At the end of last year’s state wrestling tournament, longtime Park head coach Jim LaBrosse was already looking ahead to this winter. That day is now here.
Park sent a school-record tying …
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At the end of last year’s state wrestling tournament, longtime Park head coach Jim LaBrosse was already looking ahead to this winter. That day is now here.
Park sent a school-record tying six wrestlers to the 2024 state wrestling meet. But only fifth-ranked junior all-state wrestler Gunnar Mullen ended up placing in the tournament, finishing fourth at 152 pounds in the Class AAA division.
That’s left the Wolfpack wrestlers hungry for more.
Park starts the season as the 12th-ranked team in Class AAA, according to The Guillotine’s high school pre-season rankings. Other familiar foes in the rankings are No. 2 Mounds View, No. 3 Stillwater and No. 9 Hastings.
Park and Hastings will kick off the season in a triangular at Cottage Grove Friday. Hastings had had Park’s number in recent years, including a 58-11 decision in the finals of the Section 3AAA meet last winter.
Mullen returns as Park’s all-time victory leader with 189 wins.
“For myself, I want to be state champ, I want to be the top guy and I feel like I am the top guy,” said Mullen. “I feel I’ve got to make some changes here and there and I should be good. I’ve got to get my mental right, sometimes I struggle with that, getting my head in the right place. But I should be good this year.”
Joining fourth-ranked Mullen (172 pounds) on this year’s team are four other wrestlers who qualified for last year’s state meet – fourth-ranked freshman Landen Books (133 pounds), seventh-ranked senior Kyler Jubinal (139 pounds) eighth-ranked junior all-stater Zack Carr (152) and eighth-ranked junior Dylan Richardson (189). Senior captain Joey Chilton (145), freshman Nolan Bloch (107), Layne Frandrup (139) and Jesse Wright (215) are four more Park wrestlers who should do very well this season.
“We plan to just be the best we can be,” said Chilton. “We have a lot of guys who enjoy scrapping. We have a lot of fun. We plan to send multiple guys to state and hopefully be section champs this year.”
It’s going to be a good season for the Wolfpack.
“We kind of set things up last year with how we finished, sending six to state and getting those five kids back,” said LaBrosse, now in his 21st season as Park head wrestling coach. “We kind of knew those guys were going to get ranked and we’ve got some work to do with some other boys to try and get them in that area and we’ll see what happens.”
Park’s season expectations are understandably high.
“They’re pretty high,” agreed LaBrosse. “Our goals the last couple of years is to get the team to state and obviously we have to get through Hastings to do that. So our goal is to close the gap. We’ll find out Friday night, this Friday, and see where we’re at.”
“We have a really good shot at going to state,” said Mullen. “We’ve been close here and there, but this is probably the best year that we have.”
Park should be very strong in the upper weights this season.
Carr and Mullen are three-time state qualifiers, Jubinal has gone twice, while Brooks and Richardson haver one state tournament under their belts. Brooks and Richardson also have experience in the Minnesota/USA freestyle state championships. Brooks won the 2024 16-and-under title at 126 pounds.
Park graduated just two seniors off last year’s team, 172-pound state qualifier Sam Lankow and 189-pounder Fiyin Taiwo.
At state last season, Mullen won 6-0 in his first match, 11-6 in his second, then lost to eventual state runner-up Brad Little of Woodbury in the championship quarterfinals. Mullen pinned Prior Lake’s John Graham in 46 seconds in the consolation semifinals. In the third-place match Mullen lost to fourth-ranked Patrick Kubisa of Eden Prairie 9-3. He finished fourth in the tournament at 152 pounds and ended the season with a record of 53-9.
Park’s eighth-ranked eighth grader Brooks also had a memorable state tournament a year ago. Brooks lost in the first round to third-ranked Logan Davis of Albert Lee, won his first match in consolation action, taking down sixth-seeded Marr of Forest Lake 5-2. Brooks lost a tough 1-0 decision to seventh-seeded Tyler Turzinski of Shakopee in the consolation quarterfinals.
In the opening round, Park’s Kyler Jubinal (33-14) was pinned in his 133-pound match, while Brooks and sixth-ranked sophomore Zack Carr (44-11) lost by major decisions. Sophomore Dylan Richardson (40-14) lost by a technical fall. Jubinal, Carr, Richardson and Lankow then all lost in the first round of consolation.
Park opens the 2024-25 season Friday, Dec. 6, hosting Hastings and Ellsworth in a triangular invitational with a 5 p.m. start. The Wolfpack then competes in the Coon Rapids Invitational on Saturday. Park has just three home meets this season but does host the individual sections on Feb. 22.