Raptors Hovde, Rubenzer end seasons at sectional; Hamman headed to state tournament in Madison
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AMERY — The Bloomer/Colfax boys’ wrestling season is over.
The Raptors final two boys’ competitors – Theo Hovde and Ethan Rubenzer – saw their seasons come to an end at the WIAA Division 2 Individual Wrestling Sectional tournament held at Amery High School last Saturday, February 18 after neither was able to qualify for a berth in this week’s state championships at the Kohl Center in Madison.
The season, however, will last one final week for Kendra Hamman. The junior qualified for the second-ever girls’ state wrestlling tournament by winning the 185-pound weight class in Amery. She was the only competitor in that bracket.
Colfax sophomore Theo Hovde wrestled just one match in Amery losing on second-period fall to Medford Area senior Thad Sigmund in a quarterfinal’s match at 120 pounds. Hovde was later eliminated from competition when Sigmund, ranked seventh in the latest state poll by Wisconsin Grappler, lost his semifinal match.
Hovde concluded the 2022-23 season with a 35-12 record.
Bloomer senior Ethan Rubenzer, who carried a state rank of tenth in his 170-pound weight class, finished the sectional tournament in fourth place after going 2-2 on the day. He just missed a state berth which goes to the top three place finishers in each of the 14 weight classes.
Rubenzer, who capped his prep career with a 49-8 senior season, opened his sectional tournament in Amery with a 10-3 decision over Aidan Drost of Rice Lake. In the semifinals, third-ranked Tanner Kaufman of Northwestern scored an 8-1 decision against Rubenzer. Kaufman went on to finish in second place.
On the consolation side of the 170-pound bracket, Rubenzer took on Dan Luchterhand of Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal in a consolation semifinal match and won a close 3-1 decision to earn spot in the third-place bout and an opportunity to go to state should he win. Unfortunately, Rubenzer found himself on the other side of another 3-1 decision as he lost the bronze medal and a state berth to Lucas D’Jock of Luck/Frederic/Grantsburg/Siren to finish in fourth.
Kendra Hamman, 3-2 this season, will take on fellow junior Gwen Breckheimer (14-11) of Chilton/Hilbert in Thursday night’s preliminary round at the Kohl Center. There is only one division for girls with 12 different weight classes with up to 16 girls competing in each class.