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5 Cheesemakers advance
WarBirds send three to sectionals; two advance for Raiders, Cardinals and Vikings
deion hargrove
Monroe senior Deion Hargrove was pinned by Cuba City-Benton-Southwestern’s Gerardo Garcia in the third-place match at 195 pounds at the WIAA Division 2 regional in Prairie du Chien Feb. 15. - photo by Ted Pennekamp

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN — The Cheesemakers will be sending five wrestlers onto sectionals after an intense day at the WIAA Division 2 regional Feb. 15 at Prairie du Chien High School.

Alex Witt was the lone regional champion for Monroe, taking the 182-pound bracket. Witt (38-5) defeated Darlington-Black Hawk’s Thomas Wessel (4-8) in the semifinal by major decision, 15-4, and then edged Belmont-Platteville’s Will Schaefer (35-6) in the finals 3-2.

Jack Dubach (32-8) was second at 106 pounds for Monroe, while Garret Voegeli (31-10) was second at 113, Brady Schuh (19-8) second at 126 and Patrick Rielly (27-8) second at 160.

Dubach pinned his semifinal opponent, then lost by a 10-9 decision in the championship match to Prairie du Chien’s Rhett Koenig (43-5). 

Voegeli was in a car accident prior to the bus leaving for the trip, but was unhurt. He pinned his semifinal opponent in just 33 seconds, but lost the championship match to Ryder Koenig (31-13) 2-0 in a sudden victory overtime. Voegeli bounced back in the wrestleback, pinning Belmont-Platteville’s Caden Lindholm (5-16) in just 49 seconds.

Schuh won his semifinal match by a 14-6 major decision but lost 6-0 to Prairie du Chien’s Luke Kramer (39-9). 

pat rielly
Monroe senior Patrick Rielly pins Dodgeville’s Riley Crook in the third round of the 160-pound semifinals. Rielly went on to finish second in his weight class and advance to sectionals. - photo by Ted Pennekamp

Rielly pinned Dodgeville’s Riley Crook (31-9) with five seconds to go in the third period of the semifinal, but then lost a 10-5 decision to PDC’s Traeton Saint (43-2).

Darlington-Black Hawk advanced thee grapplers to sectionals. The WarBirds will send Owen Huschitt (23-11) at 152 pounds, Carson Lobdell (25-9) at 195 and Bailey Schilling (22-5) at 220 to the next level of postseason competition. 

Sugar River’s Joe Quaglia (34-6) advanced in the 132-pound bracket with a second-place finish, while teammate Robert Chenoweth (31-10) was the champion at 152.

Perhaps the most intriguing weight class was the heavyweight division, in which four of the state’s top nine wrestlers took part. 

Monroe’s Bodie Minder (29-3) came into the competition ranked No. 1 in the state, but lost to Belmont-Platteville’s eighth-ranked Michael Douglas (6-2) in the semifinals, 4-3. Darlington-Black Hawk senior Leif Bredeson (28-5) was the state’s runner-up a year ago and was ranked second this season following a loss to Minder in January. Bredeson lost in the semifinals to fourth-ranked Cuba City-Benton-Southwestern’s Troy Leibfried (36-5) in overtime, 4-2.

Minder and Bredeson had another match in the third-place match, with the winner potentially moving onto the second-place wrestleback. Minder defeated Bredeson 8-7, but in the finals, Leibfried knocked off Douglas in the ultimate tiebreaker, leaving Minder on the outside of a berth at sectionals.

Monroe also got third place finishes from Dakota Wickstrum (14-24) at 145 and Kelsey Dominguez (22-9) at 220. Darlington-Black Hawk’s Cashton Hauser (11-17) was third at 120, with Richard Cruz (7-16) third at 132 and Cayden Milz (19-5) third at 170.

Prairie du Chien won the team title with 284 points, well ahead of Monroe (171) and Darlington-Black Hawk (171). Prairie du Chien moves on to the Lodi team sectional Feb. 18. There were seven teams in the regional.


Division 2, Evansville Regional

Brodhead-Juda is sending two grapplers to sectionals. Jacob Lomar (18-20) moves on at 106 pounds after a second-place finish and Cole Hoesly (24-16) advances out of the 170-pound weight class.

Brian McCullough (33-9) lost the 160-pound championship match in a 9-5 decision, then was pinned in the wrestleback second-place match to finish third. Jayson Starr (31-8) missed out on advancing at 145, also placing third. Seth Mansfield (21-18) was third at 120 for the Cardinals, winning his third-place match by pin-fall, but losing the wrestleback by a 5-2 decision.

Evansville won the team title with 258.5 points, finishing just ahead of Edgerton (228) and Beloit Turner (202.5). There were only six teams at the Evansville regional. Evansville will also host the sectional, one of two schools to host both a regional and sectional this year (Oconto Falls).


Division 3, Mineral Point Regional

Pecatonica-Argyle (122.5 points) finished fifth as a team, with Fennimore (271.5) winning the team title over Lancaster (202.5) and Mineral Point (191). Two Vikings advance to the sectional.

Noah Krahenbuhl (36-5) was the 126-pound champion, winning his semifinal match by a 12-1 decision and then securing the title by injury default.

Kristian Orloff (29-12) finished second at 138-pounds, losing the championship to Fennimore’s Aidan Nutter (29-8) by 17-2 technical fall.

Easton Schraepfer (35-6) missed out at 160-pounds, falling in a 3-2 decision to Fennimore’s Nick Blaschke (23-17) in the semifinal. In the third-place match, Schraepfer won by 15-0 technical fall against Iowa-Grant/Highland’s Blake Dax (12-13).