Titans receive third seed in team state tournament
Tanner Andersen of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro attempted to flip his opponenet during the WIAA Division Two State wrestling tournament on Saturday. (Times photography by Zac Bellman)
The Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro wrestling team returns to a familiar place with a familiar opponent for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Team State Tournament on Saturday.
The Titans received the third seed for the tournament at the University of Wisconsin Field House in Madison on Saturday, which means they will face second seeded Prairie du Chien in the state semifinal match.
G/M lost to PDC earlier this year, dropping a dual 36-30 at the Devils Duals in December. That G/M team did not have heavyweight Trevor Daffinson, a sixth-place finish at the individual state tournament last Saturday (see story elsewhere in Sports). Without Daffinson, the Titans had to forfeit a match, which made up the six-point difference in the dual.
The winner of the dual between G/M and PDC will take on the winner of the match between top-seeded Wrightstown and fourth-seeded Port Washington.
Wrightstown has a dual record of 20-0 on the season while PDC is 22-2, G/M is 16-6 and Port Washington is 14-7.
The Titans had seven wrestlers compete in the individual state tournament with five placing in the top six. PDC also had seven wrestlers in the state tournament with five place winners and two champions Rhett Koenig (106, 51-6) and Tyler Hannah (195, 53-0), the latter of which defeated G/M’s Bryce Burns in the state semifinal.
Wrightstown had five wrestlers in the state tournament with one champion — Ben Dorocher (152, 48-3) and two second-place finishers as the only wrestlers who placed. Port Washington had six wrestlers qualify with two placing.
