Fourteen area wrestlers advance to D3 sectional
Independence/Gilmanton's Grant Klimek had the best day of any Indee wrestler at Saturday's Aquinas regional, as he placed first in the 138-pound bracket. (Times photograph by Zach Rastall)
Whitehall's Frank Juresh IV pinned Westfield's Jeremy Zanotti in the final seconds of the first period of their 106-pound semifinal at last weekend's Aquinas regional. (Times photograph by Zach Rastall)
The Independence/Gilmanton and Whitehall wrestling programs had strong showings at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division Three La Crosse Aquinas regional on Saturday, combining to send 13 wrestlers to this Saturday’s Westby sectional.
The Indees advanced seven wrestlers and six Norse matmen will compete this Saturday, while Blair-Taylor also has one wrestler continuing his season. The Indees took third in the team standings with 181 points, behind Royall/Wonewoc/Center, 215 and La Crosse Aquinas, 322. The top two teams qualified for the team sectional in Mineral Point, held on Tuesday of this week. Whitehall took fourth with 162.5 points.
Both I/G and Whitehall had one individual champion as Grant Klimek (42-7) took the top spot at 138 pounds for the Indees and Whitehall’s Devin Hutsell (29-9) won the 175-pound class.
Klimek had a dominant showing with a pin and a major decision before handling Brookwood’s Drew Powell (37-8) by technical fall, 20-3, in the championship.
Owen Gierok (132, 15-7), Sam Marsolek (144, 39-9) and Chase Back (165, 32-18) all took second for the Indees.
Gierok won his first two matches before falling to Aquinas’ Roger Flege (41-3) by technical fall in the championship. He pinned Caston Gosda of Brookwood to claim second place. Marsolek had two pins before being pinned by Mason Groskreutz (44-7) of Westfield Area. He rebounded with a pin over Grady Nicklay of Aquinas in the second-place match.
Back was closer to winning the championship. After two pins he lost to Jackson Bender (24-4) of R/W-C, 9-4, in the championship. He did not have to wrestle again because he had already defeated the third-place finishers.
Mason Severson (120, 33-13) and Drew Bragger (285, 32-12) both finished third. Severson lost to Whitehall’s Kivin Juresh by pin in the semifinal but rebounded to win his third-place match by pin. Bragger fell to Will Flottmeyer (15-4) of Aquinas, 9-0, in the semifinal before winning the third-place match by pin and being pinned by Caden Behselich (46-6) of Pittsville in the second-place match.
Landan Stamper (157, 17-31) also advanced for the Indees by taking fourth. Stamper lost to Whitehall’s Evander Peterson in the quarterfinal but won the fifth- and fourth-place matches by pin to qualify for the sectional.
Blake Slaby (150, 12-29) and James Carrillo Taylor (215, 20-24) just missed out, taking fifth, Preston Solberg (175, 25-24) finished sixth and James Canto Lucio (190, 13-18) did not place.
Hutsell needed a close win to advance to the championship as he defeated Issac Miller of Aquinas, 9-8, in the semifinal round. He then pinned Emerson Murray of R/W-C to claim the 175-pound title.
Frank Juresh (106, 31-8) and Kivin Juresh (120, 29-13) both finished second for the Norse.
Frank Juresh received two byes before pinning Jeramy Zanotti of Westfield Area in the semifinal. He lost the championship to Lincoln Stanek of Aquinas (33-8) by technical fall, 17-1, but rebounded with a pin in the second-place match.
Kivin Juresh also had two byes before pinning I/G’s Severson. He fell to Martez Sheard (35-3) of Aquinas by technical fall, 20-3, but did not have to wrestle again since Severson finished third.
Evander Peterson (157, 29-12) finished third for Whitehall. He lost by pin in the semifinal round but beat B-T’s Easton Rogstad in the third-place match.
Broc Coburn (165, 17-11) and Caden Bacino-Hansche (215, 22-7) both advanced with fourth-place finishes. Coburn pinned Luke Jones of Aquinas in the fourth-place match and Bacino-Hansche stuck I/G’s Carillo Taylor to advance.
Luke Matejka (190, 22-17) finished fifth, while Cash Kulig (144, 25-17), Brodie Garbers (150, 8-17) and Mason Bautch (285, 15-20) were all sixth.
Rawley Matejka (138, 14-23), Brayden Johnson (132, 6-17), Gage Garbers (126, 12-13) and Jason Hinrichs (113, 7-11) did not place.
Billy Miller (150, 29-15) took fourth to advance to the sectional for B-T. Miller pinned I/G’s Blake Slaby in the fourth-place match.
Rogstad (157, 11-24) finished fifth while Austin Clemens (126, 18-17), Anthony Haas (144, 3-9), Armoni Samples (165, 9-25) and Henry Miller (175, 8-21) did not place.
