As for Meyer, seeded fourth at his weight, he began his tournament by jumping out to a 10-1 first-period lead and earning an 18-7 major decision over Jackson County Central’s Ryan Haley. Advancing to the quarterfinals, Meyer took a 3-2 into the third period and held off Lewiston-Altura-Rushford-Peterson’s Zach Plank’s potential match-winning take-down attempt to hang on for the 5-3 win, advancing to the semifinals and earning that state medal.
In the semifinals, Meyer looked potentially headed for a state finals trip, leading Holdingford’s Jaxon Bartkowicz 6-5 late, but a second stall call on Meyer in the closing seconds tied the match at 6-6, sending the match to overtime. In overtime, Meyer gave up the takedown right before time expired to fall 9-6.
Dropping down into consolation action, Meyer responded from the last second loss by pinning United North Central’s Riley Livingston 32 seconds into the final period to advance to the third-place match.
Trailing Paynesville’s Peyton Hemmesch 1-0 in the second period, Meyer got into a scramble with Hemmesch and ended up on his back. Meyer got pinned with seven seconds left in the period to finish his high school career with a fourth-place state finish. He ended his final Cubs season with a 14-3 record.
Meyer’s third-place match officially marked the end of the Cubs’ 2024-25 season.