Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

If it’s March, then a Forest Lake wrestler must be winning a state championship, and this year the title belongs to Lucas Munkelwitz.

Munkelwitz and Brent Kolbow were the only Rangers to make it out of the incredibly competitive 7AAA Section, as the state’s field was littered with Suburban East Conference wrestlers who were defeated throughout the season by Forest Lake’s Collin Peterson, Ben Morgan and Shawn Saxe.

“You could go right on down the line,” co-head coach Bob Dettmer said about his roster. “There were several wrestlers from other sections that we had beaten.”

In the opening round on Thursday, March 1, Kolbow lost to Zach Enrico of Hopkins, 8-5 in the 160-pound weight class. When Enrico lost to Wayzata’s Brett Landrum that evening, Kolbow’s chance for another match was over and so was his first appearance in the state tournament. Kolbow’s overall record this year was 32-9.

“It’s always nice to win down there, but with the system set up as it is, if you lose that first match you really are at the mercy of the draw,” co-head coach Rich Elliot said. “Unfortunately he didn’t have the best draw, so he was done after only one match this time.”

For Munkelwitz, he continued to make the 171-pound classification look like a series of sparring sessions.

Thursday afternoon began with a command performance as Munkelwitz defeated Dan Getzke of Eastview, 17-0.

The quarterfinals were more difficult, but Munkelwitz beat Owatonna’s Matt Uher by the score of 10-8.

“He’s a student of the sport,” Dettmer said of Munkelwitz. “And when you become a student of the sport you’re constantly learning, picking up things that are going to help you.”

In the semifinals it would be Ben Chandler who would lose by technical fall at the 3:15 mark, which set up Saturday’s grand finale against Tyson Wood of Eagan.

Wood’s path to the championship was similar to the one Munkelwitz followed, blanking two opponents with wins by technical fall while encountering a close call in the round of eight.

In the title match, Dettmer said Munkelwitz wrestled conservatively, but smart, and with the 5-1 victory, Munkelwitz would end the season with a state championship and a record of 40-1.

“I knew if I wrestled the prefect match and stayed in good position I was going to win that match,” Munkelwitz said.

“For it all to wrap up like that, it was just perfect, it was exactly how you dreamed about it — center mat, it was just awesome.”

Both Munkelwitz and Dettmer mentioned how last year’s fifth-place finish had an impact on what happened on Saturday.

“I’ve always said that if you put in the hard work, usually success will follow,” Dettmer said.

“He’s had a good attitude about what his potential was, and he was focused on that goal, and you could see in his eyes when he went out there to wrestle that he wasn’t going to let it slip by.”

As for Munkelwitz, what he learned from 2006 gave him something to focus on during his senior year. “I knew that no one was going to work harder than me in the off-season, no one’s going to get as much mat time as me, and I’m going to push it hard enough to the fact where I’m going to be No. 1.”

It must be March.

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