CLINTON - Both the Brodhead-Juda and Sugar River wrestling teams had a banner day each qualifying five wrestlers for the sectional Saturday, Feb. 15 at the WIAA Division 2 Clinton regional.
Brodhead-Juda had three regional champions including juniors Brady Colden (40-3) at 160 pounds, junior Gavin Baade (37-1) at 182 and Logan Maurer (42-1) at heavyweight.
"I thought those three would be favored in their weight classes," Brodhead-Juda coach Tim Colden said. "I think they all wrestled well and put themselves in a good position to take care of business and control their own destiny."
The other Cardinal sectional qualifiers include senior Tyler Davis (195) and junior Stephen Voights (220).
"Our upper weights have been our strength and carried us in dual meets all year," Colden said. "It's nice all five of them qualified for the sectional."
Sugar River crowned two champions in junior Kody Popenfus (26-9) at 126 and senior Anthony Chiarello (33-10) at 145. The other sectional qualifiers for the Raiders include Josh Chenoweth (106), senior Young-Chul Vetterli (160) and junior Jacob Larson (182), who each took second place in their weight classes.
Monroe didn't have any wrestlers qualify for the sectional. Evansville-Albany outdistanced Beloit Turner to win the regional team title 236-179 to lock up a berth to the team sectional in Wisconsin Dells Tuesday, Feb. 18. Brodhead-Juda finished third (166), Sugar River took fifth (134) and Monroe was last (75) at the seven-team regional.
Brady Colden, ranked No. 8 in the Wisconsin Wrestling Online Division 2 poll, defeated Evansville-Albany's Jake Carpenter 13-5 and knocked off Sugar River's Vetterli 14-6 for the title. Baade at 182, pinned Edgerton's Alex Gosda in 1:47 and then pinned Sugar River's Larson in 3:27. Maurer, ranked No. 1 at heavyweight, cruised to the title pinning Clinton's Phillip Corral in 39 seconds and pinning Evansville-Albany's Ryan Meehan in 43 seconds.
The Cheesemakers had several with golden opportunities. After pinning Beloit Turner's Tyler Burt, Monroe senior Austin Minder (195), ranked 10th, lost a championship match to Evansville-Albany's Lucius Rinehart 2-1. Minder had beat Rinehart twice earlier this season. He then faced Brodhead-Juda's Davis with a sectional bid on the line. Davis scored on a takedown about midway through overtime to pull out a thrilling 7-5 win.
"There were a lot of questionable calls," Monroe coach Tom Witt said. "It would have been nice for the kids to decide it and not the referees."
Colden was excited to see Davis pull out a close match after losing several close ones earlier this year.
"He just kept working," Colden said of Davis. "He has worked his butt off."
Voights (37-6) pinned Beloit Turner's Bailey Herek in 45 seconds in the quarterfinals. Evansville-Albany's Dustin Bjugstad edged Voights 4-2 for the championship. Voights took second due to an earlier win over Herek.
Monroe freshman David Andrews was bumped up from 106 to 113 and he finished third place. Andrews lost a match 11-2 to Edgerton's Ben Counter who was also bumped from 106 to 113. Chenoweth (28-11) of Sugar River pinned Brodhead-Juda's Blake Burns in 54 seconds. He then pinned by Clinton's Seth Wisowaty in 24 seconds. He took second based on a win earlier against Burns.
"There were two really tough wrestlers and we felt like he had a better shot at 113," Witt said.
Monroe sophomore McKenzy Foley (145) finished third. He defeated Brodhead-Juda's Jordan Schubert 5-2 and lost two close matches to Sugar River's Anthony Chiarello 6-0 and Evansville-Albany's Hayden Milz 10-6. Chiarello (33-10) won the title beating Milz 10-8.
"He (Foley) wrestled really well," Witt said. "I was really pleased with how he wrestled. He went down fighting."
Popenfus (26-9) pinned Monroe freshman Cole Murray in 3:41. He knocked off Evansville-Albany's Chase Katzenmeyer 8-3 for the title. Vetterli (31-9) at 160 pinned Clinton's Tyler Teubert in 1:35 in the semifinals. After losing to Colden, he took second place by rule after an earlier win against Teubert.
Larson (36-8) pinned Clinton's Alex Hahn in 3:29 in the quarterfinals. He knocked off Monroe sophomore Traiten Gorr 8-3 in the semifinals. After being pinned by Baade, he locked up second place by rule with an earlier win against Gorr. Gorr finished third and wrapped up the season 30-12. Murray took fourth place and finished the season 19-17 in his first season of wrestling on varsity.
Darlington-Black Hawk takes second, will send five to sectional
SPRING GREEN - The Darlington-Black Hawk wrestling team will send five wrestlers to the sectional after their performances at the Division 2 River Valley regional Saturday.
River Valley, ranked No. 9 in the Wisconsin Wrestling Online Division 2 poll, held off Darlington-Black hawk 244-205.5 for the regional team title and a berth in the sectional.
"We wrestled pretty well on the day," Darlington-Black Hawk coach Tom Mathias said. "We definitely left some points on the mat. We knew we could contend for the title. We knew we had to win all of the close matches. Unfortunately, some of the big matches didn't go our way. We thought we had the possibility to get seven or eight through if everything would have went our way."
Two Darlington-Black Hawk wrestlers who won regional titles to qualify for the Adams-Friendship sectional include senior Dakota Meier (37-5) at 152 and junior Zach Wolf (34-5) at heavyweight.
"I think those two have a good chance of advancing through the sectional tournament," Mathias said. "Those two are wrestling very well. We are definitely going to sectionals with the idea of getting everyone through."
The other sectional qualifiers include Joe Quinn (106), Jared Pickett (120) and junior Colin Novak (126), who each finished second place.
"They definitely seem to be at the top of their games," Mathias said.
Meier, ranked No. 9, pinned Cuba City-Southwestern's Austin Hill in 3:43 and pinned River Valley's Cole Mahoney in 41 seconds to capture the title. Wolf pinned Dodgeville's Payton Calvert in 3:56 and pinned River Valley's Kaleb Crook in 1:07.
In the quarterfinals, Quinn (16-8) defeated Dodgeville's Zach Nelson 18-8 and then was pinned in the championship match by River Valley's Dustin Hatfield in 5:15. He took second by rule due to an earlier win against Nelson. Pickett (31-9) at 120 also enjoyed early success at the regional. He pinned River Valley's Nate Jennings in 57 seconds. Prairie du Chien-Wauzeka-Steuben's Clayton Beers then beat him 7-0 in the title match. He took second by rule due to an earlier win against Jennings.
Novak (16-4) is looking to make a second straight trip to state. In the semifinals, he pinned River Valley's Mason Wipperfurth in 5:56 and he lost to Cuba City-Southwestern's J.J. Donar 13-2 in the championship. He took second place after pinning Prairie du Chien-Wauzeka-Steuben's Tyler Rieck in 1:50.
Caleb Novak (113), Casey Lobdell (145), Kade Carey (195) and Taylor Evenstad (220) each took third place and just missed qualifying for the sectional.
Brodhead-Juda had three regional champions including juniors Brady Colden (40-3) at 160 pounds, junior Gavin Baade (37-1) at 182 and Logan Maurer (42-1) at heavyweight.
"I thought those three would be favored in their weight classes," Brodhead-Juda coach Tim Colden said. "I think they all wrestled well and put themselves in a good position to take care of business and control their own destiny."
The other Cardinal sectional qualifiers include senior Tyler Davis (195) and junior Stephen Voights (220).
"Our upper weights have been our strength and carried us in dual meets all year," Colden said. "It's nice all five of them qualified for the sectional."
Sugar River crowned two champions in junior Kody Popenfus (26-9) at 126 and senior Anthony Chiarello (33-10) at 145. The other sectional qualifiers for the Raiders include Josh Chenoweth (106), senior Young-Chul Vetterli (160) and junior Jacob Larson (182), who each took second place in their weight classes.
Monroe didn't have any wrestlers qualify for the sectional. Evansville-Albany outdistanced Beloit Turner to win the regional team title 236-179 to lock up a berth to the team sectional in Wisconsin Dells Tuesday, Feb. 18. Brodhead-Juda finished third (166), Sugar River took fifth (134) and Monroe was last (75) at the seven-team regional.
Brady Colden, ranked No. 8 in the Wisconsin Wrestling Online Division 2 poll, defeated Evansville-Albany's Jake Carpenter 13-5 and knocked off Sugar River's Vetterli 14-6 for the title. Baade at 182, pinned Edgerton's Alex Gosda in 1:47 and then pinned Sugar River's Larson in 3:27. Maurer, ranked No. 1 at heavyweight, cruised to the title pinning Clinton's Phillip Corral in 39 seconds and pinning Evansville-Albany's Ryan Meehan in 43 seconds.
The Cheesemakers had several with golden opportunities. After pinning Beloit Turner's Tyler Burt, Monroe senior Austin Minder (195), ranked 10th, lost a championship match to Evansville-Albany's Lucius Rinehart 2-1. Minder had beat Rinehart twice earlier this season. He then faced Brodhead-Juda's Davis with a sectional bid on the line. Davis scored on a takedown about midway through overtime to pull out a thrilling 7-5 win.
"There were a lot of questionable calls," Monroe coach Tom Witt said. "It would have been nice for the kids to decide it and not the referees."
Colden was excited to see Davis pull out a close match after losing several close ones earlier this year.
"He just kept working," Colden said of Davis. "He has worked his butt off."
Voights (37-6) pinned Beloit Turner's Bailey Herek in 45 seconds in the quarterfinals. Evansville-Albany's Dustin Bjugstad edged Voights 4-2 for the championship. Voights took second due to an earlier win over Herek.
Monroe freshman David Andrews was bumped up from 106 to 113 and he finished third place. Andrews lost a match 11-2 to Edgerton's Ben Counter who was also bumped from 106 to 113. Chenoweth (28-11) of Sugar River pinned Brodhead-Juda's Blake Burns in 54 seconds. He then pinned by Clinton's Seth Wisowaty in 24 seconds. He took second based on a win earlier against Burns.
"There were two really tough wrestlers and we felt like he had a better shot at 113," Witt said.
Monroe sophomore McKenzy Foley (145) finished third. He defeated Brodhead-Juda's Jordan Schubert 5-2 and lost two close matches to Sugar River's Anthony Chiarello 6-0 and Evansville-Albany's Hayden Milz 10-6. Chiarello (33-10) won the title beating Milz 10-8.
"He (Foley) wrestled really well," Witt said. "I was really pleased with how he wrestled. He went down fighting."
Popenfus (26-9) pinned Monroe freshman Cole Murray in 3:41. He knocked off Evansville-Albany's Chase Katzenmeyer 8-3 for the title. Vetterli (31-9) at 160 pinned Clinton's Tyler Teubert in 1:35 in the semifinals. After losing to Colden, he took second place by rule after an earlier win against Teubert.
Larson (36-8) pinned Clinton's Alex Hahn in 3:29 in the quarterfinals. He knocked off Monroe sophomore Traiten Gorr 8-3 in the semifinals. After being pinned by Baade, he locked up second place by rule with an earlier win against Gorr. Gorr finished third and wrapped up the season 30-12. Murray took fourth place and finished the season 19-17 in his first season of wrestling on varsity.
Darlington-Black Hawk takes second, will send five to sectional
SPRING GREEN - The Darlington-Black Hawk wrestling team will send five wrestlers to the sectional after their performances at the Division 2 River Valley regional Saturday.
River Valley, ranked No. 9 in the Wisconsin Wrestling Online Division 2 poll, held off Darlington-Black hawk 244-205.5 for the regional team title and a berth in the sectional.
"We wrestled pretty well on the day," Darlington-Black Hawk coach Tom Mathias said. "We definitely left some points on the mat. We knew we could contend for the title. We knew we had to win all of the close matches. Unfortunately, some of the big matches didn't go our way. We thought we had the possibility to get seven or eight through if everything would have went our way."
Two Darlington-Black Hawk wrestlers who won regional titles to qualify for the Adams-Friendship sectional include senior Dakota Meier (37-5) at 152 and junior Zach Wolf (34-5) at heavyweight.
"I think those two have a good chance of advancing through the sectional tournament," Mathias said. "Those two are wrestling very well. We are definitely going to sectionals with the idea of getting everyone through."
The other sectional qualifiers include Joe Quinn (106), Jared Pickett (120) and junior Colin Novak (126), who each finished second place.
"They definitely seem to be at the top of their games," Mathias said.
Meier, ranked No. 9, pinned Cuba City-Southwestern's Austin Hill in 3:43 and pinned River Valley's Cole Mahoney in 41 seconds to capture the title. Wolf pinned Dodgeville's Payton Calvert in 3:56 and pinned River Valley's Kaleb Crook in 1:07.
In the quarterfinals, Quinn (16-8) defeated Dodgeville's Zach Nelson 18-8 and then was pinned in the championship match by River Valley's Dustin Hatfield in 5:15. He took second by rule due to an earlier win against Nelson. Pickett (31-9) at 120 also enjoyed early success at the regional. He pinned River Valley's Nate Jennings in 57 seconds. Prairie du Chien-Wauzeka-Steuben's Clayton Beers then beat him 7-0 in the title match. He took second by rule due to an earlier win against Jennings.
Novak (16-4) is looking to make a second straight trip to state. In the semifinals, he pinned River Valley's Mason Wipperfurth in 5:56 and he lost to Cuba City-Southwestern's J.J. Donar 13-2 in the championship. He took second place after pinning Prairie du Chien-Wauzeka-Steuben's Tyler Rieck in 1:50.
Caleb Novak (113), Casey Lobdell (145), Kade Carey (195) and Taylor Evenstad (220) each took third place and just missed qualifying for the sectional.
