by Darren Diekmann
news@thenewsleaders.com
On Jan. 19, Sartell senior Rylee Molitor won his 150th high-school wrestling match against Trent Kerzman of Rocori High School. He won on what’s called a “technical fall” in 5:06 minutes.
To achieve this milestone, a high-school wrestler must be a dominant wrestler for at least three years.
Molitor’s milestone win was fairly typical for him. Molitor took Kerzman down with a single leg for two points and then quickly earned near fall points on a tilt. Throughout the remainder of the match, Molitor continued to score near-fall points using arm-bar combinations, yet he was unable to get the pin.
Before Molitor could get the actual fall, and earn six points for his team, he gained a lead of 15 points which ends the match as a technical fall, giving the team five points.
“The kid was a fighter,” Molitor said. “He just didn’t want to give up. It was a good match. I couldn’t quite come up with the pin, but I got the team as many points as I could.”
Molitor said he was happy about the 150 wins, but it has not been the focus of his season.
“Obviously it had significance because it was my 150th win, but that is not my biggest goal,” he said. “I am looking at bigger things like trying to keep improving and to win a state title this year.”
Most wrestlers don’t reach this milestone in as few matches as Molitor. He started on varsity his eighth-grade year as a small 106-pounder, but his season was cut short by a broken hand, and he was unable to compete at sections. At 93 pounds, Molitor was at a considerable disadvantage, yet he had a 15-8 record with a real chance to qualify for state, said Cory Olson, Sartell’s head coach.
“He’s just so smart,” Olson said. “He’s the type of kid who could have done it. It wouldn’t have been shocking.”
His strength is as a technician.
“He knows the sport as well as anyone I have ever seen,” Olson said. “He knows exactly where to go and what to do for every position . . . He has a really good feel of where his opponents are going and where he should try to bring them.”
Molitor’s technique is so uncanny that several times he has left defeated opponents, and even his coaches, perplexed.
Once as an eighth-grader, in his first tournament Molitor was in a difficult situation, hip to hip with an opponent, and he got out of it in a way Olson said he had never seen before.
“He just cartwheeled out of it,” Olson said. “And I asked him, ‘What was that?’ And he explained it all in detail. He is just so fun to watch.”
Molitor lost just two matches his freshman year and one in his sophomore year. His worst record (if you can call it that) in the last four years was last year, his junior year, when he went 39-4 and finished second in the state tournament at 120. His freshman year he was also a runner-up at 106.
Molitor was champion as a sophomore at 113 and says he’s determined to win it again this year. He admits to having a formidable obstacle to this in the person of Carson Manville of Shakopee.
Molitor is ranked second at 126 behind Manville, who gave him his only loss of this season in late December at the Rumble-on-the-Red individual tournament in Fargo.
The first period of that match ended without a score. In the second, Manville escaped, scored on a counter to an attempted single-leg takedown by Molitor, who then also scored with an escape to end the period 3-1. In the third period, Molitor started down and escaped for a point to close the gap to 3-2. Despite an aggressive attempt, Molitor was unable to score again.
The two will most likely meet again in the state tournament, and Molitor said he believes he will wrestle better this time.
Molitor has reason for his confidence with wins over a number of ranked opponents: 9-3 over Cael Carlson of Willmer, ranked fourth at 126AAA; 12-4 over Jackson Stauffacher of Scott West, ranked third at 126AA; and 11-0 over Alex Kern of St. Cloud Tech, ranked fourth at 120AAA; among others.
“I’m just excited for the state tournament,” Molitor said. “It’s going to be fun,” qualifying it with first getting through sections.”
Sartell-St.Stephen wrestling is in action in the Distrist 8 Section Tournament at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 against St. Cloud Tech.
In a recent match at 126 pounds, Rylee Molitor throws and nearly pins Alex Kern of St. Cloud Tech, who is currently ranked 4th in the state at 120 pounds. Molitor went on to win the match 11-0.
Another win for Rylee Molitor on his way to 150 wins.
