Bulldogs runners-up again; will send six to sectional tournament

SPRING VALLEY — In the end, all one can do is give their best effort time and again regardless of the outcome.

And that is precisely what each and everyone of Boyceville’s wrestlers did last Saturday, February 15 in the WIAA Division 3 Wrestling Regional held at Spring Valley High School.

“I thought it went well,” said Boyceville head coach Jamie Olson of his grapplers performances at the 2014 regional tournament. “We wrestled with intensity, we came to wrestle today.”

“When the whole team can place in the top four,” added Olson, “you know you have had a good day.”

Despite 14 finishes in the top four that included four championships, a pair of seconds, and four third-place finishes, Boyceville fell short in its bid for the regional championship and an opportunity to return to its own gym for last night’s team sectional.

For the third time in four years, the Bulldogs finished as the runner-up at this year’s seven-team regional meet.

“I was proud of the kids today,” Olson stated. “Proud of their effort, it was a good day for us. Spring Valley is just a really good team.”

“I’m proud that our kids rose to the occasion today,” Olson said. “That is all you can ask, give it everything you got and they did that.”

Boyceville bettered its regional tally from a year ago as it scored 229 points but still finished nearly 50 points behind Spring Valley/Elmwood. The Cardinals, the top-ranked Division 3 squad all season, locked down its third consecutive regional crown (a nice compliment to their four straight Dunn-St. Croix championships) and a trip to the Boyceville team sectional with a score of 277.5 points. Glenwood City finished third with 174 followed by Mondovi at 125, Cadott with 119, Durand had 102, and wrestling neophyte Eau Claire Regis finished with 31 points.

Spring Valley also advanced the most wrestlers to the WIAA Division 3 Individual Wrestling Sectional to be held this Saturday, February 22 at Osseo-Fairchild High School. The Cardinals had 12 of its 14 wrestlers earn spots in the sectional tournament. Boyceville was next with six qualifiers followed by Glenwood City with five, Mondovi and Cadott with two each and Durand with one. The top two wrestlers in each weight class advance to sectional competition.

Four Bulldogs claimed individual regional championships Saturday while two others finished second.

Senior Bryor Hellmann (160), junior Austin Wolfe (106) and freshmen phenoms James Palmer (113) and Micah Johnson (138) won their first regional titles. Hellmann and Wolfe will be competing in their second sectional meet as will Jon Harnisch (152). He was a regional runner-up for the second straight year while fellow senior Wyatt Hansen earned his first sectional berth with a second place showing at 145 pounds.

Jake Lake, a regional champion a year ago at 285 pounds, was one of four Bulldogs to just miss qualifying for this year’s sectional tournament. Lake took third at 220 pounds as did seniors Sawyer Swenson and James Lindo at 120 and 132 respectively and junior Logan McAbee-Thomas at 170 pounds.

“We were hoping for eight or nine and even ten,” said Olson. “Jake Lake, Sawyer Swenson and Tyler Stroo battled injuries all year, when you don’t have that mat time you are not battle tested all through the season.”

Stroo (126) along with Alex Lovett (182), Clayton Windsor (195), and Jake Erickson (285) each placed fourth. Erickson was subbing for Boyceville heavyweight Brandon Windsor, who broke his leg earlier in the week.

“We lost some close ones there that we had to win to win this tournament,” said Olson. “We knew coming in it was a tough task but we went after it.”

No one epitomized that effort better than the Bulldogs’ four regional champions.

All four had dominant, gold-medal performances.

After finishing in second last year, no one was going to stand between Austin Wolfe and a title at 106 pounds. Wolfe, the top seed and state ranked, easily took the regional poster, emblematic of a championship, with a pair of second-period pins. After a quarterfinals bye, Wolfe stuck Cadott’s Alex Licht in the semifinals and followed it with a pin (2:55) in the championship against Mondovi’s Austin Fedie. The junior lightweight is now 39-2 on the season

The Bulldogs’ faithful would not have to wait long for a second gold. Freshman James Palmer improved to 40-2 en route to a title at 113 pounds. Palmer earned a first-round bye as the weight’s number one seed. His first match of the tournament came against Cadott’s Brandon Pedersen in the semifinals. Palmer secured a spot in the finals with a dominating 15-0 technical fall in just 3:05. In the championship, Palmer overcame a 3-1 deficit with four points in the final period to post a 5-3 win over second-ranked Derek Huebel of Spring Valley/Elmwood.

Boyceville’s other standout freshman Micah Johnson gave the Bulldogs’ their third straight regional title in as many tries with a quick 55 second pin of Durand’s Hunter Adler in the 138-pound championship match. Johnson (39-1) also posted a pin in his semifinals bout where he stuck Glenwood City senior Jake Carlson in 2:20.

Senior Hellmann garnered the Bulldogs’ final title of the tournament with an exciting and hard fought 11-9 decision over Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Trent Miller in the 160-pound final. Hellmann, the top seed, earned his way to finals with a first-period time (1:35) of Mitchell Johnson of Cadott. Hellmann will take a 37-6 mark into Saturday’s sectional meet.

Two other Bulldogs fell just short of winning their weight classes.

Wyatt Hansen and Jon Harnisch both finished with the silver.

Hansen earned a spot in the 145-pound championship with a 57-second pin of Regis’ Ryan Job in the quarterfinals and a 9-3 win over Lee Becker of Mondovi in the semis. Hansen gave top seed Zach Newton an excellent match but fell 6-3 in the gold-medal contest. Hansen had to defend the silver in a wrestleback but retained his second-place standing when he pinned Dylan Vitense of Cadott in 1:07.

Harnisch led Spring Valley with a second regional silver. Harnisch pinned Mondovi’s Garrett Kees in 1:08 of the quarterfinals and then blanked Glenwood City’s Hunter Chouinard 4-0 to gain the finals against Jed Schlegel of Spring Valley/Elmwood. The Cardinals’ wrestler took the championship match by a score of 6-2.

Seniors Sawyer Swenson (12-4) and James Lindo (23-16) finished their high school careers at the regionals Saturday. Both finished in third place for a second straight year. Swenson took the bronze at 120 pounds and Lindo did likewise at 132.

Jake Lake missed a trip back to the sectional meet as he, along with Logan McAbee-Thomas capped their year’s with third place finishes as well.

Tyler Stroo (126), Alex Lovett (182), Clayton Windsor (195), and Jake Erickson (285) placed fourth. Lovett lost a pair of heartbreaking decisions that included a 9-7 overtime loss to eventual champion Blayze Wood of GC and a 10-9 defeat to Neil Matchey of Mondovi for third place.

Sectional wrestling will begin at 10:00 a.m. Saturday. The top three finishers in each weight class will advance to the WIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships to be held at the Kohl Center in Madison February 27 and 28 and March 1.