Trojans’ Lofton heading for state wrestling tourney

New Prague High School wrestler, senior Destney Lofton is headed for the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) girls’ state championships Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2. Lofton qualified when she took second at 118 pounds during the section 2 and 4 tournament Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9 and 10, in Redwood Valley.
Fellow New Prague wrestler, junior Teva Feit placed fourth at 106 pounds after battling her way back into the top at the tourney.
“Both girls came to battle and wrestled to their seeds,” said New Prague head coach Dan Wagner.
Lofton was seeded second at 118 pounds.
“She had a great tournament and wrestled smart the whole time,” Wagner said.
Lofton also had a first round bye. In the quarterfinal round, Lofton made quick work of her opponent from Stillwater by securing a fall in 36 seconds.
“In the semifinals, she had what I thought would be a tough battle,” said Wagner. “However, Lofton scored a quick first period takedown and never looked back.”
She ended up punching her ticket to the finals by earning a fall in 1:36 over her opponent from Mahtomedi.  In the finals, Lofton faced off against Charli Raymond of Simley, who has been ranked No. 1 at 118 all season long.  Lofton lost 6-0 and earned second place.
“This was enough to punch her ticket to the MSHSL state championships on March 1,” said Wagner.
This is Lofton’s third consecutive season of representing the Trojans at state. As a sophomore, she placed fourth in state and she placed fifth in state last season.

Feit
Feit came into the event as the number four seed at 106. After a first round bye, she won her quarterfinal match by a fall. Unfortunately, Feit fell in the semifinals, but battled back in the consolation bracket winning a 5-4 match over her St. Paul Humboldt opponent. This put her in the third place match. Feit’s opponent in the match was from Stillwater and was just a little too much to handle and Feit fell 12-3.

Sections
New Prague High School’s wrestlers will soon be participating in section tournaments as a team and individuals. For results see upcoming print editions of The New Prague Times.