The High School State Tournament is full of emotions for wrestlers, parents, and fans. Jubilation, excitement, misery, nervousness, sadness, and sometimes there are emotions that can't be put into words. 

At this years MN State HS tournament a wrestler coming off the mat fell straight forward on his face and stopped breathing. CPR was performed for over 5 minutes to revive him. The stands went quiet for what seemed to me was 20 minutes. As a person in the stands, it seemed that the defibrillator machine wasn't restarting his heart, so he was dying.  My wife and I were in tears in the stands as we stood in astonishment.  Of course, this brought me back to losing our own Curtis LeMair as passed in his sleep of an enlarged heart his freshman year of college. On occasion there was clapping, but no movement. As the Xcel Center stood up and clapped, as he was being carried out in a stretcher, my thoughts were reserved.  I thought he must have brain damage, as he wasn't breathing and it was possible that his heart was stopped for an extended period of time. It was like a fairy tale movie when he raised his hand and gave a "thumbs up" as he left the stadium.  Hoots and hollers erupted, and more tears flowed, but this time in jubilation. The wrestling Dr. , Doc Berg, saved the day. Doc is the dad of PINnacle, and Simley, wrestler Cael Berg, and has given his time to the wrestling community for many years. As a parent myself, I discussed with my wife, how hard it must be for Doc Berg to be the Dr. on the floor with his son wrestling. A few minutes later, Doc was attending to a injured wrestler, while his son was on the mat. He is a selfless human being, that doesn't want any of the attention given to him, but deserves to be recognized.

In Wisconsin, Kole Marko, St. Croix Falls, and the Wisconsin wrestling community suffered a tremendous loss the day before Sections as 2 St. Croix Falls wrestlers passed away from a car accident. Kole has been through much heart ache, and our heart ached for him as he has to deal with this grief.  Kole went on to win a State title, and hope he was able to feel joy in the moment. 

After these "bigger than wrestling" moments, we still have wrestling that needs to be talked about. These wrestlers have dedicated their lives to the sport they love, and deserve the recognition. This is not about PINnacle wrestling, this is about the wrestlers and what they have accomplished. 

As in years past, one of the best moments for me is the sportsmanship that occured on most occasions between PINnacle wrestlers. These guys show respect for each other, before, and after, trying to crush each others dreams. The semifinals seemed to have endless match-ups between teammates(see stats below), and I was proud of the love shown. 

Some highlights-
- Sokol looked like a Spartan as he just tore through the competition
- I can't believe B.Berge and G.Nelson are in 9th and 10th grade. A great HS rivalry, with 2 awesome wrestlers, and 2 awesome kids. 
- 106 and 113 was filled with guys that have been practicing together since they were young. Awesome to see them make the next step
- Tyler Wells got a TD before the clock operator started the clock
- Cash Raymond with a pass off the head to a TD in the final 15 to make the finals
- Bryce Fitzpatrick improvement over the last 2 years has been astounding, and he came away with a State Title!
- Watching 2 PINnacle guys battle in the blood round is misery. It happened a lot, and it hurt every time
-Wester vs Hogue at team semis was a great battle
- Paxton Creese knows how to put on a show
- Joey Thompson is fast
- Joey Novak is about as unassuming as you can get on the mat, but is an incredibly hard person to wrestle
- Roman Rogotzke looked like he was having a good time on the mat, doing whatever he wanted
- Pierson Manville showed great character, not only coming back strong from a loss, but also showing his love for the sport in process.

Congrats to the coaches, and teams, in the State Team Tournament. I don't think people understand how much time these coaches put in. We are extremely grateful to all coaches who trust their wrestlers to us.
- St. Michael vs Stillwater vs Shakopee for the team title. These 2 duals were teammate vs teammate. 22 out of 26 wrestlers in the semifinal between STMA vs Stillwater, and 21 out of 26 wrestlers in the final, were PINnacle participants.

Mack Reiter and I are stats guys. This year, he did most of the statistics. Here are a few of the stats from the MN and WI State Tournaments from wrestlers that have participated in PINnacle in the HS Post Season, HS Preseason, and HS During Season class this past year
- 116 State Entrants(new record)
- 17 State Champions, 31 Finalist, 72 placers(new record)
- Juniors(25) had more placers than Seniors(18), and Freshman(13) had more placers than Sophomores(12)
-7 PINnacle vs PINnacle finals
- Dominant weights include 5/6 placers at 106AAA, 120 AAA, and 182AAA. 4/6 placers at 160AAA, 126AAA, and 113AAA
- Not including HWT in AAA, PINnacle had 44/78 placers, 56%
- Tyler Wells scored 74 points in under 16 minutes
-Ryan Sokol went to the 2nd period....once
-Ballantyne wins his 4th, Thompson and Berge now with 3 Titles

Here are all that competed at the MN/WI State Tournament and results