Boyceville sends nine to State Youth wrestling tournament, pair return home with place finishes
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A DOZEN Boyceville wrestlers earned spots on the 2020-21 Dunn-St. Croix all-conference wrestling squads. Front row (L to R): Noah Evenson (2nd team), Brady Mast (2nd team), Brice Evenson (2nd team), Emma Gruenhagen (2nd team), Nate Stuart (1st team), and Ira Bialzik (1st team). Back row (L to R): Peyton Ponath (2nd team), Tyler Dormanen (1st team), Kyle Lipke (2nd team), Trett Joles (1st team and Wrestler of the Year), John Klefstad (1st team), and Keegan Plemon (1st team). —photo submitted
WISCONSIN DELLS – Boyceville had nine youth wrestlers competing in the state tournament held this past weekend in the Dells.
Out of those nine, two placed and made the awards podium in the 2021 Wisconsin Wrestling Federations (WWF) Kids’ Folkstyle State Championships which were held Friday through Sunday, March 5-7 at the Woodside’s Wisconsin Dells Center in Wisconsin Dells.
Serenity Miller copped a fifth place while fellow Bulldogs’ teammate Easton Retz finished in sixth.
Also competing from Boyceville were Treylyn Heinz, Evan Johnson, Lexton Benitz, Logan Hopkins, Ramon Stanford, Cole Retz, and Owen Tuttle.
Serenity Miller, competing in the girls’ born in 2010-11 70-pound division finished her state tournament with a 3-2 record and was awarded a trophy and a spot on the awards podium for her fifth-place finish.
Serenity started the tournament with back-to-back, first-period pins. She scored a 22 second pin over Rohwen Aultman of Iowa-Grant in her first-round match and then put New Richmond’s Chloe Brotzler to her back in 1:22 in the quarterfinals. That win advanced Serenity to the championship semifinals where she met Morgan Johnson of Askren Wrestling Academy. Johnson claimed an 8-2 decision which sent Miller to the consolation-side of the bracket. Miller lost her first consolation bracket but was able to finish her tournament on a high note with a win in the fifth-place match where she pinned Merrill’s Emersyn Grasp in 37 seconds.
Easton Retz charged out of the gates and won his first three matches at the WWF Kids’ Folkstyle State tourney. He followed an opening-round bye with a pair of sub-one-minute pins, sticking Beau Paulson of Mukwanago 53 seconds into their second-round bout and followed it up by putting Jase Strandlie of Prairie du Chien to the mat in only 35 ticks into the quarterfinal match. After a heartbreaking 9-7 overtime loss in his semifinal match to Griffin Colby of Abbotsford/Colby, Easton lost his final two matches by fall, at 16 seconds of the consolation match to Cameron Perez of Waterford and to Chase Blau of West Bend just 33 second into the fifth-place match. He finished the tournament with a 3-3 mark.
Lexton Benitz had a very good tournament finishing with a 4-2 record but was not able to place in the 81-pound weight class for the boys born in 2010-11 division. Benitz had a pair of first-period pins among his four victories.
Four of Boyceville’s state competitors – Treylen Heinz, Evan Johnson, Logan Hopkins, and Owen Tuttle – finished their respective tournament runs with records of 2-2.
Both of Heinz’, Johnson’s and Hopkins’ wins came via byes, with Heinz and Johnson competing in the 69-pound weight class in the boys born 2010-11 division and Hopkins in the 73-pound class for the boys born 2008-09 division.
Tuttle also secured a victory on a bye but also earned a 2:45 pin over Two Rivers’ Gavin Glaser in the second-round of consolation.
Roman Stanford, wrestling at 105 pounds, and Cole Retz, competing at 115 pounds, both in the boys born 2008-09 division, finished 1-2.