Woodbury wrestling: Herold-Plakut, Donnelly win first state matches

Woodbury’s Justin Herold-Plakut and Ben Donnelly won their first matches at the 2010-11 state wrestling tournament and have advanced to the next round, which will take place tonight — Friday, March 4, beginning at 8 p.m, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Herold-Plakut, a freshman who is ranked eighth in the state in his weight class, beat Buffalo sophomore Cedric Jimenez 9-0 in the opening round of the Class AAA 112-pound bracket, improving to 37-2 on the year and advancing to the quarterfinals, where he will take on St. Michael-Albertville sophomore Cole Sladek. Sladek (40-3) is ranked second in Class AAA.

Donnelly, an eighth-grader, beat Bloomington Jefferson/Bloomington Kennedy junior Hugo Felix 8-0 in round No. 1 of the 130-pound weight class. With the win, Donnelly improved to 34-7 on the season and advanced to take on Apple Valley seventh-grader Mark Hall in the semifinals. Hall (40-3) is ranked No. 1 in Class AAA. Donnelly is unranked.

Wins in the quarterfinals would move the Royals’ wrestlers onto the semifinals on Saturday, March 5. Losses would drop them into the consolation round, where they would do battle for third through sixth place.

Tags: sports, wrestling, woodbury, royals, updates, prep