The newcomer is Buchanan, Calif. The Bears ended the 2014-15 season ranked No. 12 nationally, and finished fourth in the California state tournament. Among the other highlights of the season was a runner-up finish at the Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament, 2.5 points behind Franklin Regional, Pa.
The 2015-16 iteration will be anchored by state champion Durbin Lloren, two other state placers, along with seven additional state qualifiers; among those ten returning state participants, five were freshmen in 2014-15. Buchanan's arch-rival Clovis placed third overall at The Clash X in December of 2011.
Previous champions making their return to The Clash are Glenbard North, Ill. and St. Michael-Albertville, Minn. Glenbard North won the first-ever Clash in January of 2003, while St. Michael-Albertville won The Clash XI in December of 2012. This past season, those two teams finished in the top two positions of the "third bracket", ninth and tenth overall in the tournament.
Glenbard North ended 2014-15 ranked No. 22 in the nation, finishing third at the Illinois big-school division team state tournament. The Panthers return just three state participants for 2015-16, led by state champion Austin Gomez. St. Michael-Albertville ended 2014-15 as the No. 21 ranked team in the country, and were runners-up in the Minnesota big-school state tournament. The Knights return eight state tournament participants, five of whom placed, and four who were state finalists. Anchoring the squad are returning state champions Mitch McKee and Lucas Jeske, both of whom were Junior National freestyle runners-up last week.
Rounding out the group of five are perennial participants Vacaville, Calif. and Kenyon-Wanamingo from the host state of Minnesota. In the 2014-15 edition of The Clash, Kenyon-Wanamingo was runners-up of the fourth bracket on day two, while Vacaville finished fourth in the seventh bracket.
The Clash is an annual high school dual meet tournament held in Rochester, Minn. A diverse group of teams from across the country, both elite and non-elite assemble for two days of dual meet competition. The first day involves four eight-team brackets to determine placements for day two, which involve eight four-team pools involving the teams that earned the same placement on day one.
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