DODGEVILLE — Six area wrestlers became regional champions at the WIAA Division 2 Dodgeville regional on Saturday, Feb. 10. Another 14 wrestlers finished fourth or better to qualify for individual sectionals at Wisconsin Dells on Saturday, Feb. 17.
The Dodgeville regional was one full of talent. There were two ranked teams in No. 4 Lodi — who were regional champions with 257.5 points — and No. 6 Evansville. Across all weight classes, 25 individual wrestlers qualified for last year’s state tournament, one of whom was a runner-up and four others that were state champions.
“It was a stacked regional, so I feel this will help us in the long run,” Sugar River head coach Peter Swenson said. “I know many of the qualifiers from this regional will make it through to state due to the quality of wrestling we all saw today.”
SUGAR RIVER MOVES ON
Despite not having a single regional champion, Sugar River (210 points) finished second, qualifying for team sectionals in River Valley on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Individually, nine wrestlers finished fourth or better, advancing to sectionals.
“Believe me, I would prefer to have a champion or two, but our whole team effort was amazing,” coach Swenson said. “To qualify nine wrestlers to individual sectionals shows many of the members came ready to compete. As a team, we are enjoying the moment.”
Blake Endres (41-7, 120), ranked No. 4, was a regional runner up to Charlie Meudt of Dodgeville. Meudt, ranked No. 1, won the 113-pound state title in 2023. Endres pinned his way to the championship match before falling to Meudt by a narrow 5-1 decision.
Mason Mau (39-3, 138), ranked No. 3, was a regional runner up to Marcus McIntyre of Brodhead-Juda. Mau quickly moved through his field, pinning his first two opponents. In the championship match, McIntyre edged Mau 7-3. In wrestle backs, Mau pinned Cam Spensley of Belmont-Platteville in just 53 seconds.
Ryker Swenson (39-7, 165), ranked No. 4, was a regional runner up to Maddox Goebel of Darlington-Black Hawk. The championship match went all three periods, where Maddox Goebel won 10-5. In wrestle backs, Swenson earned second with a pin of Dayton Epps in 35 seconds.
Trei Udelhoven (23-7, 175), ranked No. 11, was a regional runner up to Mason Lane of Lodi. Lane, who is ranked No. 2, beat Udelhoven 7-2 in the Capitol Conference championship match, too. This time around, Udelhoven narrowed the gap to 6-3. Udelhoven did not need a wrestle back, as he previously defeated Cael Donar of Cuba City-Benton-Southwestern, who was a 2023 state qualifier.
Carson Loshaw (39-9, 190), ranked No. 9, was a regional runner up to Ross Crist of Darlington-Black Hawk. Crist edged out Loshaw 6-2. Loshaw did not need a wrestle back, as he previously beat Nick Week of Lodi 10-3. Loshaw also defeated Week in the Capitol Conference meet 7-4.
Zech Bair (19-17, 113) grabbed the final qualifying spot. He went 5-1 with four pins and a medical forfeit. His lone loss was to eventual champion Haakon Peterson of Dodgeville, who was a 2023 state champion at 106 pounds.
Brennan Keyes (27-14, 144) finished fourth, going 3-2 with a bye and pin. His fourth-place match was a no contest with Max Kaether of Evansville. Keye’s losses came to Braedon Dorshorst of Lodi and Mason Oellerich of Belmont-Platteville. Dorshorst previously beat Keyes 10-3 in the Capitol Conference championship, and Oellerich was a 2023 state qualifier.
Garrett Pauli (27-14, 215) also grabbed the final sectional qualifying spot, going 3-2 with two pins. Pauli’s losses came to Isaiah Groskopf of Lodi, who was 2023 state qualifier, and Brad Bartz of Evansville.
Isaac Erb (27-15, 285) finished fourth, going 3-2 with two pins. His losses came to Henry Koeppen of Lodi and Colin Thompson of Portage. Koeppen previously pinned Erb in the Capitol Conference championship.
CRIST RECORDS 100TH CAREER WIN, WARBIRDS SEND FIVE TO SECTIONALS
Darlington-Black Hawk finished third as a team with 171 points. The Warbirds kept No. 6 Evansville from sectionals. In addition, all of DBH’s sectional qualifiers were regional champions.
Ethan Aird (36-2, 126), ranked No. 1 and committed to wrestle at Augsburg University in the fall, went 4-0. He spent all of 5:32 on the mat this weekend, with two pins, a bye and medical forfeit from Reid Spurley of Dodgeville in the championship match. Spurley was a 2023 state champion at 120 pounds, whereas Aird was a runner-up at 113 pounds.
Owen Seffrood (43-0, 144), ranked No. 1, kept his perfect season alive. He won all three of his matches by tech fall, including the championship match against Dorshorst, who is ranked No. 4.
Although Seffrood, who was voted the WI Wrestler of the Week, would love to take his perfect season all the way to the end with a state title in hand, he knows he needs to keep it simple to get there.
“My main thing is to not think about the match or try to game plan too much and overthink things because I know if I just wrestle like myself nobody is beating me,” Seffrood said. “A perfect season would be nice and capping off with a state title would be a nice cherry on top. But, the main goal is to reach full potential as an athlete and become a Division I wrestler.”
Breylin Goebel (40-3, 157), ranked No. 6, went 4-0 with two pins and a tech fall. His quickest match was a first-period pin over Cayson Helwig of Sugar River.
Maddox Goebel (23-4, 165), ranked No. 2, went 3-0 with a tech fall and 10-5 decision over Swenson in the championship match.
Crist (41-4, 190), ranked No. 10, picked up his 100th career win with a first-period pin of Brayden Holdorft of Columbus in the quarterfinal. He went on to beat Fox Austin of CC-B-SW and Loshaw.
“It felt pretty cool to achieve my 100th win, especially in my junior season,” Crist said. “I feel like it shows how much work and effort I’ve been putting in. I’m super excited about the reminder of the postseason and what else I’ll be able to achieve.”
MCINTYRE EARNS REVENGE WIN
Brodhead-Juda, which finished ninth of 13 teams, had two sectional qualifiers in McIntyre and Joe Lohmar.
McIntyre (36-2, 138), ranked No. 8, was 3-0 with two pins. He earned a 7-3 revenge win over Mau, who handed McIntyre his only two losses of the year. Although competitors now, the two will be teammates next year at UW-La Crosse.
“It feels great, he’s a great wrestler and to get one of my losses back when the matches have a little more riding on them it feels pretty good,” McIntyre said. “When we are out on the mat, we are competitors and want to win. After the match is when we are teammates and friends.”
Lohmar (36-4, 150), ranked No. 3, was a regional runner up to Danny Heiser of Evansville. Heiser defeated Lohmar by a 17-2 tech fall. Heiser is currently ranked No. 1 and has committed to the University of Missouri for wrestling. He is a two-time state champion at 120 and 132 pounds.
MONROE MET WITH MIXED RESULTS
Monroe finished eighth of 13 teams with four sectional qualifiers. Although Monroe head coach Tom Witt was happy to have four wrestlers move on, he knew his team had more potential.
“This was kind of like the Clint Eastwood movie ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,’” Witt said. “It was good that we got four through, but it was bad that we didn’t perform better and have some higher placers. We had some ugly matches that we lost that we should have won and then would have had a few more qualifiers.”
Carson Menehan (31-7, 132), ranked No. 7, won his first two matches. In the championship, Menehan narrowly fell 3-2 to Dylan Wiegel of Belmont-Platteville. Wiegel was a 2023 state qualifier. Menehan then fell in the second-place match 8-4, finishing third.
Schuh (36-8, 150), ranked No. 9, also took third. After a first-round bye, Shuh pinned his quarterfinal opponent. In the semifinal, Schuh fell to Lohmar 3-2. For third, Schuh pinned Michael Kowalski of Portage in just 48 seconds. There was no wrestle back, as Lohmar had already beaten Schuh.
Owen Voegeli (30-13), ranked No. 11, finished 5-1 for fourth. His only loss was to Collin Frey of Evansville, who finished second.
Joe Rufenacht (29-14, 165) nabbed fourth with a 3-2 record. His losses came to Swenson and Dayton Epps of Rio.
