BELLEVILLE - Saturday's Sugar River Raider Invite gave the top wrestlers from Monroe and Sugar River a chance for an early-season progress report.
"We wrestled great," Monroe head coach Jeriamy Jackson said of his team's 151.5 points. "We were only able to take nine wrestlers out of a possible 14 and still placed third overall as a team."
The Cheesemakers had four champions - Gavin Wels (112), Dylan Schwitz (135), Mason Goff (145) and Cory Kundert (215).
"All nine guys that we brought placed. We couldn't have asked for anything more from these guys," Jackson said.
It was Wels' third straight Raider Invite championship. The senior topped two of the state's best wrestlers in his weight division - Bob Donar of Cuba City/Southwestern and J.J. Boley of Albany-Evansville each were state qualifiers a year ago. Wels, who finished fifth in state last year, defeated Boley 11-1 in the championship.
Schwitz, a sophomore, won all five of his matches.
"Dylan Schwitz wrestled great. And for the first time this year, I saw that spark in his eye that tells me he is ready to wrestle with anybody," Jackson said.
In the championship match, Schwitz took down Dodgeville's Ty Zickert 6-3.
Jackson said Goff controlled all of his matches, while Kundert and Lucas Leu are really stepping up their games.
Goff beat Cuba City/Southwestern's John Federick in the title match, 9-7.
Kundert beat Albany-Evansville's Cody Kruizenga-Weckesser 9-3 for the title.
Leu finished in second place, losing only to Mount Horeb/Barneveld's Joe Klopotic twice in the tournament.
Michael Ingold (189) also finished in second place. Dillon Weckerly (171) finished third, Cody Stamm (119) came in fourth, and Steven Steiner (152) took fifth place.
"This tournament was really important to the team. I think that it showed that we really do have a lot of talent on this team," Jackson said.
"We knew it all along, but it is pretty hard to show in a dual meet setting when five or six empty spots mean 30-36 points for the opposing team. In a tournament, it is just one-on-one. Some years you have a good dual meet team and others you have a tournament team. It looks like this year we have a better tournament team."
For Sugar River, the meet had fewer highlights.
Kalvin York (171), who finished in second place at state a year ago, took first place Saturday after beating Weckerly and Belmont/Platteville's Dusty Jentz in the finals.
Dylan Riley (125), Matt Saunders (130), Nick Gunkel (145) and Dan Nolden (152) each finished third in their respective brackets.
Ricky Ace (112) and Mike Nolden (160) each took fourth place. Brooks Hendrickson (119) took fifth place, Jared Woods (140) placed seventh, and Roger Codas (189) finished eighth.
Nick Patchen of Albany won the 189 bracket.
Albany-Evansville won the meet with 198 team points. Cuba City/Southwestern took second with 189. The Raiders finished with 119 points, tied with Dodgeville behind Monroe and Mount Horeb/Barneveld (135 points).
Sugar River will travel to Marshall on Thursday for a dual meet, while Monroe travels to Mineral Point the same day.
"We wrestled great," Monroe head coach Jeriamy Jackson said of his team's 151.5 points. "We were only able to take nine wrestlers out of a possible 14 and still placed third overall as a team."
The Cheesemakers had four champions - Gavin Wels (112), Dylan Schwitz (135), Mason Goff (145) and Cory Kundert (215).
"All nine guys that we brought placed. We couldn't have asked for anything more from these guys," Jackson said.
It was Wels' third straight Raider Invite championship. The senior topped two of the state's best wrestlers in his weight division - Bob Donar of Cuba City/Southwestern and J.J. Boley of Albany-Evansville each were state qualifiers a year ago. Wels, who finished fifth in state last year, defeated Boley 11-1 in the championship.
Schwitz, a sophomore, won all five of his matches.
"Dylan Schwitz wrestled great. And for the first time this year, I saw that spark in his eye that tells me he is ready to wrestle with anybody," Jackson said.
In the championship match, Schwitz took down Dodgeville's Ty Zickert 6-3.
Jackson said Goff controlled all of his matches, while Kundert and Lucas Leu are really stepping up their games.
Goff beat Cuba City/Southwestern's John Federick in the title match, 9-7.
Kundert beat Albany-Evansville's Cody Kruizenga-Weckesser 9-3 for the title.
Leu finished in second place, losing only to Mount Horeb/Barneveld's Joe Klopotic twice in the tournament.
Michael Ingold (189) also finished in second place. Dillon Weckerly (171) finished third, Cody Stamm (119) came in fourth, and Steven Steiner (152) took fifth place.
"This tournament was really important to the team. I think that it showed that we really do have a lot of talent on this team," Jackson said.
"We knew it all along, but it is pretty hard to show in a dual meet setting when five or six empty spots mean 30-36 points for the opposing team. In a tournament, it is just one-on-one. Some years you have a good dual meet team and others you have a tournament team. It looks like this year we have a better tournament team."
For Sugar River, the meet had fewer highlights.
Kalvin York (171), who finished in second place at state a year ago, took first place Saturday after beating Weckerly and Belmont/Platteville's Dusty Jentz in the finals.
Dylan Riley (125), Matt Saunders (130), Nick Gunkel (145) and Dan Nolden (152) each finished third in their respective brackets.
Ricky Ace (112) and Mike Nolden (160) each took fourth place. Brooks Hendrickson (119) took fifth place, Jared Woods (140) placed seventh, and Roger Codas (189) finished eighth.
Nick Patchen of Albany won the 189 bracket.
Albany-Evansville won the meet with 198 team points. Cuba City/Southwestern took second with 189. The Raiders finished with 119 points, tied with Dodgeville behind Monroe and Mount Horeb/Barneveld (135 points).
Sugar River will travel to Marshall on Thursday for a dual meet, while Monroe travels to Mineral Point the same day.
