State Wrestling Update: Seven area wrestlers remain in title hunt
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
MADISON – The first day of wrestling at the 2014 WIAA state wrestling championships held mixed results for area wrestlers.
Seven wrestlers – a trio from Boyceville and a Glenwood City quartet – had appointments in Thursday evening’s preliminary round in Division 3, where second- and third-place sectional finishers went head-to-head to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals.
Austin Wolfe was the only Bulldog to picked up a win in the prelims. He pinned Westfield freshman Daniel Nelson in just one minute and three seconds into their 106-pound match.
Boyceville seniors Wyatt Hansen and Jon Harnisch capped their prep wrestling careers on the Kohl Center mats. Hansen lost a 14-7 decision at 145 pounds to Zach Coffeen of Laconia, a freshman with an impressive 44-7 record. Harnisch couldn’t find an opening against Auburndale’s Wyatt Weiler. The junior Apache wrestler dominated the 152-pound prelim match 14-1.
Hansen finishes his final year of wrestling with a 31-16 mark while Harnisch completed an 31-18 senior-year campaign.
Glenwood City enjoyed a bit more success in Thursday’s round as three of its four senior state qualifiers won their preliminary round match-ups.
Isaac Tuttle (33-8) was the first to hit the mats for Glenwood City Thursday night. He used six takedowns to defeat his 170-pound opponent Taz Gottsacker of Ozaukee 14-5.
220-pounder Donovan Fornal needed just 46 second to stick Westfield wrestler Brandon Peters to advance to the quarterfinals. Fornal proved to 34-9 with the victory.
Joining both Tuttle and Fornal in the quarters, will be Toppers’ heavyweight Brennan Kessler. Despite surrendering several pounds and inches in many of his matches this season, Kessler has found ways to win. And his first state match was no different. Kessler battled Brillion’s Rydick Braden to a scoreless tie into the third period before he scored and escaped and then a takedown to post a 3-0 win in the 285-pound bout.
Blayze Wood fell short in his first and only state match with a 7-0 loss to Kamren Bornbach if Stratford. Wood finished the year with a 28-15 record.