BELLEVILLE - Many breaths were held Saturday in Belleville. Futures were put on hold momentarily.
But at the conclusion of the WIAA Division 2 wrestling regional, everyone got to let out a big, collective sigh of relief.
At the pinnacle of nerves was Sugar River senior and two-time state champion Cole Schmitt, who suffered a scary knee injury during his 145-pound championship match with Monroe's Kyle Klopfenstein.
Schmitt - a University of Wisconsin recruit - came up holding his left knee early in the first period. He was attended to by the medical staff and returned to catch Klopfenstein with an inside cradle and pinned the Cheesemaker in 1 minute, 33 seconds.
Schmitt, along with younger brother Ben (152), friend and sparring partner Kalvin York (140), Raider fan favorite JC Francois (171) and Nick Watson (heavyweight) advanced through their brackets and will wrestle at this Saturday's sectional meet in Richland Center. As Monroe head coach Jeriamy Jackson expected, his three standout Cheesemakers - Klopfenstein, Gavin Wels (103) and, Dylan Schwitz (119) - will join the five Raiders at sectionals.
While lying on the mat with just 36 seconds gone in the title match, Schmitt had some bad feelings about his immediate future in the prep ranks. But, the Raiders senior got right back to business with some inspired wrestling.
"I had a lot going through my head," Schmitt said. "I thought 'I'm not going to be able to finish. I'm not going to wrestle at state.'"
The Monroe senior might see Schmitt again as his second-place finish punches his ticket to sectional this Saturday. In the moment though, Klopfenstein, who had never met or wrestled the future Badger before, was concerned about Schmitt after seeing him going to the mat in pain.
"When he injured his knee I was like 'Oh, my god this guy is going to UW and he's been a state champion, probably going to be a state champion (this year),'" Klopfenstein said.
The top-seeded Wels had a relatively easy draw in the 103-pound ladder, pinning Dodgeville's Bruno Costa in the third period of the semifinals before taking a 6-2 decision over Bob Donar of Cuba City-Southwestern in the title round. Donar was within striking distance of Wels, and Jackson wants to make sure the Cheesemaker junior rids himself of that by Saturday.
"We've been talking with him, trying to get him to be more aggressive, taking it to the guy a little bit more," Jackson said. "Sometimes when he gets in bigger matches he tries not to lose rather than to win."
"We say it to all the guys 'You can't let them dictate what happens because they'll be in it at the end.'"
Schwitz, a freshman who Jackson wasn't sure would be a varsity member at the beginning of the season, also was a top seed and won both his matches by decision. He defeated Dodgeville junior Tyler Zickert and Iowa-Grant sophomore Kyle Riemenapp by 5-4 decisions. In the championship match, Riemenapp was down 5-1 to begin the third period and was down one in the final moments, but couldn't get Schwitz on his shoulders before the buzzer sounded.
"That was real close," Schwitz said of almost getting pinned. "I gotta move more on the bottom. I'm not working hard enough on the bottom. This week in practice me and Gavin will be pushing ourselves to get better on the bottom and not stall out."
"He's still got a little freshman in him, even though it's the end of the year," Jackson said. "He really wants to get the match over quickly, which sometimes hurts him. We're trying to teach him to go six minutes and grind it out. A win is a win."
Monroe's 189-pound wrestler Cory Kundert nearly locked up a fourth Cheesemaker at sectionals, but lost a close wrestleback to Belmont-Platteville's Bryant Schobert by pin in the final minute.
"Cory would've been an extra bonus," Jackson said. "That's asking for a lot. He wrestled a good tournament and that's not taking anything away from him. He had a sub-.500 record coming into the tournament and you don't really expect those guys to move on to sectionals."
York, a Sugar River junior who was runner-up at the state meet last year, is feeling really good after a short day's work during which he took down both his combatants in a combined two minutes and seven seconds. York is an old hand at the wrestling postseason and is trying to conserve as much energy for the state meet.
"(I'm focused) on pinning people and getting it done fast," York said. "So I have enough energy to go out there and do it again."
Francois took second place after losing to old rival Grant Miller of Dodgeville. Miller is undefeated on the year (46-0) and the two most likely will meet again at sectionals and possibly even state. Watson, the Raiders' heavyweight, defeated Belmont-Platteville's Lucas Turber in the quarterfinals by pin and then Dodgeville's Chris Clerkin with a 4-2 decision. Iowa-Grant senior Ian McGuire got the better of Watson in the third period with a pin at 4 minutes, 58 seconds.
Ben Schmitt made sectionals the hard way by winning a second-place wrestleback over Dodgeville's Beau Smith with a 17-4 major decision.
"I was hoping to get maybe two more kids through," Sugar River coach Ken Engelke said. "Overall, I'm happy with the five we have. All the second places we had, we had a good shot at first place. I'm satisfied."
Sugar River took third place as a team with 163 points. Monroe finished fifth with 141. Iowa-Grant ran away with the team title with 234 points.
Sugar River's Dylan Riley (119), Tom Vetterli (135), and Monroe's Tyler Rupnow (125), Jordan Gilbertson (130), Michael Ingold (215) and Lucas Leu (285) got fifth places for their respective teams. Those victories were big in the eyes of coach Jackson for the future payoffs.
"Finishing up with a pin, whoever it's against, is a good thing. It'll do a lot for next year," Jackson said.
But at the conclusion of the WIAA Division 2 wrestling regional, everyone got to let out a big, collective sigh of relief.
At the pinnacle of nerves was Sugar River senior and two-time state champion Cole Schmitt, who suffered a scary knee injury during his 145-pound championship match with Monroe's Kyle Klopfenstein.
Schmitt - a University of Wisconsin recruit - came up holding his left knee early in the first period. He was attended to by the medical staff and returned to catch Klopfenstein with an inside cradle and pinned the Cheesemaker in 1 minute, 33 seconds.
Schmitt, along with younger brother Ben (152), friend and sparring partner Kalvin York (140), Raider fan favorite JC Francois (171) and Nick Watson (heavyweight) advanced through their brackets and will wrestle at this Saturday's sectional meet in Richland Center. As Monroe head coach Jeriamy Jackson expected, his three standout Cheesemakers - Klopfenstein, Gavin Wels (103) and, Dylan Schwitz (119) - will join the five Raiders at sectionals.
While lying on the mat with just 36 seconds gone in the title match, Schmitt had some bad feelings about his immediate future in the prep ranks. But, the Raiders senior got right back to business with some inspired wrestling.
"I had a lot going through my head," Schmitt said. "I thought 'I'm not going to be able to finish. I'm not going to wrestle at state.'"
The Monroe senior might see Schmitt again as his second-place finish punches his ticket to sectional this Saturday. In the moment though, Klopfenstein, who had never met or wrestled the future Badger before, was concerned about Schmitt after seeing him going to the mat in pain.
"When he injured his knee I was like 'Oh, my god this guy is going to UW and he's been a state champion, probably going to be a state champion (this year),'" Klopfenstein said.
The top-seeded Wels had a relatively easy draw in the 103-pound ladder, pinning Dodgeville's Bruno Costa in the third period of the semifinals before taking a 6-2 decision over Bob Donar of Cuba City-Southwestern in the title round. Donar was within striking distance of Wels, and Jackson wants to make sure the Cheesemaker junior rids himself of that by Saturday.
"We've been talking with him, trying to get him to be more aggressive, taking it to the guy a little bit more," Jackson said. "Sometimes when he gets in bigger matches he tries not to lose rather than to win."
"We say it to all the guys 'You can't let them dictate what happens because they'll be in it at the end.'"
Schwitz, a freshman who Jackson wasn't sure would be a varsity member at the beginning of the season, also was a top seed and won both his matches by decision. He defeated Dodgeville junior Tyler Zickert and Iowa-Grant sophomore Kyle Riemenapp by 5-4 decisions. In the championship match, Riemenapp was down 5-1 to begin the third period and was down one in the final moments, but couldn't get Schwitz on his shoulders before the buzzer sounded.
"That was real close," Schwitz said of almost getting pinned. "I gotta move more on the bottom. I'm not working hard enough on the bottom. This week in practice me and Gavin will be pushing ourselves to get better on the bottom and not stall out."
"He's still got a little freshman in him, even though it's the end of the year," Jackson said. "He really wants to get the match over quickly, which sometimes hurts him. We're trying to teach him to go six minutes and grind it out. A win is a win."
Monroe's 189-pound wrestler Cory Kundert nearly locked up a fourth Cheesemaker at sectionals, but lost a close wrestleback to Belmont-Platteville's Bryant Schobert by pin in the final minute.
"Cory would've been an extra bonus," Jackson said. "That's asking for a lot. He wrestled a good tournament and that's not taking anything away from him. He had a sub-.500 record coming into the tournament and you don't really expect those guys to move on to sectionals."
York, a Sugar River junior who was runner-up at the state meet last year, is feeling really good after a short day's work during which he took down both his combatants in a combined two minutes and seven seconds. York is an old hand at the wrestling postseason and is trying to conserve as much energy for the state meet.
"(I'm focused) on pinning people and getting it done fast," York said. "So I have enough energy to go out there and do it again."
Francois took second place after losing to old rival Grant Miller of Dodgeville. Miller is undefeated on the year (46-0) and the two most likely will meet again at sectionals and possibly even state. Watson, the Raiders' heavyweight, defeated Belmont-Platteville's Lucas Turber in the quarterfinals by pin and then Dodgeville's Chris Clerkin with a 4-2 decision. Iowa-Grant senior Ian McGuire got the better of Watson in the third period with a pin at 4 minutes, 58 seconds.
Ben Schmitt made sectionals the hard way by winning a second-place wrestleback over Dodgeville's Beau Smith with a 17-4 major decision.
"I was hoping to get maybe two more kids through," Sugar River coach Ken Engelke said. "Overall, I'm happy with the five we have. All the second places we had, we had a good shot at first place. I'm satisfied."
Sugar River took third place as a team with 163 points. Monroe finished fifth with 141. Iowa-Grant ran away with the team title with 234 points.
Sugar River's Dylan Riley (119), Tom Vetterli (135), and Monroe's Tyler Rupnow (125), Jordan Gilbertson (130), Michael Ingold (215) and Lucas Leu (285) got fifth places for their respective teams. Those victories were big in the eyes of coach Jackson for the future payoffs.
"Finishing up with a pin, whoever it's against, is a good thing. It'll do a lot for next year," Jackson said.
