Four Titan wrestlers punch tickets to state

The Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro wrestling co-op will be represented well this weekend at the individual state tournament, with a total of four Titan wrestlers making the trip to Madison to compete with the best of the best in Wisconsin.

Koda Purney (113 pounds), Colton Koss (120 pounds), Gunnar Johnson (157) and Aaron Dunigan (215) all qualified for the 2025 state tournament by placing in the top three in their respective weight classes at last Saturday’s Division 2 sectional in Wisconsin Dells.

Koss continued his dominant junior season with an individual sectional title this past weekend, while the Titans’ other three state qualifiers all placed third in their brackets.

G-E-T/Mel-Min had five other wrestlers competing at sectionals who were one and done after losing in the quarterfinals: Gunnar Kremer (126), Brody Banse (132), Jayce Stetzer (138), Layne Fry (144) and Braden Peterson (175).

Arcadia’s four sectional qualifiers all were unable to register a win as well: Zayden Sanchez (106), Adalberto Ortiz (144), David Aguilar (165) and Angel Garcia (190).

Koss locked in a state berth by beating Nolan Van Schyndle of Cuba City/Benton/Southwestern via a 15-0 tech fall in the quarterfinals and defeating Lodi’s Bryer Caves via a 15-9 decision in the semifinals.

In the first-place match, Koss managed to pin Richland Center’s Ethan Hady just 1:08 into the first period to secure the sectional title. Hady was the D2 113-pound runner-up at state a year ago. With his sectional performance, Koss is now the No. 1 overall seed in his weight class going into the state tournament.

Johnson defeated Belmont/Platteville’s Tyler Kisamore in a 17-2 tech fall in the quarterfinals and Fennimore’s Ryder Zdanczewicz via a 10-1 major decision in the semifinals to punch his state ticket, though he lost his next two matches to settle for third place.

After semifinal losses, Purney and Dunigan eventually clinched state berths with wins in their third-place matches. Purney defeated Prairie du Chien’s Hunter Reid in a 14-9 decision and Dunigan eked out a win over Belmont/Platteville’s Mason Mandurano in a 7-6 decision.

Koss has now qualified for state all three years of high school and Johnson is making his second appearance in Madison. Purney and Dunigan will each make their state debuts this weekend.

“It will be great for Koda and Aaron to be able to lean on Colton and Gunnar, who have been here before,” said Titans head coach Pete Peterson. “We also have several young coaches who can help relate to what these wrestlers are going through. I honestly believe all four of these wrestlers have a great chance to be on the podium at state, and right now, all are ranked in the top six in their brackets. Wrestling these tough sectional matches have put them through the ringer and they know what they have to do to win.”

Peterson also lauded his wrestlers for not letting a disappointing result at team sectionals earlier in the week linger into the weekend and affect their performance in the Dells.

“After a tough outing last Tuesday at team sectionals, it was great to see the wrestlers show up and compete hard,” Peterson said. “Eight of our nine sectional wrestlers will be back next year, and this experience will be great for them individually and as a team. We had a couple of the kids that didn’t make it and know with a little extra work, they too can join the trip to Madison.”

The 2025 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament will run from Thursday, February 27 to Saturday, March 1 at the Kohl Center in Madison. Details on each day’s session times and full brackets can be found on the WIAA website.

Titans see opportunities slip away in sectional loss to Belmont/Platteville

On the heels of conference and regional titles in back-to-back weekends, the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro Titans entered team sectional competition with the hope of securing a state berth for the first time since making three straight trips from 2018 to 2020.

Instead, the Titans saw those hopes dashed with a semifinal loss that left them ruing missed opportunities.

Belmont/Platteville set the tone early in their Division 2 semifinal dual with the Titans and ultimately emerged victorious 43-32 last Tuesday in Prairie du Chien.

The dual started with the heavyweight match then went from lightest to heaviest from there. Belmont/Platteville came out of the gates strong in the first two matches, as Rusty Wruck pinned Benjamin Hansen with 13 seconds left in the first period of their heavyweight bout and James Kastner got a pinfall against Jaden Page 54 seconds into their 106-pound match.

Those early 12 points loomed large in the long run.

Koda Purney gave the Titans a needed jolt in the 113-pound match with a pinfall victory against Adam Whisenant. 

After getting a quick takedown at the start of the third period, Purney was in a spot where any kind of near fall would have given him a tech fall win. Instead, Purney got the pin on Whisenant to secure the extra point. Colton Koss followed that up with a pinfall victory over Aiden Weigel in the final seconds of the first period of their 120-pound bout to level the dual at 12-12.

Belmont/Platteville’s Briggs Weigel tallied a 15-0 tech fall win over Gunnar Kremer at 126 pounds, and G-E-T/Mel-Min answered with their own technical fall victory thanks to Brody Banse beating Jesse Kastner 20-2 at 132 pounds to again even up the dual score at 17-17.

After Belmont/Platteville’s Dylan Weigel pinned Jace Anderson in the 138-pound match, the Titans missed out on a chance for an extra point via a major decision and settled for three points in the 144-pound match as Jayce Stetzer defeated Oliver Harcus in a 7-2 decision.

Belmont/Platteville extended its lead to 34-20 thanks to Mason Oellerich pinning Layne Fry at 150 pounds and Tyler Kisamore defeating Scott Johnson in a 16-1 tech fall.

Gunnar Johnson briefly got the Titans back on track with six points in the 165-pound match by pinning Hugo Jean-Louis Justal just over a minute into the first period. However, Kadyn Davis’s pinfall win over Landon Windsor midway through the second period of their 175-pound bout pushed Belmont/Platteville’s lead to 40-26 with only two matches remaining, thus clinching the dual victory.

With the dual result decided, Belmont/Platteville’s Cam Moore narrowly beat Braden Peterson via an 8-7 decision at 190 pounds and G-E-T/Mel-Min’s Cale Pickering won the final match by pinning Ethan Burggraf in the second period of their 215-pound bout.

“We didn’t wrestle well and execute when we had chances to,” said Titans head coach Pete Peterson. “Gave up pins at heavyweight and 106; I thought we had chances to win those matches. You’re down 12-0, that’s a really hard pill to swallow. I thought we’d at least split one and one, come out of it 6-6 maybe.”

In the other semifinal, Fennimore defeated Lodi 50-20. In the sectional final dual, the Golden Eagles beat Belmont/Platteville 41-26 to advance to team state, where they will be seeking their fourth consecutive state championship.