Seven Vikings take first-place medals. Photos are (top to bottom) Adam Josephson, Alex Lessman, Christian Skillings and Victor Montelongo.

Gayle VanVooren
Mascot Editor

Testing time is over. It’s now put up or go home time and the Minneota Vikings Saturday took their first big step with a Camden Conference Wrestling Championship.“The team had a good day at the ConferenceTournament,” said Head Coach Joel Skillings after the trophy had been hauled in.
“They all had a part in this win,” the coach added. Seven Vikings captured championships.
Beau Buysse claimed his fourth Camden title, while Christian Skillings and Sam Derynck claimed their third titles, and Adam Longtin his second in the Camden.
Other honors for our Vikings included Christian Skillings and Zach Campbell of Tracy/Milroy Balaton being named the day’s “Outstanding Wrestlers”.

“We are still a little dinged up,” added Skillings. Alec Engler was out with a shoulder injury,  Adam Josephson was still harboring some pain with his hip injury, and ill health captured a few of the others.
“It’s great to see the kids win,” added Skillings. “They have been working hard and it seems to be coming together at the right time.”
The entire team had a hand in this win, with seven claiming first place finishes.
“It was tremendous to have nine in the finals, and they all wrestled well. Josh VanOverbeke had a big win in the finals. He didn’t panic and kept his wits about him. Blake Abraham is another one who has improved so much,” Skillings noted.  
Beau Buysse claimed his fourth Camden title, while Christian Skillings and Sam Derynck claimed their third titles, and Adam Longtin his second in the Camden.
Adam Longtin felt the team had a successful day, saying “I thought it went good. We have done a lot of wrestling this year.”
Sam Derynck also felt the team is “getting up to their potential.”
This senior leadership is helping to balance an otherwise very young team.  
Other honors for our Vikings included Christian Skillings and Zach Campbell of Tracy/Milroy Balaton being named the day’s “Outstanding Wrestlers”.
Adam Josephson and Josh VanOverbeke also were named for 2010 Academic honors.
As a tune-up for the upcoming Individual Tournament, the Camden pitted some good rivalry on the mat on Saturday.

Camden Conference
Minneota 220 1/2 points on their way to the team title. Camden rivals included KMS with 193, TMB/WWG  with 168, Canby with 135 1/2, MACCRAY 73 1/2, RCW 69 and Ortonville 47.
103 - Dillon Guttormsson was pinned by Brandon Schroeder of TMB in 3:31. He then won by default injury, and placed third when in a rematch he beat Schroeder by an 8-4 decision.
112 - Dallas Muhl was pinned by Zach Hauser of MACCRAY in :49. He then lost to Austin Peterson of TMB by fall in 1:37. He came back to take fifth place when he pinned Travis Westlund of Ortonville in 26 seconds.
119 - Christian Skillings had a bye, then pinned Bee Thao of TMB in 17 seconds. In the finals, he won a 12-4 decision over John Deslauriers of Canby to take the first place finish. This was his 3rd Camden crown. At the end of the tournament, he also shared the “Outstanding Wrestler” award.
125 - Beau Buysse had a bye, then pinned Brett Feldman of RCW in 1:37. He became a four-time Camden winner when he beat Jordon Rothers of KMS in a 6-2 decision in the finals.
130 - T. J. Bueltel pinned Nick Garcia of RCW in 47 seconds to open his tournament. He then lost a riveting match to Klinton VanHeuveln of KMS by a 10-11 margin. He came back to pin Danny Miller of Canby in 3:41 to advance, and he placed third when he won a 9-0 battle over Taylor Stotesbery of Ortonville.
135 - Alex Lessman had a bye, and then won an 8-1 decision over Cedric Citrowski of Canby. In the finals, he beat Tyler Carlson of KMS by a 4-0 decision to take first place.     
140 - Sam Derynck had a bye, and then pinned Matt Jelen of Canby in 56 seconds to advance. In the finals he pinned Jared Towne of TMB in 1:15 to become a three-time Camden Conference winner.
145 - Andrew Swedzinski had a first round bye and then won a 3-1 decision over Matt Friese of MACCRAY. Due to illness, he was forced to injury default to Ian Mariner of TMB, which put Andrew in second place in the class.
152 - Adam Longtin pinned Scott Vue of TMB in 47 seconds to open his tournament. He then won an 11-3 decision over Brandon Garbers of Canby. In the finals he defeated Trevor Mahlum of KMS by an 8-2 score to take the Camden crown, the second time for him.
160 - Adam Josephson won a 16-0 technical fall over Marcus Stefanic of TMB. He then won a narrow 3-2 decision over Taylor Bodin of MACCRAY to send him to the finals. Here he faced Travis Holm of RCW and won a convincing 11-4 decision to take the top honors.
171 - Blake Abraham pinned Ted Refsland of RCW in 1:15 in the first round. He then won a narrow 3-1 decision over Noah VanNevel of TMB. In the finals, he lost a 5-12 decision to Brock Claeys of Canby for a second-place finish.
189 - Justin Fox won a 15-5 decision over Travis Jaenisch of MACCRAY in the opening round. He then lost by fall to Joel Bauman of KMS in 1:20. Fox earned fourth place with his 4-12 loss to Matt Wakefield of TMB in his final match.
215 - Josh VanOverbeke had a first round bye, and then won a 9-0 decision over Andrew Martinez of TMB. His final with Matt Stassen of KMS was a thriller. The duo battled to a 2-2 draw in regulation time. In overtime, it was 0-0 after one period, with VanOverbeke sealing the win with an escape to take the 3-2 win and the first place finish.
285 - Victor Montelongo pinned Adam Schorn of RCW in 4:43 to open his tournament. He then wrestled an amazing match with William Kaiser of Ortonville, tying the match at 1-1. He lost the match in overtime when he was taken down. He then lost to Levi Brummer of TMB by fall at 1:45. He came back to take fifth place with a 1:34 pin over Schorn.