Coming into this season, Kasson-Mantorville High School was prepared to show off its newly constructed North Gym to thousands of spectators.

During the course of the year, the Kasson-Mantorville wrestling team has vowed to take everything one match and one dual at a time. Such a concept can be hard to do when defending a state championship, but simply defending the title was only part of the plan for the KoMets. They wanted to top what they done a year ago and dominate anybody in their path.

Throughout its season, the Dodge County girls hockey team showed flashes of what it could be capable of once they hit the playoffs. With a strong defense and just enough scoring punch, the Wildcats showed that they could slug it out with anyone they should run into in the section tournament and make a run that some would have considered surprising just three months ago.

A common theme for high school wrestling teams throughout the season is that they want to be at their best heading into the section tournaments in February. As the favorite time of the year for many wrestling fans comes up on the calendar, it’s safe to say that the Kasson-Mantorville wrestling team is starting to get into that mode after clinching the HVL dual championship with victories over Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Cannon Falls last week.

It’s a Saturday morning at Kasson-Mantorville Elementary School. Once walking through the entrance, you can hear the noise of children playing in the hallway coming from the orange pod. As you get closer, the screams get louder and you start to see some of the children running into the hall.

During the Rochester Area Sports Banquet on January 30, Brady Berge sat at a table as the Male Athlete of the Year award was about to be announced. Earlier in the night, the Kasson-Mantorville wrestling team had been well represented, but hadn’t taken home any hardware as head coach Jamie Heidt was nominated for Coach of the Year and the KoMets were nominated for team of the year.