WIAA SPORTS: Saturday’s highlights
Mike Kaebisch Wisconsin State Journal
Stoughton senior Rick Nelson waited until the opportunity presented itself. And when it did, he seized it and grabbed a WIAA state wrestling title while he was at it.
Nelson used a lateral drop to take down Portage senior Kevin Nolan and pinned him with 21 seconds left in their Division 1 championship match at 160 pounds before a sellout crowd Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
Nolan, the state champion at 152 pounds a year ago who finished 45-3 this season, went to his back off the move and it took Nelson just 9 more seconds to pin him.
“When I tossed him (and) he went to his back, “Nelson said, “I was pretty surprised.”
Especially considering he used a move he has only used sparingly since his junior year.
“My coaches told me to leave everything on the mat so I just did it, “said Nelson, who finished the season 41-9. “I have no clue how I was able to do this … just about everybody was telling me that I had a chance to win and that I should go out and give it my best effort. But this was a pretty big upset.”
Nolan scored an escape point at the start of the third period and led 1-0 when events turned.
As Nelson got off the mat to celebrate, his twin brother, Bob, who was in one of the three Stoughton coaching chairs along with co-coaches Bob Empey and Dan Spilde, jumped into Spilde’s hands.
After shaking hands with the Portage coaching staff, Rick Nelson sprang into Empey’s arms.
“I couldn’t believe that I had won a state championship at that point, “Nelson said. “It took me a little while to realize what had happened.”
Portage coach Mark Parrott, who is retiring, also had a hard time believing what had happened.
“That was the upset of the tournament, “Parrott said. “Nelson was coached very well and he threw in his first offensive move of the match and he caught us with it.”
Empey couldn’t have been prouder of Nelson.
“A win like that is something special, “Empey said. “Rick created his opportunity and jumped on it. He put himself in the position to be successful and the dream is to win by pin in the finals at state and he will be able to tell that story.”
The victory by Nelson was the 40th by a Stoughton individual at the state individual tournament and tied Mineral Point, which won two championships Saturday night, for the most in state tournament history.
“It speaks well about our program, “Empey said.
Verona sophomore Ben Sarbacker took a similar approach in his match with Wisconsin Rapids junior Kevin Tritz at 145 pounds, but ended up with a different result.
Tritz took a 6-2 lead after the first period and cruised to a 15-5 victory.
“He was more aggressive than I was, “said Sarbacker, who finished the season with a school-record 47 wins. “I never got to work my offense.”
Verona coach Bob Wozniak was still pleased.
“This is huge, “Wozniak said. “This will give him a lot of confidence heading into the rest of his high school career.”
DIVISION 2 WRESTLING: Reeve savors top spot
Kyle Reeve thought winning his first state wrestling title last year was perfect. The Wisconsin Heights senior felt his second one was even better.
After shaking off regional and sectional final losses to Lodi’s Jake Madigan, Reeve shook off Nekoosa-Port Edwards’ Zac Bartlett 4-2 in the WIAA Division 2 state championship match at 119 pounds Saturday night. Reeve broke a 2-2 tie on a reversal with 1 minute, 22 seconds remaining.
“I knew it was going to be harder this year, moving up a weight class, “said Reeve, who went 42-0 in winning at 112 a year ago. “Guys are bigger, stronger. I’m probably a little small for my class. But this almost feels better because I knew I had to work harder.
“(The) last match was a little closer than I wanted it, but you have that in the finals.”
Actually, his closest call this postseason came the Tuesday before sectionals. His bottom rib “slipped out over my other one “and there was some doubt Reeve could compete.
“We weren’t even sure if we’d be able to go in sectionals, so we wrapped them, “said Reeve, who wanted to finish off a memorable season in which he became a four-time Capitol Conference champion as Heights won its first team title in 30 years. “It hurts every now and then. I don’t know. I guess I took a lot of bumps along the way this year.”
So did the Wunnickes of Dodgeville.
They lost one state champion Friday when sophomore T.J., who won the Division 3 title at 103 as a freshman before the Wunnickes moved from Ithaca, had an apparent quarterfinal victory reversed because of a scoring error. But they crowned a new one Saturday when freshman Bobby avenged a double-overtime criteria loss to Zach Arentz earlier this season by handing the West Salem-Bangor senior his first loss in 49 matches 5-1.
“He could have just as easily not been there for me and run off and cried about him losing, “Bobby said of T.J., who took shots on his brother in warm-ups on the Division 2 mat before the finals. “I see us coming back, both of us, and winning it next year.”
There was no next year for Mike Lenzendorf, who finished off a 44-0 season by becoming Prairie du Chien’s first state champion in the last match to finish Saturday night.
He escaped from Abbotsford-Colby’s Chuck Madden with 17 seconds remaining in the second overtime for a 5-4 victory. Both wrestlers won their semifinals in two overtimes.
“When I was down, I knew I could get out; I can get out on anybody, “said Lenzendorf, who said he will either wrestle or possibly play football at the University of Wisconsin this fall. “It feels great to finish it off at the Kohl Center.”
– Rob Hernandez
DIVISION 3 WRESTLING: Mineral Point’s Fiedler has field day
Curtis Fiedler, the Mineral Point prep wrestling team’s lightning rod for grief, finally struck back Saturday night.
“Everyone on our team gives him all kinds of static, “Mineral Point coach Scott Schmitz said. “Curtis is the Mr. Bill on our team.”
Over the course of the WIAA state wrestling tournament, Fiedler had some, “Oh, no”, moments just like the Saturday Night Live clay creation, but he appears to have grounded the guff – at least temporarily – after winning the Division 3 state wrestling title at 130 pounds with a 7-5 victory over Cameron’s Joel Messick at the Kohl Center.
“I give it tomorrow, “Fiedler said.
Three of the prime instigators, teammates Brandon Schaaf, TJ Burke and Cory Sokol, came out of the stands to congratulate Fiedler immediately after he left the mat, potentially earning a reprieve from the good-natured back-and-forth.
“They give you (grief) just to make you stronger and you realize just how much they’re there for you and how much they want you to get this, “said Fiedler, a state runner-up at 125 last year.
“They’re great teammates to have. They have a lot to do with this (championship).”
Despite a bevy of heartbreaking semifinal losses Friday, Matt Gevelinger made this tournament one to remember for the Pointers.
The senior, who dislocated his left elbow during a championship match loss at 160 last year, made amends, beating De Soto’s Spenser Nickelatti 7-3 for the 171-pound title.
“I can’t imagine it would feel this good, “Gevelinger said. “Especially after what happened last year. I’m on top of the world.”
Gevelinger’s win put Mineral Point atop the all-time champions list. The championship was Gevelinger’s first and the 40th in Mineral Point history, moving the Pointers into a tie with Stoughton for the most overall titleists.
“‘Schmitty’ told us we would be part of something special, and I feel like I am, “Fiedler said.
Cambridge junior Robert Daggett, meanwhile, fell short in his bid to make more history.
The Blue Jays’ first state wrestling finalist fell to Cashton’s Andrew Dahl at 103 pounds.
“If you make your goal, or miss it by a little bit, the only way you can go is up, “Daggett said. “Obviously not the result I wanted. Just a little short this year. We’ll get it next year.”
Iowa-Grant sophomore Rory Edge and New Lisbon senior Brandon Lucas lost in title matches at 189 and 215, respectively.
– Jesse Osborne
WRESTLING NOTES: Mireles rewarded with title
This time, DeForest junior Sergio Mireles would not be denied.
After losing in last year’s WIAA Division 1 state wrestling finals to Monroe’s Corey Binger, Mireles returned to the finals Saturday night at the Kohl Center and came away a state champion. He dominated his 125-pound match against Wausau West junior Josh Kyle, recording six takedowns in a 14-9 victory.
Seven of Kyle’s points came on escapes after Mireles’ takedowns. Mireles, a transfer from Madison East, finished the season 31-1, with his only loss coming against a wrestler from Illinois.
“A defeat is a defeat and I think I learned something from that loss to Binger last year, “Mireles said of the 7-1 setback. “It’s always been a goal of mine to be a state champion. It turned out for me.”
Winning uniform policy
Winning was about the only thing uniform for Mineral Point wrestlers, who won all eight of their Division 3 matches on the day. But their singlets sure weren’t.
Seniors Cory Sokol (135) and T.J. Burke (160) won their third-place matches wearing the Pointers’ traditional championship white singlets as did Brandon Schaaf, who won his a consolation semifinal and his fifth-place match at 152.
But sophomore Greg Burke stuck to the blue singlet everyone wore Friday and avenged losses to Iowa-Grant’s Cade Sarbacker from the regional and sectional with a 3-1 victory in the third-place match at 125.
In the finals, Curtis Fiedler won his first state title in the Friday blues. Senior Matt Gevelinger capped the perfect day by winning in his Saturday whites at 171.
“We were supposed to wear white, but I already had my blue one on so I stayed in that one, “Greg Burke said. “I have a better record with my blue one on.”
Keeping score
Team scores have not been kept at the tournament since the WIAA established a team tournament in 1992, but the www.trackwrestling.com software used throughout the tournament series for the first time this year made them available.
Luxemburg-Casco – with four champions among its five finalists – led the way with 149 points. Wrightstown (99) edged Mineral Point (95) for second.
Quotable
Josh Hansen of Division 1 Wisconsin Rapids, Justin Schmidt of Division 2 Campbellsport and Brian Barbiaux of Division 2 Luxemburg-Casco all won their third state titles, and earned the admiration of Mineral Point senior Cory Sokol, who never made it back atop the awards stand after winning his only state championship as a sophomore.
“I’ve won one and that’s more than a lot of kids can say, but my hat’s off to those guys who have won two or three or four, “Sokol said after finishing third at 135. “That’s nuts.”
Mopping the mat
Attendance for the three-day tournament was 62,405, the second-highest in the meet’s 62-year history behind last year’s 62,907. … Milwaukee Heritage Christian’s Andy Moore became the first private school wrestler to win a WIAA state title when he took Division 3 honors at 189, beating Iowa-Grant’s Rory Edge 8-2. … Former Madison La Follette wrestler Chad Powell, the last Madison wrestler to win a state title (1993), produced his first state champion as coach at Cashton when Andrew Dahl took won the Division 3 title at 103. … Of the 33 unbeaten wrestlers at the start of the tournament, 19 wrestled for state titles and 14 finished with spotless marks. Just one of the 52 title matches featured two unbeatens – River Falls’ Trevor Brandvold (44-1) and Hartland Arrowhead’s Max Askren (48-0), who won 7-6.
– Notes by Mike Kaebisch and Rob Hernandez
Wrestling Gear
