This was definitely a step in the right direction, Park had coach Jim LaBrosse agreed.

Last year at this time, Park bowed out in the first round of the 3AAA wrestling sections, losing to Henry Sibley.

This time around, the Wolfpack went home with a section runner-up trophy, advancing to the finals before falling to fifth-ranked Hastings 59-13. It was the first time the Wolfpack wrestlers had made the section finals since 1986. Also of note is that this remains a relatively young team, with only seniors Silvis and Atkins in the starting lineup.

Park defeated rival East Ridge 65-16 in the quarterfinals, then beat St. Thomas Academy 43-30 in the semifinals.

Head coach Jim LaBrosse called this a true team win and it was. Park’s Kyler Jubinal had two pins, second-ranked Zach Silvis scored a technical fall, major decision and a fall, 10th-ranked Gunnar Mullen won by a fall 1t 132 pounds and a major decision, Will Deutsch, Donovan Early- Pinder, Sam Lankow and Dom Atkins all won by falls.

“The kids wrestled well,” said LaBrosse. “First round we knew we’re going to take care of East Ridge, but we weren’t sure how it was going to go against St. Thomas. They’ve got a lot of good kids. We did some bumping around in the lower weights and it proved to really work well for us and we got all that momentum and up 43-nothing. It was pretty fun to be a part of.

“It was a good time for these kids to wrestle their best match of the year,” said LaBrosse. “We’re healthy again so it’s going to be fun. We’re proud to take second place. It’s been many, many years. Thirty-some years, so that’s huge for our program. … This is all about the team and they just came up today. ”

Now its on to the varsity individual sections, set for Saturday at Two Rivers.

The match against the St. Thomas Academy Cadets showed where Park lineup is in a nutshell. Park won the first eight matches to lead 43-0, racking up six pins and a major decision in the process. St. Thomas Academy then turned it around and won the final six matches.

Layne Frandrup, Kyler Jubinal, Mullen, Leroy Olson, Deutsch and Early- Pinder all had falls for Park against the Cadets. Silvis won a major decision and Zach Carr scored a tough 11-10 win at 113 pounds.

Park again had their hands full against a strong Hastings team with only Silvis, Mullen and Carr scoring wins.

Other quarterfinal scores were: Woodbury 40, Eagan 40 and St. Thomas Academy 60, Two Rivers 21. Hastings drew a quarterfinal bye, then thumped Woodbury 56-18 in the semifinals.

Quarterfinals Park 65 East Ridge 16 106 – Zach Carr (Park) won by forfeit 113 – Kyler Jubinal (Park) over Beckett Giddings (East Ridge) Fall 0:20 120 – Zach Silvis (Park) over Hayden Christianson (East Ridge) TF 17-0 126 – Joey Chilton (Park) won by forfeit 132 – Gunnar Mullen (Park) won by forfeit 138 – Leroy Olson (Park) won by forfeit 145 – Riley Kane (East Ridge) over Dylan Richardson (Park) Maj 11-0 152 – Cael Viesselman (East Ridge) over Donovan Early-Pinder (Park) Fall 1:42 160 – Samuel Lankow (Park) over Mac Clegg (East Ridge) Fall 1:59 170 – Dominic Atkins (Park) over Camden Steffel (East Ridge) Fall 3:25 182 – Joshua Jones (East Ridge) over Brandan Lee (Park) Fall 1:06 195 – Nathyn Murphy (Park) won by forfeit 220 – Alex Carr (Park) won by forfeit 285 – Doug Sabin (Park) won by forfeit Semifinals Park 43 St. Thomas Academy 30 106 – Layne Frandrup (Park) over Isaac French (STA) Fall 0:31 113 – Zach Carr (Park) over Thomas Holmquist (STA) Dec 11-10 120 – Kyler Jubinal (Park) over Liam Connor (STA) Fall 3:15 126 – Zach Silvis (Park) over Colton Zwiefel (STA) Maj 12-3 132 – Gunnar Mullen (Park) over Solomon Straub (STA) Fall 2:21 138 – Leroy Olson (Park) over Brooks Borman (STA) Fall 2:53 145 – Will Deutsch (Park) over Josiah Solliday (STA) Fall 4:30 152 – Donovan Early- Pinder (Park) over Krisitian Cercioglu (STA) Fall 0:55 160 – Jack Springer (STA) over Samuel Lankow (Park) Dec 6-2 170 – Jake Borman (STA) over Dominic Atkins (Park) Fall 1:38 182 – Sorin Engstrom (STA) over Nathyn Murphy (Park) Fall 2:57 195 – Jackson Cercioglu (STA) over Alex Carr (Park) Dec 6-4 220 – Vincent Mueller (STA) won by forfeit 285 – Leo Bluhm (STA) over Doug Sabin (Park) Fall 1:11 Championship Hastings 59 Park 13 106 – Trey Beissel (Hastings) over Zack Carr (Park) Dec 7-2 113 – Blake Beissel (Hastings) over Kyler Jubinal (Park) Fall 3:47 120 – Zach Silvis (Park) over Mark Svoboda (Hastings) Fall 0:31 126 – Jack Bainbridge (Hastings) over Joey Chilton (Park) Fall 0:54 132 – Gunnar Mullen (Park) over Peyton Erickson (Hastings) Maj 11-2 138 – Creed Peterson (Hastings) over Leroy Olson (Park) Fall 3:26 145 – Josh Route (Hastings) over Will Deutsch (Park) TF 15-0 152 – Aiden Erickson (Hastings) over Donovan Early-Pinder (Park) TF 15-0 160 – Zander Hallis (Hastings) over Samuel Lankow (Park) Maj 14-5 170 – Ian Pepple (Hastings) over Dominic Atkins (Park) Fall 0:54 182 – Jericho Cooper (Hastings) over Brandan Lee (Park) Fall 2:50 195 – Alex Carr (Park) over Dylan Bartz (Hastings) Dec 6-0 220 – Austin Leflay (Hastings) won by forfeit 285 – Blake Clemons (Hastings) over Doug Sabin (Park) Fall 1:30

Park eighth grader Zach Carr squares off against a Hastings opponent in the team section finals Saturday. Photo by John Molene