Dormanen caps career with state wrestling tournament silver medal

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MADISON — Tyler Dormanen dominated his first two matches in this year’s WIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships held at the Kohl Center in Madison February 24-26.

Ranked second in the Division 3, 170-pound weight class coming into the tournament, the Boyceville senior, who placed third a year ago in the same weight class, took care of business in both of his Friday matches, dispatching sixth-ranked Cole Klimek, a senior from Coleman, in their quarterfinals match with a 15-0 technical fall and then doubled up fourth seeded junior Ryan Roy of Wabeno/Laona, 10-5, in the semifinals.

Those two victories put Dormanen right where he wanted to be – in the state championship!

But instead of a gold-medal finish, the final prep wrestling match of his career ended in heartbreak and devastation.

Deadlocked in a scoreless battle Saturday evening, it appeared that Dormanen and his state championship opponent, top-ranked Brent Cracraft from Mishicot, were headed into overtime.

But then the unthinkable happened.

With less than 20 seconds left in the match, Cracraft turned Dormanen on his back for just a moment. But Dormanen quickly recovered and was trying to stand up when the match official signaled a second count and eventually awarded Cracraft a pair of near fall points.

That was it.

Those two points gave the Mishicot senior the 2022 Division 3, 170-pound state wrestling title leaving Dormanen heartbroken and his coaches in disbelief.

“Obviously, I am heartbroken,” began Dormanen. “I have put in a lot of hours and time, everything I had into it. Obviously, it wasn’t enough, I fell short.”

“It shows that no matter what you achieve there’s always more that you can achieve and there’s always more work that can be put in,” added Dormanen as he looked at his silver medal.

“But I am still feeling a lot of support from my family and the community even though I did not win it. It’s still heartbreaking!” said the Bulldog senior.

“It’s hard to explain that one,” said his head coach Jamie Olson who was also struggling with the final outcome.

“I can’t grasp it yet, so what do you tell an 18-year-old kid that just lost a state championship,” Olson lamented. “This one will be hard to swallow for a while.”

“It’s probably the worst call I’ve seen in all the years I’ve coached and then to have it happen to a kid that’s one of the hardest working kids that I have ever coached,” added Olson. “Why not put that match in overtime? Let those kids battle it out. It’s hard to explain, it is just hard to explain. It’s just kind of one of those (matches) that’s gonna take a while to figure out.”

For nearly three periods, Dormanen and Cracraft fought off one another’s attempts to score.

“We had a chance for a takedown in the first period but just didn’t quite get it,” noted Olson. “Then Tyler almost had back points in the second period.”

Those missed opportunities proved costly when Cracraft was awarded the only two points in the waning second of the state title.

Despite the final outcome, Dormanen wrestled a great tournament, an almost flawless one according to his head coach.

The singular focus and determination he demonstrated through out the tournament were especially evident in his first two state matches.

Dormanen opened his 2022 tournament early Friday afternoon with a quarterfinals’ match against Coleman senior Cole Klimek (46-9). It took just 15 seconds for the Boyceville grappler to score the takedown which led to a three-point near fall and a 5-0 advantage. Before the first period ended, Dormanen tacked on another three-point near fall.

In the second period, Klimek chose to start from the neutral position which allowed Dormanen to score another takedown and three-point near fall for a 13-0 lead heading into the third period.

Dormanen then worked a reversal in the first 38 seconds of the final frame to bring an end to the match via a 15-0  technical fall.

The shutout win sent Dormanen into the semifinals later that evening where he tangled with junior Ryan Roy of Wabeno/Laona.

Like his quarterfinal’s bout, Dormanen darted to a 5-0 lead off a first-period takedown and a three-point near fall. Roy, 49-5 and ranked fourth, scored a reversal late in the first frame to make it a 5-2 score.

Dormanen would choose the down position to start the second period. He scored a quick escape and added a second takedown midway through the period to increase his lead to 8-2.

The Boyceville senior’s final points came on a takedown midway through the third period. Roy escaped and scored a takedown with three ticks left on the clock to make the final score 10-5.

That win propelled Dormanen into the championship showdown the following night.

But that final match didn’t yield the result Dormanen had worked so hard to attain.

“Tyler has had a great career and set himself up to win a state title and unfortunately it was kind of taken from him,” said Olson. “I love the kid. He is one of those that does everything right and trains like crazy.”

And Dormanen knows to value the journey that got him where he is today. 

“I put my heart into it, my body into it. I went through injury, went through countless hours, everything,” said Dormanen.

“Since middle school, I can remember walking in and seeing the champions on the wall. Everyday that just drove me to want to be up there,” Dormanen said.

Despite the setback in his final high school match, Dormanen is not hanging up his wrestling shoes. Instead, he is taking up a new challenge – wrestling at UW-La Crosse.

“I plan on wrestling next year at La Crosse,” stated Dormanen. “I am hoping to put four years in there and achieve great things. I want to move forward with it because I love the sport. There’s a lot of downs, a lot of ups but the ups definitely outweigh the downs.”

 “I’m hoping that I look at it everyday and say ‘It wasn’t enough’ and I just keep putting the work in and use this as motivation to make me the best person I can because I want to go and achieve great things,” concluded Dormanen

There is no doubt that with an attitude and outlook like that, Dormanen can and will achieve great things.