MADISON - Even the most tenured of wrestlers get a bit antsy come Day 1 of the WIAA State Tournament.
Such was the case for battle-tested seniors Kyle Klopfenstein of Monroe and JC Francois of Sugar River on Thursday night at the Kohl Center.
For the Cheesemakers' captain, his 145-pound first-round match with Delafield St. John's Military Academy's Chris Ponder found himself gassed after he came out like a man on fire. After surrendering a takedown to Ponder, Klopfenstein earned a reversal and a pair of near-falls over the next minute and carried an 8-3 lead into the second period.
Over the next two minutes, Ponder was the aggressor, scoring two more points as Klopfenstein's technique suffered.
"I was wrestling off my hips and I don't ever want to be on my hips," Klopfenstein said. "I was pretty jacked up; I had an awful lot of adrenaline."
In the third period, Klopfenstein earned a two-point reversal and rode Ponder out with textbook wrist control and a barrage of arm-bars to cinch up a 10-5 decision.
Monroe coach Jeriamy Jackson was pleased to see the recovery in technique after a "sloppy" second period and was anything but surprised by the match's dynamic.
"That's a pretty typical first match at state, to go out there all hyped up to be in this type of venue," Jackson said. "With your nerves and body tensed up, it's typical to spend yourself in the first minute."
Whereas Ponder withstood Klopfenstein's best stuff early, Sheboygan Falls senior Alec Shielke was not so fortunate in his 171-pound tangle with Francois. The hulking Raider showed that he would make a poor tour guide as he allowed Shielke all of 31 seconds to take in the blurring sights and muffled sounds of a painful state experience.
Francois exploded through Shielke at the outset like a linebacker spearing an unaware running back, with only the boundary playing savior. After the restart, Francois wasted no time locking up, overpowering his foe and turning the shoulders to the mat.
"I just wanted to get it over with and save some energy for tomorrow," Francois said.
His draw today is Neillsville's Luke Friemoth, a 43-1 senior.
"It's not one I'm going to end like this one tonight," Francois said with a grin. "I've just gotta go in with a positive attitude and work harder than him."
He'll be joined by teammates Cole Schmitt (42-1 at 145 pounds) and Kalvin York (43-0 at 140) and hopes to get by with a little help from his longtime friends.
"This is awesome," Francois said. "Whenever anyone's down, we're always around to boost him back up."
An undefeated season from York would mean winning the weight class Schmitt, a University of Wisconsin recruit, captured last year before moving up to 145.
Darlington sophomore Devin Malott won a lopsided but unspectacular 11-0 major decision over Jacob Frane of Edgar. While Malott dominated the bout from a technical standpoint, he was unable to put the squeeze on due to cramping.
"I wanted to finish it right away because I was cramping so much," Malott said. "Cutting weight, I had some bananas for potassium, but that's about it."
Malott's been hitting the weight room and upping his protein intake to prep for the state tourney and had to do some last-second cutting, but is simply glad to have a full head of steam going into Day 2. He hopes to follow up his brother's Division 3 title in the 125-pound class last year.
"I just wanted to get the first one out of the way," Malott said. "Once you get that one out of the way, you can get into a groove a little bit."
The super sophomore hopes to be grooving on all cylinders when he opens Division 3 competition again this morning at 11:15 against undefeated Mike Sonnentag (29-0) of Cadott.
Black Hawk's lone representative in Division 3 is Jake Kaempfer, a 160-pound senior who will face Corey Anderson of Clear Lake, a 37-9 senior.
Klopfenstein will be joined by his 103-pound junior teammate Gavin Wels, who enjoyed a bye and will face 36-10 Mike Peterson of Mondovi.
"Klop" is proud to be the lone Cheesemakers senior and faces Tommy Dobbs of Melrose-Mindoro/Gale-Ettrick-Trempeleau, a 37-3 senior against whom he'll continue to follow his credo.
"Every match you've gotta believe you're gonna win, you could be done at any time."
Such was the case for battle-tested seniors Kyle Klopfenstein of Monroe and JC Francois of Sugar River on Thursday night at the Kohl Center.
For the Cheesemakers' captain, his 145-pound first-round match with Delafield St. John's Military Academy's Chris Ponder found himself gassed after he came out like a man on fire. After surrendering a takedown to Ponder, Klopfenstein earned a reversal and a pair of near-falls over the next minute and carried an 8-3 lead into the second period.
Over the next two minutes, Ponder was the aggressor, scoring two more points as Klopfenstein's technique suffered.
"I was wrestling off my hips and I don't ever want to be on my hips," Klopfenstein said. "I was pretty jacked up; I had an awful lot of adrenaline."
In the third period, Klopfenstein earned a two-point reversal and rode Ponder out with textbook wrist control and a barrage of arm-bars to cinch up a 10-5 decision.
Monroe coach Jeriamy Jackson was pleased to see the recovery in technique after a "sloppy" second period and was anything but surprised by the match's dynamic.
"That's a pretty typical first match at state, to go out there all hyped up to be in this type of venue," Jackson said. "With your nerves and body tensed up, it's typical to spend yourself in the first minute."
Whereas Ponder withstood Klopfenstein's best stuff early, Sheboygan Falls senior Alec Shielke was not so fortunate in his 171-pound tangle with Francois. The hulking Raider showed that he would make a poor tour guide as he allowed Shielke all of 31 seconds to take in the blurring sights and muffled sounds of a painful state experience.
Francois exploded through Shielke at the outset like a linebacker spearing an unaware running back, with only the boundary playing savior. After the restart, Francois wasted no time locking up, overpowering his foe and turning the shoulders to the mat.
"I just wanted to get it over with and save some energy for tomorrow," Francois said.
His draw today is Neillsville's Luke Friemoth, a 43-1 senior.
"It's not one I'm going to end like this one tonight," Francois said with a grin. "I've just gotta go in with a positive attitude and work harder than him."
He'll be joined by teammates Cole Schmitt (42-1 at 145 pounds) and Kalvin York (43-0 at 140) and hopes to get by with a little help from his longtime friends.
"This is awesome," Francois said. "Whenever anyone's down, we're always around to boost him back up."
An undefeated season from York would mean winning the weight class Schmitt, a University of Wisconsin recruit, captured last year before moving up to 145.
Darlington sophomore Devin Malott won a lopsided but unspectacular 11-0 major decision over Jacob Frane of Edgar. While Malott dominated the bout from a technical standpoint, he was unable to put the squeeze on due to cramping.
"I wanted to finish it right away because I was cramping so much," Malott said. "Cutting weight, I had some bananas for potassium, but that's about it."
Malott's been hitting the weight room and upping his protein intake to prep for the state tourney and had to do some last-second cutting, but is simply glad to have a full head of steam going into Day 2. He hopes to follow up his brother's Division 3 title in the 125-pound class last year.
"I just wanted to get the first one out of the way," Malott said. "Once you get that one out of the way, you can get into a groove a little bit."
The super sophomore hopes to be grooving on all cylinders when he opens Division 3 competition again this morning at 11:15 against undefeated Mike Sonnentag (29-0) of Cadott.
Black Hawk's lone representative in Division 3 is Jake Kaempfer, a 160-pound senior who will face Corey Anderson of Clear Lake, a 37-9 senior.
Klopfenstein will be joined by his 103-pound junior teammate Gavin Wels, who enjoyed a bye and will face 36-10 Mike Peterson of Mondovi.
"Klop" is proud to be the lone Cheesemakers senior and faces Tommy Dobbs of Melrose-Mindoro/Gale-Ettrick-Trempeleau, a 37-3 senior against whom he'll continue to follow his credo.
"Every match you've gotta believe you're gonna win, you could be done at any time."
