State Wrestling Update: Consolation Finals
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MADISON – The final day of the WIAA State Wrestling Championship opened with consolation finals’ matches in all three divisions.
Glenwood City had its two remaining wrestlers – seniors Jacob Nadeau and Carson Strong – competing for an opportunity to advance to their respective third-place matches while Boyceville freshmen Walker Retz and Trett Joles were attempting to do likewise.
Retz was the first to wrestle of the three area wrestlers competing in the consolation finals.
Retz faced fellow freshman Griffin Slezewski of Southern Door in a 113-pound bout and took control of the match quickly. Retz scored a takedown and a three-point near fall in the final 15 seconds of the 1-minute opening period to lead 5-0. The Boyceville wrestler added another takedown and three-point near fall in the middle stanza to go ahead 10-1. For a third consecutive period, Retz added a takedown and followed with three near fall point to up his lead to 15-1. Salzewski earned a late reversal but it was much too little and too late as Retz won 15-3 to punch his ticket to the third-place match where he will face Mason Lull, a sophomore from Fennimore.
The Toppers’ Jacob Nadeau was looking to qualify for this second straight third-place match at 120 pounds where he finished fourth a year ago.
Nadeau took on Javyn Freeman of Phillips in the consolation final for that opportunity to wrestle for the bronze.
The pair had battled in last Saturday’s sectional final in Osceola with Nadeau prevailing 3-1.
This was another tight fight for much of the match.
Freeman took the 2-0 lead on a late, first-period takedown. Nadeau, who started the second period down, came back to tie it with a reversal but Freeman quickly escaped to regain the advantage 3-2. The with 30 second left in that period, Nadeau scored a takedown to go ahead 4-3. It remained that way until 36 into the final period when Freeman reversed Nadeau to lead 5-4. Nadeau escaped to tie the match but was then caught, cradled and pinned with 54 second left in the match. The GC wrestler will now face Kewaunee freshman Jack Severin for fifth place.
Carson Strong was next to compete in Saturday morning’s consolation finals.
Facing Fennimore sophomore Aiden Nutter, Strong trailed 2-0 after the first period of the 126-pound match. With Nutter taking the down position to start the second period, Strong worked the Fennimore wrestler on to his back to earn two near fall points to knot the contest at two. Nutter would work an escape to lead 3-2 after two. Strong chose the down position to begin the final period of regulation time with Nutter opting to give the GC senior the escape and point before the third frame started to tie the bout at three.
Both wrestlers probed the other’s defensive with little success until Strong broke through for the takedown with 28 second left on the clock and held Nutter down as the final second ticked off on his 5-3 victory.
Strong will wrestle Caden Calabrese of Kenosha Christian Life for the bronze.
Trett Joles, the Bulldogs’ 182-pound freshman, dominated his consolation final match against Edgar junior William Raatz. Trett Joles scored the combination of a takedown followed by a three-point near fall four different times in the match. Trett added his seventh takedown of the contest in the closing seconds of the bout for the 20-6 major decision. Scoreless through the one-minute first period, Joles lead 7-2 after the second frame and scored 13 point in the final two minutes for the lopsided victory.
Trett Joles will have a chance to exact some revenge when he takes on Lancaster’s Troy Klein, who pinned him in Friday’s quarterfinals, for third place.
