by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor

Thief River Falls freshman Elias Motta wrestled his way to a fifth place finish at 160 pounds at the 2026 Minnesota State High School League Wrestling Championships held Wednesday through Saturday, Feb. 25-28 at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

Motta was one of three Thief River Falls wrestlers competing at the 2026 state tournament. Joining him were Lincoln Davis at 121 pounds and Landen Larson at 172 pounds.

Motta opened the tournament with a dominant 6-0 win over Griffin Peterson of Cannon Falls. Motta suffered his first loss since Jan. 29 in the quarterfinal round, falling to eventual champion Cooper Rowe of Mound Westonka by 12-2 major decision.

The loss to Rowe snapped an 11-match winning streak where Motta did not allow an offensive point, and a four-match streak where he didn’t allow a single point to be scored against him.

Motta got back on track with another shutout, blanking Sam Hunt of St. Agnes 10-0 in the second round of the consolation bracket, and he secured a spot in the top six with an 11-2 win over Deontre Torres of South St. Paul in the blood round.

Motta lost by 10-2 decision to eventual third place finisher Brayden Chandler of Marshall in the consolation semifinals, before claiming fifth place with his third shutout of the tournament in a 6-0 win over Kobi Cameron of Little Falls.

“Elias really put together his most complete tournament at state,” said Thief river Falls Head Coach Kenny Geiser. “He picked a great time to peak. He has been so solid in all three positions and it really paid off at state. He wrestled the champion, a Minnesota Gopher commit, to his closest match of the tournament. He had three shutouts, which really showed how hard he has been to score on these final few weeks of the season.”
Larson’s season ended one match short of the medal stand following a pair of one-takedown losses. He opened the tournament with a 4-3 win over Aidan Boex pf Mahtomedi and then dropped a 4-1 overtime decision to top-seeded Isaac Williams of Scott West in the quarterfinals. Williams went on to finish third.

In the wrestlebacks, Larson’s offense came alive in a 20-4 technical fall win over Candon Briggs of New Ulm Area. The win over Briggs secured a spot in Saturday morning’s blood round, with Larson’s season ending with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to eventual fourth place finisher Slade Barnett of Waseca.

“Landen lost two very close matches to the third and fourth place finishers,” Geiser said. “He really did a great job of not giving up points, gave himself a chance to win at the end, just couldn’t secure the takedown needed to advance. Great effort in his final match, he left it on the mat.”

Davis had a difficult draw, facing second-seeded and eventual third place-finisher Lincoln Christenson of Marshall. Christenson took control of the match early with three first-period takedowns. He added two more and a four-point nearfall in the second period to secure a 19-3 technical fall victory.

Davis’ consolation bout was a rematch of the championship round of the Tyler Moening Invitational at Walker-Hackensack-Akeley High School on Jan. 30. Davis defeated Carter Kremer 4-2 in their Jan. 30 encounter.

The rematch had a similar pace, Kremer secured the only points of the match in a second period escape. Davis nearly got a takedown off of a shot by Kremer in the second period, but the period ended with Kremer still up 1-0.

Davis started down in the third and came close to reversing Kremer on multiple occasions, with Kremer getting a stalemate each time to secure the 1-0 win.

“Lincoln had a tough first round match and couldn’t get his offense going,” Geiser said. “In the wrestlebacks, he came close to scoring several times but did not quite get the points he needed to win. Hopefully a learning experience and he can get to his offense sooner and more often in the future.

“The boys competed well. Even in a few matches we lost, we were in them and had chances to win. All three of these guys return, this experience should serve them well next year as they try to reach the next level.”

New state format is a success
The expansion of girls wrestling to 16 wrestlers per bracket wasn’t the only format change for 2026 Minnesota state wrestling tournament. The 2026 state tournament featured the return of full double elimination for all 52 brackets.

The state had double elimination for two seasons – 1994 and 1995 – during the two-class era, but it returned to an older format in 1996 with the expansion to three classes. From 1976-93 and again from 1996-2025, a wrestler losing in the first round would only get to compete in the consolation bracket if the wrestler that beat him reached the quarterfinals. Four wrestlers in every bracket would be one and done.

This year, the new format allowed three of the six place winners at 160 pounds in Class AA to come out of the same quarter – champion Rowe, fourth place Kameron Sather of Dawon-Boyd/Lac Qui Parle/Montevideo United and Motta in fifth. Under the old format, Motta and Sather would have met in the first round of wrestlebacks and one of them would have gone 0-2.

Thief River Falls
Lincoln Davis (0-2) 121 – DNP (0 pts): Bout 401 (Mat 7) – Champ. Rd of 16: Class AA – 121 – Lincoln Christenson (49-3) Sr., MARS over Lincoln Davis (36-7) Jr., TRF (TF 19-3 (3:22)); Bout 545 (Mat 5) – Cons. Sub-Quarters: Class AA – 121 – Carter Kremer (41-11) Fr., ROCO over Lincoln Davis (36-7) Jr., TRF (Dec 1-0).

Elias Motta (4-2) 160 – 5th (11 pts): Bout 443 (Mat 1) – Champ. Rd of 16: Class AA – 160 – Elias Motta (37-11) Fr., TRF over Griffin Peterson (18-8) Jr., CAFA (Dec 6-0); Bout 514 (Mat 2) – Quarters: Class AA – 160 – Cooper Rowe (37-0) Sr., MOWE over Elias Motta (37-11) Fr., TRF (MD 12-2); Bout 621 (Mat 5) – Cons. Quarters: Class AA – 160 – Elias Motta (37-11) Fr., TRF over Sam Hunt (41-8) Sr., STAG (MD 10-0); Bout 681 (Mat 8) – Cons. Sub-Semis: Class AA – 160 – Elias Motta (37-11) Fr., TRF over Deontre Torres (36-13) Sr., STPE (MD 11-2); Bout 707 (Mat 7) – Cons. Semis: Class AA – 160 – Brayden Chandler (48-3) Jr., MARS over Elias Motta (37-11) Fr., TRF (MD 10-2); Bout 732 (Mat 7) – 5th Place Match: Class AA – 160 – Elias Motta (37-11) Fr., TRF over Kobi Cameron (20-7) Sr., LIFA (Dec 6-0).

Landen Larson (2-2) 172 – DNP (4.5 pts): Bout 451 (Mat 3) – Champ. Rd of 16: Class AA – 172 – Landen Larson (38-8) Jr., TRF over Aidan Boex (35-12) So., MAHT (Dec 4-3); Bout 518 (Mat 4) – Quarters: Class AA – 172 – Isaac Williams (49-4) Sr., SCWE over Landen Larson (38-8) Jr., TRF (SV 4-1); Bout 625 (Mat 6) – Cons. Quarters: Class AA – 172 – Landen Larson (38-8) Jr., TRF over Candon Briggs (36-14) Sr., NUA (TF 20-4 (3:12)); Bout 683 (Mat 8) – Cons. Sub-Semis: Class AA – 172 – Slade Barnett (44-5) Sr., WASE over Landen Larson (38-8) Jr., TRF (Dec 3-2).