Matt Hagen has made all of his hard work pay off.
The Wadena-Deer Creek wrestler made his last shot at state a bullseye last Saturday at the Section 6A Individual Tournament in New York Mills.
"That was the plan," Hagen said. "Work hard and hard work pays off."
Hagen came down from New York Mills at the beginning of his junior year after wrestling for the Eagles for two years. He placed third in the section meet last year, losing a true second match to Parkers Prairie's Jason Arvidson.
"It was a blur," said Hagen, recalling his section tournament matches. "I have waited my whole career for it. When it finally came it was go-time. I took one match at a time, I didn't focus on the finals or anything like that."
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Hagen was a 2-1 winner over Staples-Motley's Devin Becker in the 130-pound finals.
"I knew it was going to be a close match and every point was going to count," Hagen said. "I went in there and fought for every point and it came down to who wanted it more."
WDC head coach Norm Gallant considers Hagen a good wrestler on his feet and likes how he is never out of position during a match.
"He's just exceptional on his feet," Gallant said. "He's just very quick. He's got so many tools on his feet as far a set-ups and finishes. He's very difficult to score on and those type of guys really do well in the state tournament."
Hagen will take a 32-4 record and 16 victories by fall into the state tournament.
