Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougar Wrestling

For those of you signed up for the summer training with Dakota, tonight’s practice has been re-scheduled to Tuesday August 9th.

Remaining Summer Training Dates

Tuesday, August 9th

Thursday, August 11th

Thursday, August 18th

Thursday, August 25th

The Mazeppa Lions club has asked the wrestlers if we can clean up the garbage around Herb Vik field after the fireworks. As you are all aware the Mazeppa Lions are a huge supporter of our wrestling program and here is a chance to show how much that means to us.

When: Half hour after fireworks finale.

Where: Meet at 2nd base of softball field.

Who: All K-12 wrestlers, managers, parents, fans.

Why: Mazeppa Lions is a HUGE supporter of our wrestling program and has recently donating a generous amount of money for our new mat this year. In addition, to help the Mazeppa community with cleaning up after the party!

What should I bring? Bring a pair of gloves if desired. Garbage bags will be provided.

How long: If we have a lot of volunteers, it should go pretty quick.

Attention all ZM wrestlers going into 6th grade and below. The 5002 Club workouts start on Monday, July 11th! This is an awesome club to be part of and will keep you in shape in the offseason! Please see attached file below for the calendar and when to perform the exercises.

What is 5002 Club?

Coach Steffen came up with the 5002 Club as an opportunity for our youth wrestlers to stay active physically and mentally during the off-season.  It’s meant to give them self-discipline, self-worth, and hopefully a sense of accomplishment when they complete the challenge.

What does 5002 mean/represent?

5002 is the total number of sit-ups, push-ups, and burpees completed in order to become a member.  The youth are given a calendar with the number of exercises to be performed on a given day.  The total on the calendar add up to 5001, but Cougars always do 1 extra for 5002!

5002 Club Member Rules

1. Be honest! If you miss one exercise you lose your membership.  Cougars always have integrity.  They tell the truth!
2. If you get a detention or have to pull a card in September-November, you lose your membership.  You are a student-athlete, not an athlete-student!
3. Write a HANDWRITTEN 1/2 to 1 page paper about the topic for the year. (Little guys: 2-3 sentences are fine.  Have mom and dad help).  When you complete the letter, mail it to Coach Steffen.  These will be on display at the first varsity home dual.

5002 Club Rewards

1. Receive a t-shirt stating ‘5002 Club Member’.
2. Introduction to the ZM wrestling crowd at the first varsity home dual.  Coach Steffen will call all 5002 Club members onto the floor and introduce you to the crowd.
3. Choose 1 away event to travel with the varsity wrestlers as a manager.
4. Choose 1 home event to be the manager.
5. Your name will be displayed on the ZM wrestling room as having completed the 5002 challenge!

ZM Wrestling is very excited to welcome Dakota Trom for 6 sessions in the Mazeppa wrestling room for the summer. Dakota is the lead clinician for MN Elite Wrestling and has a very accomplished career. There are two training times, depending on what grade the wrestler is in this current school year (2021-2022).

This camp is only open for ZM wrestlers and the times are K-6 at 5-6:30pm and 7-12th grade from 6:45-8:15pm. These sessions are not recommended for pre-K age.

Dates for Dakota in Mazeppa Wrestling room include:

• Thursday, June 16th
• Tuesday, June 21st
• Thursday, July 7th
• Thursday, August 11
• Thursday, August 18th
• Thursday, August 25th

The cost of this training is $40/wrestler. Please see attached flyer for signup information and the accolades for Dakota. You can register here.

The ZM summer wrestling camp will be held June 6th-9th and there will be two sessions each day. One for K-6th and one for 7-12th grades. The exact times are still TBD, but information will be coming home with your student as well as published on this site as the times (and the clinicians bios) are firmed up. Just wanted you to have the dates for the upcoming opportunity!!

Not to be outdone, the youth K-6 dual team finished 3rd overall out of 32 teams in the NYWA State Duals held in Rochester. On Saturday, the youth grapplers beat Hutchinson, Minneota and Brainerd to reach the championship pool on Sunday. In the first match of the championship, ZM fell to Pine Island. ZM rebounded nicely and took out Chatfield in the third place overall match. You guys make us VERY proud!

We had 4 place winners in the state tournament for K-6th grade as well as 8 in the invite. Led by our own STATE CHAMP Owen Lexvold!

Jake Moran 6th place. 5th/6th grade 88 pounds.

Owen Lexvold STATE CHAMP. 5th/6th grade 140 pounds

Jaxon Liffrig 2nd place 1st/2nd grade 50 pounds

Kade McNamara 3rd place Kindergarten 60 pounds

In the invite tournament, we had:

Evan Scharpen 4th place 5th/6th Grade 70 pounds

Levi Matthees 1st place 5th/6th Grade 80 pounds

Benton Radtke 4th place 5th/6th Grade 115 pounds

Elih Schaefer 1st place 3rd/4th Grade 60 pounds

Ryland Brown 2nd place 3rd/4th Grade 68 pounds

Jacob Matthees 4th place 3rd/4th Grade 80 pounds

Mason Haugen 4th place 1st/2nd Grade 45 pounds

Tanner Poncelet 1st place 1st/2nd Grade 60 pounds

ZM 7th and 8th grade team were in action at the NYWA State tournament last Thursday and Friday in Rochester at the Civic Center. On Thursday, the team rolled through KMS, ANML, and United to win the pool and position us in the championship 4 team bracket for Friday.

Day 2 in the semifinals against Hastings came down to the last match in overtime with the winner advancing to the championship. Easily the most exciting match of the entire dual tournament, it did not end in our favor and Hastings won the dual. It was an interesting match, because all other matches were complete and the entire arena was focused on this one match, with our guy giving up a good 70 pounds. For 3rd/4th place we lost to Staples Motley.

The ZM team won the sportsmanship award for the tournament, voted on by the referees. This shows we do not only have talented wrestlers, but our wrestlers and coaches will represent ZM extremely well, win or lose.

Here is a link to the 7th/8th grade Nywa pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PAN8hkHnVytT73bu5

We had 6 place winners in the state tournament for 7th and 8th grade as well as 2 in the invite.

Samuel Moore 3rd place. 85 pounds

Carl Murray 4th place. 90 pounds

Jent Beyer 4th place. 95 pounds

Noah Schaefer 4th place. 110 pounds

Gunner Mancilman 6th place. 140 pounds

Macy Schaefer 2nd place girls. 85 pounds

In the invite tournament, we had:

Leo Beyer 2nd place. 110 pounds

Aidan Majerus 4th place 95 pounds

The ZM Youth earned a state berth in the NYWA state tournament held in Rochester next weekend by placing 3rd place in Region 1. The Youth team started out by losing to Kasson-Mantorville, but came all the way back through the wrestlebacks by beating LaCrescent, Caledonia, PEM and Northfield. Congrats Cougars…Sounds like a well earned “Wrestlers Thanksgiving” at the end of the long day!

32 ZM wrestlers in grades K-8th competed at Byron NYWA regionals on Friday and Saturday to punch their ticket to NYWA state tournament in Rochester next weekend. Top 3 in each category move on to state. ZM had 17 qualifiers listed below:

Kade McNamara – 1st place K 60 pounds

Jaxon Liffrig – 1st place 1st and 2nd 50 pounds

Jase McNamara – 2nd place 1st and 2nd 65 pounds

Patrick Fruth – 3rd place 1st and 2nd 70 pounds

Jonah Karow – 3rd place 5th and 6th 70 pounds

Jake Moran – 3rd place 5th and 6th 88 pounds

Brody Lohmann – 3rd place 5th and 6th 130

Owen Lexvold – 1st place 5th and 6th 140

Cole Schiell – 1st place 7th and 8th 80 pounds

Sammy Moore – 1st place 7th and 8th 85 pounds

Carl Murray – 1st place 7th and 8th 90 pounds

Simon Karow – 2nd place 7th and 8th 90 pounds

Jent Beyer – 1st place 7th and 8th 95 pounds

Noah Schaefer – 3rd place 7th and 8th 110 pounds

Mitchell Olson – 3rd place 7th and 8th 125 pounds

Gunner Mancilman – 2nd place 7th and 8th 140 pounds

Cain Lexvold – 2nd place 7th and 8th 150 pounds