Photo by Jake Przytarski Marshall’s Hsa Khee Lar has his hand raised after a victory in the Class AA individual state tournament.

MARSHALL – Between the state team and individual wrestling tournaments, there was no shortage of excitement at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul over the weekend, as thousands of spectators gathered to witness new champions get crowned.

While the highlight of the three-day wrestling marathon was the history-making state championship victory by Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s Trevor Eisfeld in the Class A 182-pound division, there were two additional area medal-winners who stole the show — for reasons beyond just their success on the mat.

Ultimate display

of sportsmanship

After blowing past Royalton/Upsala with relative ease in the quarterfinals of the Class A team state wrestling tournament, TMB/WWG had its hands full in the semifinals against a familiar opponent in Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, after the two had previously squared off in a tightly-contested match earlier in the season.

Much like their previous meeting, the two teams fought tooth and nail for every point they could get–making the 120-pound bout between top two ranked wrestlers Ayden Horner and Kelvin Andrade-Ponce an especially crucial one.

As expected with two of Class A’s top wrestlers, the bout was neck and neck and could not be decided after just three periods with the score still knotted up at three apiece. With the crowd in a frenzy, the two battled it out in three additional overtime periods, but the outcome remained undecided at the conclusion of the third overtime.

As the two prepared for the fourth overtime, an eager Andrade-Ponce moved slightly before the sound of the referee’s whistle, leading to a “caution” call, which means a false start. Normally the bout would continue after the call, but since it was Andrade-Ponce’s third false start warning, Horner was awarded a point and the victory in a 4-3 final.

The win was a crucial one for the Panthers as it got them on the board with their first three points of the match, but Horner was more concerned with the well-being of his opponent after the two left it all on the mat in a bout that won’t soon be forgotten.

As Horner had his hand raised in victory, the two wrestlers hugged rather than shake hands in a showing of respect and sportsmanship for their epic battle they had just endured.

Kudos to these two ultra-talented wrestlers not only for their classic match, but their showing of great sportsmanship.

An unlikely journey

Raised in a Burmese refugee camp, twin brothers Hsa Khee Lar and Hsa Law Eh came to Marshall during their sixth-grade year and immediately gravitated to the sport of soccer. It wasn’t until a chance encounter in the hallway of Marshall High School that the two developed a passion for a new sport–one that they were previously unfamiliar with.

“We had a free little wrestling camp for youth kids and they were in the hallway and we asked ‘hey what are you guys doing?’ (Hsa Law and Hsa Khee) said oh we’re just getting done with soccer. We asked ‘do you guys like wrestling?’ ‘What’s that,’ they asked. We said well come on in here and check this out,” said Marshall assistant wrestling coach Ethan Hoppe.

Hsa Law and Hsa Khee liked the experience at the camp and began competing for Marshall’s youth program before eventually making it up to the varsity level. Hoppe said the parents of fellow Marshall wrestlers assisted the two in getting to their matches.

“We were very fortunate to have some youth parents who were super involved in getting them to some individual tournaments. We’ve had some youth parents and some varsity parents who have just really embraced those two and helped them out ever since they were little,” said Hoppe.

With the assistance of the Marshall coaching staff, the two quickly found success in the sport and have since put together illustrious careers with the Tiger program. Hsa Law is the all-time leader in wins for Marshall and began wrestling at the varsity level all the way back in the seventh grade. Hsa Khee, like Hsa Law, has made the trip to the Class AA state invidual tournament twice in his career, which includes his final trip this past weekend.

Hsa Khee entered the tournament unseeded, but was confident in what he could accomplish leading up to his first bout.

“We liked where he was at and we knew that he would have a pretty good chance against these guys because obviously he’s a pretty tough kid and we knew that if he wrestled well he could definitely make it to semis,” said Hoppe. “If you win two in a row up there you place. Obviously nothing’s guaranteed but like he even said at practice ‘if I wrestle well I should be able to make it to semis or I should be able to wrestleback and then get a match.’ So, I mean he knew what he had to do and we as a coaching staff we felt confident that he’d be able to accomplish that as well.”

First up for Hsa Khee was a match against Joe Montsplaisir of Zimmerman, which ended in a 6-5 decision win for the Marshall senior. With a chance to move on to the semifinals, Hsa Khee won again in the next round, this time against Jonathan Harvey of Lake City. Though Hsa Khee was unable to win again in his next three bouts, the two previous wins guaranteed him a medal as he ended his wrestling career with a second sixth-place finish after doing it for the first time as a sophomore.

Though his twin brother Hsa Law was unable to make the trip to state for a third time after finishing third in the section tournament, the two will be together on their next adventure that begins after high school.

“They’re both going to do the same thing,” said Hoppe. “They’re both going to Alexandria Technical School and they want to be police officers. Their plan is to graduate then go out to Alexandria. They are both enlisted in the Army National Guard and they both do some summer basic (training). So, they leave and go to basic and next fall they’ll be enrolled at Alexandria.”

Congrats to these two outstanding wrestlers for their unforgettable careers in a Tiger singlet.