All that glitters is not gold.
Sometimes it’s silver.
In the case of Pipestone Area wrestler Jon Gorter, the silver medal he won as the 215-pound runner up at the MSHSL Class A wrestling tournament Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center is certainly worth its weight in gold.
“I’m so proud of Jon; he’s always a great example in the wrestling room,” Pipestone Area head coach Brian Bos said. “Jon is one of the hardest-working kids in the room. He’s going to go, go, go; he doesn’t let up, he doesn’t quit. If everybody comes out and does what he does and practices like he does, we’re in good shape. John (Bush) and Jadon (Evans) are great examples, as well. If we can get the entire team working as hard as these kids, we might just be bringing a team up here in the future.”
Heading into the tournament, which ran from Wednesday thru Saturday in St. Paul, the Arrow trio of Gorter, Bush and Evans, hoped to find a way to medal – something Pipestone Area hadn’t done since 1998. Gorter made his way through the quarterfinals Thursday evening to assure the Arrows of that medal, and the rest was a bonus.
“Getting here was the icing on the cake,” PAS assistant coach Gary Haupert said. “We added a few sprinkles here at state. It was a terrific season for us.”
Gorter, who finishes his junior season with a 32-3 record, was hoping to enter the state tournament as the Section 3A champion, but lost a 5-4 heartbreaker to Minneota’s Josh VanOverbeke in the finals Feb. 27 in Redwood Falls. As it turned out, the loss gave Gorter a better draw at state, one that assisted him in earning a place in the championship tilt in St. Paul.
“It would have been nice to win a section title, but I came away with a better draw in the state bracket,” Gorter said. “Hopefully I can get past the quarterfinals and medal.”
Gorter opened his quest for a state placing against Crookston’s Brody Davidson, a junior with a 35-4 record, during Wednesday evening’s session. After a scoreless first period, Gorter, who started on the bottom in the second, escaped, scored on a takedown and earned a 3-point nearfall to lead, 6-0, entering the third. Davidson managed an escape and a takedown in the third. The damage was done, however, as Gorter advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3 victory – leaving him one win away from accomplishing his goal.
“He wasn’t going to shoot, he was just stronger than me on top, so I just kind of tried to work down low and get on my outside single,” Gorter said. “It seems like he quit over there, I just kept going and had that headlock, which was big.”
In the quarterfinals, Gorter squared off against Zumbrota-Mazeppa’s Stu Raasch (31-9), who earned a pinfall victory over St. James’ Dylan Wright in the opening round. As with many of the wrestlers in the tournament, Raasch appeared content to wrestle in a defensive manner.
Gorter forged a 3-0 lead in the second period, scoring on an escape following a first-period takedown. Raasch managed an escape in the third, but failed to threaten Gorter’s advancement to the semifinals. Raasch never really had a good shot at taking Gorter down, as the Arrow junior continued to force the action on the Z-M senior. With seven seconds remaining in the tilt, Gorter was assessed a 1-point penalty for stalling, but the outcome was a forgone conclusion at that point, and the Arrows had a wrestler in the semifinals.
“He was grabbing my head, and I really couldn’t do anything,” Gorter said of Raasch. “I hit a single-leg in the first. He sprawled, but I had his leg by then; that was the turning point in the match.
“It feels pretty good to be heading to the semifinals. I watched the kid I’ll be facing, and he looks pretty tough. He’s the No. 1-ranked kid, so we’ll see what happens.”
What happened was, perhaps, the most thrilling match of Gorter’s career. Pitted against a visibly larger wrestler in New Richland-H-E-G’s David Lindell, Gorter had to wrestle the match of a lifetime in order to earn a shot at the title.
Lindell (37-3), who eventually claimed bronze, scored on a takedown early in the third and held Gorter on the mat for nearly 30 seconds. With a 3-1 advantage and a minute to go, Lindell must have thought the tilt was his, but Gorter wasn’t ready to drop into the consolation bracket.
With 10 seconds left, Gorter wriggled free of Lindell’s grasp and immediately swung around looking for a limb. Gorter grabbed Lindell’s right leg and forced the New Richland senior to the mat. With zeros on the clock, the official raised his index and middle fingers to signal a takedown – giving Gorter an amazing, 4-3, comeback victory.
“It’s an amazing feeling, the best feeling in my life, by far,” Gorter said after the match. “I never thought I’d be wrestling for the title, I was just hoping to come up here and medal.
“Mentally and physically, this is one of the best matches I’ve ever wrestled. I never thought I’d be in this position.”
Bos, who was as out of breath as Gorter following the tilt, was equally thrilled to have a wrestler vying for a state title.
“After all the years of futility, it’s a great accomplishment,” he said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve even had a state place winner, and to get a wrestler to the finals is wonderful; I can’t believe it. Down with two points, 10 seconds to go and be able to score three points to win it – it seems like destiny. Good thing I brought that shirt and tie.”
Despite donning the shirt and tie for Saturday’s finals, Bos played it casual, sitting in the stands with Gorter for several rounds of finals before pupil and teacher made their way to the entrance tunnel.
Gorter’s opponent, Minnewaska Area’s Brandon Manderschied, made his way to the finals by beating Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson’s Logan Brand by pinfall at 5:51. With nearly a 10-pound weight advantage on Gorter, Manderschied (33-2) hoped to end his high school career with a state title.
Gorter, like he’d done the entire tournament, forced the issue from the opening whistle, but it was Manderschied who drew first blood. The MA senior tripped up Gorter with two seconds remaining in the first period and carried a 2-0 lead into the second. Gorter made a quick escape to open the second period, but didn’t score again as Manderschied blocked each of Gorter’s attempts at snagging a leg.
Gorter opted to let Manderschied go to open the third, hoping to push the contest into overtime with a takedown of his own, but it never came – leaving the Arrow junior as runner up with a 3-1 defeat.
“I’ll remember that for next time,” Gorter said. “You just gotta believe and never give up. I did that, and I made it to the finals when my goal was to medal.”
Coach Bos was disappointed that Manderschied didn’t come out and wrestle.
“He did nothing, he blocked the whole time,” Bos said. “He got in on the collar tie, elbow down and just drove. After the first period, he took zero shots, and we must have had 15 or 20, and no stalling was called. I thought Jon wrestled well, but he just didn’t get that takedown when he needed it.
“Jon has another year left, but he can’t have the same goals going into next year that he had this year. Next year, it’s No. 1 or nothing. A lot of seniors graduate out of that 215-pound class, and Jon will be looking for the title. It’s been a great week, a wonderful week. We wanted Jon to medal, but to medal where he did is an outstanding accomplishment for him. After every match we had to readjust his goals.”
Bush concludes fine career
While Arrow 112-pounder John Bush (28-10) didn’t have the lengthy tenure at the state tournament Gorter did, the senior achieved the goals he set for himself at the beginning of the season.
A state qualifier as a freshman, Bush hoped to reach the 100-victory milestone and get back to the big show this season.
“I had a pretty good year,” Bush said of his season with the Arrows. “Of the six or seven losses that I had, they were to ranked kids, and I wrestled them really close. I lost to (Ted) Berckes (Canby) by one point both times and he’s in the fifth-place match here. The kid that pinned me in the first round is in the finals, so everyone I lost to was a good wrestler.”
Bush’s first-round opponent, Mitchell Lexvold, was one of three family members who qualified for the finals at this year’s tournament.
Lexvold scored a quick takedown in a furious first period, but Bush shook out of the hold for a 1-point escape. Late in the period, Bush earned a takedown to claim a 3-2 lead, but Lexvold reversed the hold and earned a 2-point nearfall as time expired in the period.
“It was one of those takedowns you want with a few, about five seconds left in the period, because he didn’t have good control,” Coach Bos said. “There was just too much time left in the period and Lexvold had a chance to get the reversal. John fought his tail off and wrestled hard. Hopefully he can get a wrestleback.”
Trailing 6-3 entering the second period, Bush opted to take the bottom position. Lexvold waited for his opportunity to flip Bush and turned him 35 seconds in. Bush never recovered and lost by pinfall at 3:23 – leaving the senior on the outside looking in if Lexvold didn’t win his quarterfinal bout.
Lexvold was indeed successful in advancing to the semifinals, giving Bush a tilt in the consolation bracket against Sibley East freshman Aaron Bates.
Much like his earlier tilt, Bush came from behind to grab a lead in the second period and entered the third with a 3-2 advantage. Bates earned a quick point with an escape late in the second, knotting the tilt at 3-all entering the final period. Bates went down to begin the final period and immediately wriggled free for an escape, leaving Bush a point back at 4-3.
With time running out, Bush put Bates in a headlock and began pulling him to the mat. Unfortunately for the Arrow senior, Bates slipped his head out of the lock and jumped behind Bush and the pair tumbled to the mat – giving the Sibley East grappler a 6-3 victory and knocking Bush from the tournament.
“Tonight we went from the highest highs to the lowest lows,” Bos said after Thursday night’s matches. “If I could have every kid wrestle with the same attitude John does, we’d have a lot of state champions. He’s wrestled varsity for me for four years, a two-time state qualifier, third in the section two other times, and you heard zero complaints from him.
“He’d look at the practice schedule and say, ‘Alright, this is what I have to do, Coach says this, this is what I have to do’ – a coaches dream. I just told him to stay hungry the next five years when he’s up at college. Keep working hard and get that All-American honor. It’s been a great pleasure to coach John and have him on the team.”

Evans gains valuable
experience
Carrying on a family tradition, Jadon Evans (26-12) joined his brother Jesse as a state qualifier this season. Evans turned things on toward the end of the year and accomplished his pre-season goals with a second-place finish at the Section 3A tournament.
“My two main goals were to get my 100th win and make it to state, and I got them both,” the Pipestone Area 145-pounder said. “I wish I could’ve gone further in the tournament, but that’s the way I finished.”
Evans was right in the mix against Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa’s Cole Tensen in the early stages of their opening-round match. In the second period, Evans looked to escape from the bottom position and was caught leaning back. Tensen took advantage of the weight shift, pulled Evans onto his back and earned a 3-point nearfall – the deciding score in the junior’s 6-3 loss.
“That was the match right there; if Jadon gets the reversal, he’s in a great position, but he got sucked back for three,” Bos said. “He wasn’t quite patient enough to wait for the kid’s head to pop out and gets pulled back. That’s the type of thing that comes with experience, and I’m sure Jadon will gain a lot from this experience.”
Evans began to believe he could qualify for the tournament after the holiday break. His takedown moves were more effective and he was able to finish off matches that previously got away from him.
“After Christmas I started wrestling a lot better,” Evans said. “I started getting the feeling that I had a good chance at making it this year.
“Bos really helped me focus on the things in my wrestling that would take me to the next level,” Evans said. “He’s good about getting to everybody and finding their strengths and weaknesses.
“It’s been a great experience being up here. I’m hoping to go to some camps over the summer, maybe wrestle some freestyle and get into the weight room. My goal is to place at state next year.”
For Coach Bos, it hard to see the season end. The Arrows achieved several firsts throughout the year: three 100-victory wrestlers in the lineup at the same time, winning 15 dual meets, taking three grapplers to state and earning a state tournament medal for the first time in 12 seasons.
“It’s too bad it has to end,” he said. “We’ve had such a wonderful season as a team and individually. Hopefully, we can build off of this season. We’ll lose a few really solid wrestlers, but we have young kids ready to step up and fill those positions. I look for us to continue to make strides and, hopefully, we’ll be bringing more kids up to state next year.”