By Jaxson Miller

Lex Lunde, the 2021-2022 EDC and Class A Wrestling Coach of the Year, started the wrestling program at Sheyenne with the help of his two brothers, Logan, and Lane. The journey began in the fall of 2015.

“I was super excited to get the call from Mr. Grooters (former Sheyenne High School principal) and also a little bit nervous,” head coach Lex Lunde said. “But I was excited to move up to the high school level and start a program. That’s what I’ve always dreamed of.”

The Mustangs went 0-10 in their inaugural season. The inaugural season was the first year Sheyenne High School had seniors, so the numbers were tough, and it was a stressful experience for Lunde and his brothers.

“The first season was stressful for sure. My two older brothers, Logan, and Lane, are assistant coaches, and we’ve always been a part of talented teams. We coached the same way that we were coached throughout college and even a little bit of high school. We realized quickly that didn’t work, especially with five kids and having four of them not knowing if they wanted to be there or not. So that was the most stressful thing.”

Lex, Logan, and Lane realized that they needed to change up their style to get on the right track.

Lex Lunde talked about that change, “We cared as coaches more than a lot of these kids cared themselves in the first couple of years, so we had to change our style a little bit.”

Long time Sheyenne wrestler Kellen Hoornaert, who finished his high school wrestling career as the program’s career leader in wins, escapes, takedowns, total matches, dual-meet wins, decisions, major decisions, and nearfalls, was with the team for six seasons.

Hoornaert joined the team when Sheyenne was in their second season as a program.

In an interview with Logan Campbell, a sports reporter and host from WDAY, Hoornaert talked about what his experience was like when he first joined the program, “I joined the team when I was a seventh grader. During our first year, we had lost every single dual 60-0, 70-3, it was just consistent loss after loss.”

Sheyenne began to grow as a school and the Mustangs began to make progress gradually.

“For me it’s kind of a relief,” said head coach Lex Lunde. “We knew that we were doing the right things and knew that the kids were also doing the right things. It was just a waiting game essentially for kids to start getting bigger, to find different weight classes, and then for the team to spread out from there.”

Last season, the Mustangs achieved their first ever winning season going 13-8 overall and finishing 6-3 in conference play, which put them at the number four spot in the EDC.

This also gave Sheyenne their first dual state tournament appearance. They dropped both games at state, losing to Bismarck 62-7, and Devils Lake 48-27.

Sheyenne was geared up for another winning season. After that first winning season one year ago, Sheyenne has now transformed into a complete and utter dominant program.

It’s certain that head coach Lex Lunde is thrilled to see his team succeed, “It’s been exciting to see the kids have success. Hard work does pay off.”

It was the awakening of a sleeping giant. The Mustangs captured their first EDC regular season title this season and won the EDC regional tournament for the first time on Saturday, February 12, 2022, at the Devils Lake Sports Center.

Sixteen Sheyenne wrestlers qualified for the individual state tournaments, which was a program record.

Marcus Johnson was one of those sixteen wrestlers. He finished his junior season with the program this year, and joined the team during his 8th grade year back in 2018.

Johnson has already set the school record for most pins in a career which currently stands at 80. He also broke his own record of 41 wins in one season, which was set during his freshman year (2019-20), by recording 44 wins this season.

In addition, he holds the school single-season records for reversals, dual-meet points, dual-meet wins, and winning percentage.

Sheyenne tallied 258.5 points at the EDC Tournament, the most ever in program history, and no other team came close to that mark.

West Fargo High finished in second place but finished a whopping 36 points behind the Mustangs.

Sheyenne went a perfect 9-0 in EDC dual play this year and finished 16-6 overall, the most dual wins the Mustangs have recorded in one season.

Sheyenne also set team records for team points at the state tournament for both boys and girls, team points in a season for dual matches with an outstanding 1,039 points, most points in a single dual match with 84 in a dual match against Grand Forks Red River earlier this season, and most consecutive wins with six.

The Mustangs were able to achieve historic milestones as their victories over Fargo Davies and Valley City during the regular season, were the first ever wins for West Fargo Sheyenne against those programs.

Jamestown knocked Sheyenne out of the running for a state championship with a 37-33 victory in the first round of the Class A Wrestling Dual State Tournament, inside the Fargodome.

Despite this, Sheyenne bounced back and finished this year just right by beating Fargo Davies and Valley City once again, 54-22 and 39-33 respectively.

This resulted in a fifth place finish for the Mustangs in the dual tournament.

Although Sheyenne didn’t win a state title this year for duals, this was a historic season for this program.

Many of the sixteen Sheyenne wrestlers at the state tournament achieved success in the individual state tournaments.

Sheyenne finished in fourth place, with 130.5 points in the individual state tournament standings.

There was eight boys and four girls who placed at state for the Mustangs, which were also program records.

Landon Zink made a run to the championship match in the 106lb weight class tournament and Stetson Gisselbeck made a run to the championship match in the 113lb weight class tournament.

The most historical win from an individual wrestler came from Morgan Strandberg.

Strandberg pinned Bismarck Legacy freshman Elizabeth Youboty at 1:17, to capture the Sheyenne wrestling program’s first ever individual state title at the 115lb weight class.

Strandberg was the number one seed going into the 115lb tournament. This was the first year of NDHSAA-sanctioned girls wrestling individual state tournaments.

One of the best things in sports is to watch a new team that gets established and progressively get better until they reach the mountain top in their conference.

Lex Lunde and his coaching staff are going to make sure that the team does not regress.

“We’re not content. I think that’s the big thing because a lot of times for young adults and for kids on this wrestling team, they have some success and then think they can relax a little bit,” Lex Lunde stated. “That’s not what we intend do. We have a lot of kids returning next year and a lot of younger kids who are super talented.”

Lex Lunde also has some goals for the program to accomplish next season, “Our goal is the same thing. We want to win EDC next year and then at state, place higher than fourth in the individual tournament, and then higher than fifth in the dual tournament.”

The EDC had a new champion this year. West Fargo Sheyenne will look to defend their title next season and to continue to climb the latter of progress. Rudy Tomjanovich, who coached the Houston Rockets and led them to their first NBA title in 1994, once said, “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion.”