FULL THROTTLE — Martin County’s captains, from left, Blake Jagodzinske, Connor Simmonds, Jaxson Rohman and Lucas Jagodzinske, will guide the Class AA No. 4-ranked Red Bulls into their season-opening triangular on Tuesday in Luverne. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Last season, Martin County head coach Adam Williamson led the Red Bulls to second-place honors at the Class AA state team wrestling meet, won four regular-season tournaments, claimed both the Big South and Valley conference championships and recorded a 22-3 dual-meet record.

The 2020 state runners-up plan to be back at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul by the end of season by staying healthy and filling weight classes throughout the lineup, while growing as wrestlers and people throughout the season.

This year has been different for the Red Bulls to prepare for the season. In the offseason, the team usually has more chances to work out together, be in the weight room and train together. This year the team has had to do a lot more individually-designed workouts.

“So that’s (offseason) been very different and kids having to stay self-motivated and work hard on their own,” Williamson said. “We stayed connected with some virtual workouts. We met online for almost a month leading up to practice. We feel like we’ve given them the opportunity to work at it, provide them workouts they could do at home with or without weights and try to get in the best shape they could, but of course that’s hard to simulate when they’re doing it all at home.”

The Red Bulls are ranked No. 4 in the Class AA state preseason poll, and have five wrestlers ranked individually. This year’s captains — Blake Jagodzinske, Lucas Jagodzinske, Connor Simmonds and Jaxson Rohman — are all ranked, along with teammate Kain Sanders.

Last season, Rohman led the team with 253 takedowns, placed third at the individual state meet and became the Red Bulls’ all-time wins leader with 227. Rohman is currently ranked first in the 126-pound weight class. Williamson said Rohman has put his individual goals on the back burner as his main focus is on the team and how he can help make it better.

Lucas Jagodzinske reached 100 career wins last season, and is currently ranked No. 1 at 138 pounds. His identical twin Blake Jagodzinske finished fifth among the state qualifiers last year and enters this season ranked fifth at 152.

Simmonds reached 150 career wins in 2020, finished third at the individual state meet, and pinned opponents for a team-high 25 times last season. Simmonds is currently ranked No. 2 at 145.

“Our four seniors have grown up together, grown up in the program together and they know what it takes to succeed,” Williamson said. “We’re hoping they can become more vocal leaders and be the example for the younger guys to look up and try to emulate as they go through the season. They’re all very successful and now it’s time to step in that leadership role and kind of take the reins for the team.”

Sanders rounds out the ranked wrestlers for the Red Bulls, currently holding the No. 8 spot in the 132-pound weight class.

The team is a close-knit group and more of a family than a team, described Williamson. “As the kids grow up, it naturally progresses to leadership roles,” added Williamson.

There’ll be some new faces and young guys filling the five graduated positions from a year ago. Williamson said he wants to see competition in the practice room first, see who can fight for and win those spots, and be a contributor to the team.

Strengths of this team include being aggressive. Williamson thinks he has a group that likes to put up points, get after their opponents and rack up takedowns, points and go after pins.

“We’re kind of a wide-open full-throttle type of team,” Williamson said. “We’re going to come at our opponents and give them everything we have.”

Depth, however, will be a weakness, according to Williamson. He said the (program’s) numbers were down and his team can’t afford to have anybody out for an extended amount of time. He also said his team is thin at some weights, but hopes it will stay healthy.

The team’s goals for the season are to go after its conference championships, be sectional team champion and gain the state meet.

“If we get a section tournament we want to go after a section championship and get up to the state tournament again,” Williamson said. “We love competing up there and I think we can compete with the best in the state. We can beat anybody on any given day.”

The Red Bulls’ opening competition will be a triangular meet Tuesday against Redwood Valley and Luverne in Luverne starting at 5 p.m.