The Wisconsin Wrestler
The Wisconsin Wrestler is a podcast dedicated to all things involving Wisconsin high school wrestling. Made by the Wisconsin wrestling fan, for the Wisconsin wrestling fan, we try to hit on all corners of the sport at the high school level, from season previews, to recaps, to interviews with guests throughout the offseason.
The Wisconsin Wrestler
Team State Recap
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Steve and Teague recap every dual from Team State, then wrap up their thoughts on the season and plans going forward!
Welcome to the Wisconsin Wrestler Podcast with your co-hosts Teak Fenwick and Steve Lurkwick.
SPEAKER_00Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another edition of the Wisconsin Wrestler Podcast. I'm your host, Teak Fenwick, coming to you live from Holman. Joining me as always from Koshkinong. It's my co-host, Steve Lurklin. Steve, great to be here.
SPEAKER_01It is great to be here. I wish I could say pump to be here. I was kind of thinking about it. It's kind of a little sad. It's got a little case of the sadsies, as Teague likes to say.
SPEAKER_00There's a little bit of that on the drive home from state. And that just it just clicks in.
SPEAKER_01It helps that we have team state. It really does.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah. One more, one more up before before the year ends. I think it's uh, man, you you do it like watching all the matches and everything, and then like going through the names while you're looking at brackets. And I think a big part of it is like all the seniors, which we're gonna talk more about the seniors at the end. But yeah, the season is a winding down, folks. We got a let's go from Maddie V in the chat. So he is jacked up. He's ready to talk some state. Steve, what do you got for gear?
SPEAKER_01Uh I am wearing, I can't remember when I got this, T. I think, well, this might have been one that you uh had in your closet for a little while, but I got the uh Osceola, Osceola wrestling shirt on. Figure can't wear it tomorrow for our uh our preseason show. I'm sorry, our pre uh whatever we call it, preview show for the team team state. Don't want to show favoritism, so figured I'd throw it on today.
SPEAKER_00Gotta gotta dress neutral for that. Well, I have some more sick gear from Whitehall. The girls' team at Valkyrie Rising. The Valkyries is one of my favorite mascots. Immediately jumped into the top five when I heard that's what their name was. That's a good name. Oh, yeah, the show tonight. We got milestones that we're gonna be doing. We have uh we're gonna be going through, I don't know, probably talk about some people that we either met or talked to this weekend. And uh, of course, at least we are going to be, we're at least gonna be hitting all the finals. We might talk about some matches, some people within those brackets. Let's be honest, give everyone a heads up. Probably not gonna hit everything that everyone's anticipating to hear because it's just a lot to unpack, and I think my brain still somewhat resembles oatmeal from the weekend. So we'll we'll do our best to do the brackets justice, and then this episode, I highly recommend sticking on until the end. And uh yeah, I got a reading of the other guy on the mat, which yeah, gets a little gets a little deep up here in the Wisconsin Wrestler Podcast. Steve, any other thing on that? I mean, it's just I think it's good for everyone to uh to hear, regardless of whether they want to stay titled or not.
SPEAKER_01No, I not not a lot to add. It is uh um, I I like that you read it every year, and I'll save my thoughts for that at the end. With my little tribute to the seniors and anybody that steps on the wrestling mat for that matter.
SPEAKER_00Well, on that note, let's pull up the bracket. Make sure I hopefully I have the right one up here.
SPEAKER_01Are you uh are you gonna Are you gonna do the brackets? What's up? Are you gonna do the milestones first, or is that a- Oh yeah, what am I?
SPEAKER_00All right, let's do the milestones. My bad. Alright, milestones from this weekend. This was all in the comments. If if you sent me a message with the milestone from this weekend, chances are it is not on here because our messages got flooded. And I just was not gonna parse back through everything. So this is what we got. If there's something we didn't list that happened during individual state weekend, feel free to put it in the comments, and uh we can get a shout-out in there. All right, girls 100 wins, Layla Risler and Eliana Robinson, boys 100 wins, Dylan Hood, Mitch Reinicke, Sawyer Ebner, Colton Ballig, Iron Dilleski, Tom Dom Swetlick, Jake Anderson, and 150 wins. We got this one hurt, Steve. So George Hamilton from South Powaky actually goes by Rusty. We missed out calling him Rusty Hamilton all these years. Uh Rusty Hamilton from South Pawaki at 150. Willie Ducheman, yes, just a junior, hit 150, and I think he broke the season's win record as well. Zach Hellendrung and Hunter Stevens all hit the career 150 win mark. Alois Schlumpf hit 175, which I think broke the old record. Is it Chase Farr? I think that might have it for Bayport. And then 100 pins, Josh Amy of Elko, Abrock Swenson, St. Croix Central, Brady Kessler, Shitek Warehouser, Prairie Farm. And then this one, not an even number, but this was interesting, Steve. Declan Cook with his win in the finals, tied Jacob Herm's win record in Nina history with 188 career wins. Stood for a year. Which those two uh they're basically side by side for everything. So I think it's I think it's fitting that they ended up tied with uh the win mark. I agreed. Agreed. Oh, we got Austin from quick from Quick Trip Hale.
SPEAKER_01Let's go. And uh Jeremy's saying he thinks that uh Cassidy O'Connell got her 100th win at state.
SPEAKER_00So Cassidy O'Connell, congrats on your 100th win. Dusty Rager, congrats on your 150th diet do of the year. Can't go through the year without a little uh diesel in our lives. All right, see, real quick, just um I had a lot of interactions. I'm sure as I see names in the bracket, we'll go through it too. But I knew it was gonna be a good weekend when I walked from the nitty-gritty to the coal center with the Swick family before round one. Had a nice conversation with Eric Swick, and uh I joked about his kid seed. And he said, Well, you know what? If you don't like your seed, just wrestle better, and then uh your seed doesn't matter. And that is that is what I expect from Eric Swick. That's probably why he's a three-time state champion, Steve. That's true. And I've got to give a shout out to the Richland Center wrestling fans, specifically the family of Maddie Miller, got a chance to finally meet us. So Maddie is my co-worker's niece, and I uh walked up to them. It was after Maddie's last match, and my coworker's sister, I like said something. She's like, Oh my gosh, you're Amy's coworker, which usually at wrestling events I don't get referred to as Amy's coworker right away. So that was a fun little surprise. And then, Steve, I gotta say, if this moment just made my day from day one. I forgot if you were up in the oh no, I just ended up telling you about it. But I went to the, I went to get a drink while I was waiting to commentate, and there's this little girl there who just uh I started talking to the concession person, and she just seemed so uh bright-eyed and pushy-tailed, and we I went back into the commentary area, and I saw her and her mom standing outside. She just had the biggest smile on her face, and I just have to say, got a picture with her. I'm guessing her mom will post it, but shout out to uh the Cradovills of Lancaster, specifically Lillian, who has probably been listening to the show for more than half of her life now at this juncture. And, you know, we talked about the whys of why we do it, Steve, and I think that that moment I just held on to the whole weekend. So shout out to you, Lillian, and all the Lancaster people that I met later that night, where I confirmed it that I'd got to see Will Cratteville as well. But that's what I got for now. I'm sure there'll be plenty more. Anything for you, Stevo? I'll throw it in as we get to different weight classes. I I did hear you got to meet an Eric Claus and look alike, which I did. Scary news for him, yeah. All right, let's pull this up.
SPEAKER_01All right, you know. And folks, T's gonna be going through brackets. If anybody wants to add anything, uh it'll probably just be saying the champions, and then uh if anybody's got any comments, and um that's kind of it's kind of my job to read them or whatever. So I don't I don't have a huge huge part in this, other than if you if you put some comments in and it's uh noteworthy, I'm I'm I may or may not say it.
SPEAKER_00All right, yeah, we got a lot of comments in here. It's yeah, lively crowd. Hey, we got Lancaster State champ Kyle Mesera tuning in. Love to see it. All right, girls, 100 a pound to Steve. Gonna start with the girls tonight. Cat Cook of Freedom, the two seed, 12-4 over Einie Anderson of Holman. We kind of knew the field going into this. Anderson is a five-seed. I definitely didn't view her as an underdog. He had the circle of parody, and this bracket was deep. It was really fun. I mean, we had the Anderson Beckett match in the quarters. That was 17 to 15. But Kat Cook came through a big win for the Freedom Jr.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we probably won't we won't know this, and it's I think it's too early to say this uh um throughout everyone, and I don't have the girls up here, but obviously uh Freedom's first girl state champ. So it's a good uh good shout out. I I thought this was a great bracket. Anybody's to win.
SPEAKER_00107 pounds. Oh yeah, we can't forget to bring up our picks as well, Steve. I forgot to put that in my notes. 107 pounds, finals. Mary Prescott of Hudson, 17-3, major decision over Ada Miller of St. Croix Central. We've been saying it all year, right? Once uh Mary uh went down to 107, she was going to be a problem. And indeed she was, did in pretty dominant fashion. Ada Miller on her path to the finals, no close matches, 12-8, 2-0, 7-6 over the one seed. Of course, we had the Thomas Yauke sectional rematch in uh the quarterfinals that Thomas came through and won 3-0.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and uh one of those weight classes, just like 100 pounds, he had a three-seed and a five-seed in the finals. So once again, it's uh you gotta come to wrestle.
SPEAKER_00And also uh Mary, not just the first Hudson wrestler to win on the girls' side, but the first Big Rivers Conference girl to win a state title. Nice. The eventful week for the for the Big Rivers Conference. All right, I need to do this so I'm not zooming in every time. Hey, girls, 114 pounds. Taylor Whiting of Lena, 10-5 over MJ Newman of Amanda Lincoln. We got to see the Taylor Whiting show one more time, Steve. And uh, aside from just being a dominant wrestler, and credit to Newman for staying in the match. Uh her second period just uh staying it. She's obviously good in that top position. Uh this was Whiting's bracket to lose, and she she showed why.
SPEAKER_01And we all saw it first four-timer on the girl side. Yep. Uh MJ, and you guys said on the on the broadcast you said freshman year, uh MJ was Taylor Whiting's only high school loss, correct? Freshman year?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Obviously, not at state.
SPEAKER_00Also, we did confirm we will we will have Taylor Whiting on the show at some juncture this spring. And I'm excited, Steve. I listened to her interview on the TV broadcast, just seeing how she carries herself. I think Taylor Whiting's gonna have a bomb interview. Nice. Yes. Looking forward to that one. Super excited to talk with uh the best wrestler in the Whiting family. This was one of those brackets made my heart a little sad because there's a lot of seniors that were in this one. Don't have to run through them all, but Izzy Santeg, I'll see during track season. How can we forget the great White Shark and Elliot from Waukeshaw West? Devlin from Milton got to see her wrestle a lot, and then another shooterman graduating for Plymouth Steve. Who knows? There might be another on the way. Right on. Also, yeah, congrats to Taylor on her fourth state title. Hey, 114 pounds. Here, what if I zoom in on here? Sorry, 120 pounds. I was gonna say, holy cow. One of the best finals matches of Saturday night. Dale and Cody at Princeton Green Lake, 4-3 over Angie Bianchi. We uh loved how deep this bracket was, but ultimately it ended up becoming a two-person story for the championship. And uh, Steve, we both went with Bianchi, and I don't know how confidently we talked about it on the show, but I think there were signs throughout the year that that Cody could be a threat. I think there was that one uh maybe a red herring at this point that kind of threw us off. But I know Bianchi tech she tech'at AT, and Cody beat A thy by one.
SPEAKER_01One, that was the right, that is what turned me uh to to pick Bianchi and pretty confidently, right?
SPEAKER_00And and then after seeing uh Cody at state, it was like, oh, alright, maybe we could have gone with Dalen Cody. And she she did it in the finals, and shout out to the Tiger Shark from Princeton Green Lake on winning her first state title. Angie, of course, has had a very storied career, two state titles to her name. And I saw on NASA's post the Bianchi family has been in the call center from 2013 to 2026. So there is going to be uh somewhat of a void there next year. I'm sure not for the people competing, I'm sure they'll be fine without a Bianchi in the family.
SPEAKER_01Well, antique to our uh um not credit, but to our we we've covered while with you doing um up in Ladysmith, we covered six girls' events this year, and we not once, not one time got to see Cody Russell. So that's uh seeing her live kind of turned some heads. So we have to see Angie Russell a couple times.
SPEAKER_00It was a sneaky tiger shark, I should say. It was correct. Hey, Adam Bieber's in here. Go Cougars. Go Cougars. 126 pounds. Got to see the last match of the armbar queen herself. Maddie Peach of Milton, the tech fall, 17-1 over at Chesney Bartozic in the finals. Three-time state champ for Maddie. She's going to wrestle in college. Other notes from this one, Ramsey Brandenburg is legit. And that sectional final rematch between Chesney and KK. Another one for the ages. Glad we got to see this one in person. Lights out. Yep, absolutely. 132 pounds. Little Miss Sunshine herself, Lily Banks. She wins her third state title. And this was a way we were looking forward to all year, Steve. And Banks came out in her controlled fashion and uh just did what state champs do, right? Uh, she won 10-2 over All Soccer in the semis, got the pin in 326 over Fletcher in the finals. That was a finals rematch from last year. But Banks winning the final, that was just kind of the cherry on top of what was a super exciting bracket.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, great bracket. Uh Fletcher was a two-time finalist, as you said. And Teague, don't forget about the quarterfinals. Delia Collins and and Schockner was a uh excellent match as well, 16-8.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, one 16-8, but I think the new Richmond coaches sweated a little more than that box score would give off to see because I think Delia, yeah, Delia almost had her pinned at the end of the score was uh so high at the time, I thought the match was over. But turn titles just going into the third period, and then Fletcher and Schockner, they put up points in a 15-11 match in the semis. 2-138 pounds.
SPEAKER_01Another great final.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Wow, is all I can say. Erika Slesniko. She wins the rematch against Pettit 13-2 in the semis. And then in a rematch of what we got to see at Wausau, Steve, not discrediting the Wausaw Fieldhouse, but on a little bigger stage, Erica Slesnikov wins the rematch 4-3. And had it all. Had a Cheshker takedown in the first period, I think off of a sweep single, which gonna miss the Carly Cheshker sweep single. Erica did what she needed to do on the man the second, and then just uh peer grit in a match between two girls that are not outworked by many. And uh the Marshfield Tiger wins her first state title as a junior.
SPEAKER_01She does, yep. And on a side note, Teague, I got to meet uh Carly's parents out at one of the local establishments. Great people. They harassed me for uh not picking Carly as a freshman, reminded me of that. And uh all good, had some fun.
SPEAKER_00They were, yeah, big fan of Scott and Amy. This was one of those matches where it was uh I don't want to use the term bittersweet, but we've seen a lot of these two wrestle over the last three years. It's like, I know I'm gonna be so happy for whoever wins, and I'll also you'll you'll feel a little bit for whoever ends up second. But that's the thing about wrestling, Steve. There's a winner and a loser. That's right. Hey, Steve, by the way, Adam Bieber said that he was yelling your name as you left the call center.
SPEAKER_01That was okay. Now I remember. I do I do remember that now. I was not hearing voices. I probably did uh a 720 looking around to figure out who it was. I did a 360 and then I did another 360 back the other way. So that was fun.
SPEAKER_00Well, you'll get a chance to see Adam and Lacrosse this weekend, Steve. I'm excited. Calling the action 145 pounds. Riley Hanrahan, a tech fall over the Riz, Layla Rizzler. Kind of predicted come down to those two. And it was, but wow, Riley Hanrahan. I I don't know what else I have to say about Riley at this juncture.
SPEAKER_01Well, she's pretty good, right? Um, and I think uh the Riz, Rizzlers, all three of her losses were to Riley. And do have to give a shout-out to Navea Watchku, one of those seniors that we enjoyed covering. She's a four-time, four-time medalist.
SPEAKER_00Yep, I believe, on uh St. Croix Falls Wall of Fame. Going to one. Also, I can't believe Alfia Actal's only a junior. I feel like we've been talking about her for a while. Oh, Brandon Gearing in this bracket, which means this bracket was brought to you by Gearing's Meat Market located in St. Lawrence. That's right.
SPEAKER_01T got to taste his uh Gearing's uh beef sticks.
SPEAKER_00And the hype was real, Steve. So much so. Won't be the last time we mention Garing's Meat Market on the show. 152 pounds. Not trying to talk about our picks a whole lot on this one, Steve, but after seeing a couple matches, I was a little worried about me not having any Vaughns in my picks. Right. I forgot who I picked.
SPEAKER_01Did I pick uh I picked Emerson Miller, I think, which was a good pick.
SPEAKER_00You went with uh Hof Richter. I went with Miller, and Miller is an excellent wrestler, had a great career, and Bridley Vaughn, the sophomore, it man, I think it it was she put on a show in the finals.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're absolutely right. Because when I saw her, I knew Taryn McBride was a really good wrestler from Joey King, and I saw that match, I'm like, uh-oh. That was not the right pick on the bottom side.
SPEAKER_00Oh, this was one of those brackets with the high seeded upset as Adam Friendship's Aliyah Miller. The 13 seed won her first round match. Going to 165 pounds. Laney Vaughn, Watoma Wild Rose. Pin in 38 seconds over Kimura Hutter. Steve, we're trying to broadcast four matches at once. I don't know if you caught how the pin happened, but the tenth time that these two have wrestled in the last two years, and uh what a way for Laney Vaughn to tie the series.
SPEAKER_01No, I didn't get Kamura.
SPEAKER_02Now five to five.
SPEAKER_01Right. Oh, wow. I did not know I didn't see it. Uh and you talk about wrestlers just being juniors. I thought uh Miss Berg from Bondewell, I thought she was a senior, but we get another year with her, so solid wrestler.
SPEAKER_00Berg, Hutter, and Vaughn all juniors. And I feel like they've wrestled a combined 20 times against each other. Hutter and Berg 2-0 against each other in the semifinals. I did get a chance to beat Devon, Steve, and I don't even know if they know who we are because I'm like, sorry, we picked against you. It looks like we were wrong, but they gladly accepted Jolly Ranchers as a truce. Nice. And we just added some Cell Central Conference Wrestling. There you go. 185 pounds. Brooke Huffman. Pin in four minutes and 54 seconds over Anna Logue of North Crawford Seneca. Credit to Anna, who uh battled through injuries the last couple of years, ended up making the finals as a sixth seed. And uh gotta give credit to a Brooke semi's opponent, Maddie Sorensen, who scored some offensive points on her. The score ended up being 13-7. And uh Steve, I feel a little bit bad for Lowe because I think Sorensen poked the bear, and we got to see that play out in the finals.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. Yeah, I think at one point the match was 3-3, as you said. Uh the freshman Brynn Schmidt was uh was fun to watch as well. And uh uh another another girl I thought was a senior, Maddie Sorensen, but uh we get to watch her again next year.
SPEAKER_00I think she's been against Brooke and ever every year she's been at state. So maybe they'll be on opposite ends of the bracket. And I think too, I mean, first of all, Brooke's streak ending, like that was uh that was something I didn't think would end, but also I think it just speaks to uh I think it just speaks to kind of raising the bar. And I'll talk more about it at the end of the girls here, so I won't get too much into that. But everyone's chasing the dragon right now. Right. All right, 235 pounds, Isabel Reeby, 4-0 over Mercedes Cruz, and Rebe, in the words of Jeremy Albrick, she completed the podium cycle for third, second, and now a champ this year. How about 235 with some fun matches? The six versus the seven seed in the semifinal. Cruz won 11-4 over at George L in the last time that they will meet in their careers and that 7-2 matchup in the quarters. Stofflet the sixth seed. I mean, she was she had herself a great tournament. And Steve, even Autumn King, your pick, she had Reeby in trouble at one juncture.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh this they wrestled before, right? And shout out to Isabella because they um you look back in her results, and it was all pins, and it was all pretty fast pins. And she had to, she had a battle in the semis, so she went the distance, then she had a battle, uh obviously closer battle in the finals. So Isabella, the complete wrestler wrestler, not just the quick pinner.
SPEAKER_00All right, that is it for the girls, Steve.
SPEAKER_01Do you want to give a team race real quick? Top five, top five team scores, fifth place was Hudson with 40. Bayport, the Pirates had 50 uh 50 points. They were in fourth. Freedom last year's runner-up was 55 and a half, four and a half points ahead of them with 60 was Watoma Wild Rose taking second place and your champs uh in the individual scoring. Last year it's gonna be done like this. Second year in a row was Milton with 81 and a half points.
SPEAKER_00Congrats to Milton. We'll get a post out for Milton too. Got all our individual posts out the last couple of days and uh got a couple of big personalities in the chat. Vision Quest Podcast. Glad to see you tuned in. Joe, we will be covering the boys, just be patient, okay? We will we'll get to that right after. Steve, I want to say I know we're talking about the seniors at the end of all this, but if there's some girls people that tune out, which highly recommend tuning back in at the end for a reading of the other guy on the mat. But uh this girl's senior class, man. I I think of Angie and Carly's match. I know Brooke as a junior, like had that somewhat close one in the semis, but when I think of this senior class, I think it's gonna be defined by they they really raised the level of wrestling in this state. And I think, especially when they came in as freshmen, we always put our best foot forward when we cover everything, right? But I really think this group, and as the years went on, it made us be like, all right, like we have with like we have to step up our girls' wrestling game a little bit. And that whether that was going more in depth on tournaments or going to more tournaments, I want to thank this class of 2026 for not only raising the bar for us, but raising the bar for the competition around you. I know those losses sting, uh because they were they were the goal to shoot for, right? When you're the hunted for four years, that's just uh I they they really grew the spore in more ways than they could imagine. And I think the class of 2026 has a lot of younger girls that say, like, oh, I want to be the next Carly, I want to be the next Angie, I want to be the next Lily, like yada yada, yada. And even all the girls beyond the the champs and runner-ups. It's just it's been a fun class to cover. It's been an honor class of 2026. So thank you, ladies. Anything else, Steve?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. I don't know if you're I didn't know I never know like the way you do it is not uh, I don't know if you're transitioning to me, if you're going right into the next one. So I I I did a uh little stat last year at the end of last year of the number of juniors, so this year's senior girls, of how many of them were in the finals and and how many of them meddled, and it was staggering how many did. And there someone made a comment, uh, someone who coaches girls wrestling, I can't remember who it was, they said, Yep, this this group of juniors, well, this year's girls' senior class is absolutely special, and uh they are, and we're gonna miss them.
SPEAKER_00All right, 106 pounds. Oh, Joe was just saying he he he was happy to see out. Where is boys now, Steve? We've graduated Joe Miller's boys. That's how you know we've made it. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Justin, thank you for the love. It was a fun season, and yeah, for the ladies, I'm sure uh quite a few of them are pumped that it is freestyle time. D1, 106 pounds. Oh, for D1, Steve, on the girls' picks. I had five of twelve, right? And you had six of twelve, so at least you got to 50%.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Woof. Alrighty. Way to go, me. That's called a win. That's uh I'll take that W.
SPEAKER_00Moving on. The sixth seed of Brody Lewis of of Milton, seven to four, a sudden victory over AJ Warple of Hortonville. I don't know how many people outside of uh the Milton vicinity would have predicted this one, but wow. I can say is what and of course the match goes into sudden victory, which is a lot of hype. But this was this was an excellent bracket, Steve.
SPEAKER_01It's a great one. Uh yeah, Lewis was a sixth seed. I predicted the finals. I did not pick the winner correctly. I apologize to my Milton faithful. And uh, I know I'm gonna hear from hear about it. That's kind of that kind of was your theme with Milton for this year. Well, I do I do have a little bit of an inside source that I um get to talk to oh, on a bi-weekly basis, I'd say.
SPEAKER_00113 pounds, Camden Rugg of Union Grove, 11-4 over Brendan Henderson of Holman. Gotta say, I admire Henderson's moxie. He he went out and got after it, but see, we saw Camden Rugg at the TKO, and he basically almost did the same thing at state that he did uh in Fort Atkinson. And uh yeah, shout out to Candle. We're gonna be rocking Union Grove Gear at some point coming up. Want to thank his mom Lindsay for hitting us up with some UG clothing.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Lindsay. I tried it on yesterday, it fits very well. That'll be in the repertoire. Uh, yeah, and shout out to Holman, too. I know we'll talk more about them. They had what, T, four in the finals?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh three in the finals.
SPEAKER_01Well, four with the uh girl. Uh oh yeah, with the Iny. Pocket Hercules.
SPEAKER_00Brendan, uh huge win over Falk in the semis. Falk had a close one with Spear in the quarters, and then even this grouping with Lubinsky and Moody, they had to battle to get into the quarters, and then Lubinsky beat Moody five to one. That Moody match, Steve, that was one of those first-round matches where everyone was looking at it as it was going on. That was the 12-5 sudden. Oh, wait, you might not have been there yet.
SPEAKER_01Maybe not. I don't remember. I got it.
SPEAKER_00You were there. You only missed like 15 minutes, I think, but yeah. But Moody won 12-5 in sudden victory in the quarters. But yeah, congratulations to Camden Rugg, who last year was Union Grove's first state champ, and now has their second title as well. 120 pounds. This one was a juicy, and uh Z Pop came out on top of it. Congratulations to Zonbial. 19-1 tech fall over uh Rex Lancaster. Really opened up the scoring with that seven-point move, and then he just poured it on after that. That's that's what I got for the final, Steve. Anything else on this bracket before I just dive into it? No, move over.
SPEAKER_01Uh Hamilton, Hamilton Beale was was a good semifinal, right? And I I think uh Zon might have uh I I can just see Holly Farrell's face right now and her disappointment with us not picking uh Mr. Beal, but he'll tell you what, he uh went on a terror this uh state tournament.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Lancaster and Swick had a classic in the semis, and then the Swick D. Piazza match that everyone was looking forward to. Swick did win a 5-1 in the quarterfinals. 126 pounds. Max Hay, a two-time state runner-up, now a state champion, and maybe one of the coolest, not the safest, state celebrations that I have ever seen. And that was impressive, but first the on-the-mat stuff. Hey, a four-three over the Brockstar from Holman in the finals. Needham had to beat the two seed, or sorry, not the two seed, the seventh seed Isaac Weber of Germantown. Yeah. In uh the semifinals. And yeah, Steve, I mean, this ended up being all Hayes Bracket, right? He had a tech fall in the semis and just uh I think looking to make a statement on Friday night and Saturday night, got to take it in a little bit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Weber over that uh in the quarterfinals over Walters, that was a good one. Uh great finals match. I really liked uh the way Needham wrestled, and but he was just not gonna be denied.
SPEAKER_00And then what would you say is Hayes' vertical jump? What would you say?
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't know how much the vertical, but I think the uh the whoever, I don't know if that was brother or who which fan it was, but that was probably there. You're right. That was one of the I think it was his teammates. Most original celebration I've ever seen where you get pulled up, and I don't know how high that wall is, but watching, I was a little afraid for him. They had a hold of him, though. They pulled him right on up and uh grabbed him, he gave some hugs, and he just went running right out up the stairs and out the arena.
SPEAKER_00I'm guessing he his first thought was to go find Mayhe. That would be my presumption. 132 pounds, Aloyas Schlump of Bayport, 4-2 over a Bryson Bustler, the Dark Horse, the Dark Gosling, we'll call him. Bustler had a run to the finals, and ultimately this was the one seats bracket, and uh Schlumpy had a scare against Tech Meyer, 1-0 in the quarterfinals, and even a scare in the finals as well. And I gotta say, I am so happy for Aloyas. He's kind of been the core of that Bay Port crew the last four years. He's always been nice to us, and his wrestling on the mat is exciting, but it's even better when it's uh a good kid that that comes through and wins.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. It seems like we've been covering Aloyas for forever. Uh, just love watching him wrestle. Uh Bustler T, like you said, I think just came out of nowhere. I shouldn't say it came out of nowhere. I had a fantastic tournament and wrestled Schlump really tough. Fehe on Bustler. That's a Badger Conference battle in the semis. Uh, and uh just want to give one final shout out to DuSharp. I just uh I loved watching him wrestle. I was really hoping he'd walk out of the coal center with a medal, and but uh I hope he's going on to bigger and better things.
SPEAKER_00How about the quarterfinals from this one? I just saw this now. 1-0, 4-3, 2-1, and 7-5. That's a loaded quarter slate right there. Great round. D1, 138. Aiden Ari of Menominee continues the winning Ari tradition. And uh the junior Mustang wins 8-3 over Cash Botting of Hortonville. Cores preceding that, one of the matches of Friday night. Ari won 10-9 over Holman's at Nathan Henderson.
SPEAKER_01Right on. Uh, and Teague just a junior, so can he uh get Bragg and rights at home and get uh get his second one next year and uh let it let his brother have it.
SPEAKER_00Speaking of that, glad Kellen was able to make it. Got to see him and chat with him for a little bit. He's doing well. Yeah, Aiden Ari, man. That kid uh is is the epitome of grit. Because you don't get uh two two take or three takedowns in the third period on accident. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he just doesn't he just never seems phased when he's out on the map. Winner or lose if he's winning or losing, he just has got the same demeanor and he just keeps going at it.
SPEAKER_00I know it wasn't the result he wanted, but glad uh botting made it to the finals as well. Fun covering the the polar bear senior these last four years. 144 pounds. Carson Newbert, man. 3-2 over Kate Auberg of Oregon. And I don't know if it was Auberg's game plan or what, but a fun finals match. I just have a hard time uh seeing anyone beating Newbert within state lines at the very least. I mean, he only had one loss at the stampede at that. Yeah. I don't know. I don't I guess I don't have a whole lot on this bracket besides credit to Auburn for giving the two-time state champ a run.
SPEAKER_01Right. Well, and a great uh was it a quarterfinal team? You had um oh shoot, was it Becker and Foster? Oh, yeah, that Foster from Manasha, he's gonna be fun to watch. I think he's just a freshman, if I remember correctly. Yeah, the 13-4 win. Right. And he was, did I get his record right? 14-7 coming to the state. So that kid's uh got all the cylinders pumping. Uh if you look through it, T a lot of great one match, uh, one-point matches in this bracket. And I'm just happy to say I can next time I see Carson's dad, I can smile and say, Yep, I finally picked him. So he can't uh he can't laugh at me and make fun of me.
SPEAKER_00Carson Newbert, not a Jolly Rancher fan, by the way. Oh, really? Interesting. Did not know that. Yeah, so we'll have to find out what he likes. But 150 pounds, Kellen Woolbert, O'Connell, tech fall over Sam Garing of a Slinger. What's there to be said about Kellen that we have not said, Steve?
SPEAKER_01What is is he uh he's second ranked in the nation, right? And uh that's just scary that there's somebody else that ranked ahead of him. Um but yeah, when we saw how much he said, it's you look at it and go, okay, he's he's pretty darn good.
SPEAKER_00Michigan got a good one, a great kid. Congratulations to Kellen on his fourth. But how about the junior, the sixth seed, is Samuel Gehring, who won't be a dark horse next year. And uh this Gehring commentary brought to you by Gehring's Beat Market, located in St. Lawrence.
SPEAKER_01That won't be the last time.
SPEAKER_00I'm glad we have another year of that. Yeah, Brad, I'm with you. Definitely a bittersweet match. 157 pounds. Declan Cook of Nina breaks through 4-0 decision over a Zanton of Middleton. And especially happy for the guys that have made it to the finals a couple times and get it. And Cook well earned on his part.
SPEAKER_01Hey, did you see this one, Teague? Number 11 seed Christian Bass Christian Bass of O'Connum Walk has a 3-2 sudden victory in the preliminaries and then a 3-2 sudden victory loss uh to Metzler of Wannakey in the quarterfinals. That's uh that's that's pretty tight.
SPEAKER_00That's keeping it close. And then uh we had uh that big uh Madison area rematch between Metzler and Zanton, or Xanton won a 5-2. And uh yeah. And we get another year of Olin. Yeah, the high scoring. All right, going on to 165 pounds. Your champ here at 165. Steve picked him to make the finals. Wasn't able to didn't pull the trigger on this last pick here, but a lot of close affairs here at 165, and the sophomore, the five seed from Milton. Gage Gross, 1-0 decision over JD, a binder, a broke art.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just see gross the scores too in the in the quarters 14-10, in the semis 11-8, and then 1-0. So that's uh that's tight.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, one over the four, the one, and the two seed. First time seeing gross in person from from what I remember, anyways. And oh no, he saw him at Badger last year, right? But regardless, just the way Gross stays on the attack. It's fun. Him and Kukanan at that 14-10 battle was excellent. And uh yeah, against JD, it knew JD would find a way to slow it down, but ultimately it was the sophomore coming out on top in a in a grown man's weight class.
SPEAKER_01100%. And JD, uh JD didn't meddle last year, correct? He did not. He did not. And from last year to this year, what I mean, you talk about uh most improved wrestlers throughout the year. It's uh JD was just on a he was on fire this year. Oh, yeah. First loss in the finals.
SPEAKER_00And a great kid got his by state title this year. Don't know many that put more uh mad time out there than him. Gonna miss Sharice's snacks going forward, Steve. But we got a great last round with that beef jerky and the bars. 175 pounds. The Crookster, Liam Crook, 15-0 tech fall, and another match with Bayport at Tucker 80. Somewhat of a slower first period, but then uh Liam did what Liam does and just uh turned on the Jets on his hook to a third state title.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you talked about turning on the Jets in the semifinals. I was uh I was looking. I'm like, all right, when's Liam coming up? And I was kind of looking to my right. I looked to my left and it must have been, oh, for at least three minutes and 22 seconds, because then I turned back to my right and I'm like, all right, when's Liam up? And you you guys looked at me like I, you know, had two heads because you said, oh, he already wrestled. So that's uh he gets it done fast.
SPEAKER_00And Liam, we get Liam for another week, so I won't get too sappy with Liam, but of course, three times state champ. I don't know what he appreciates more, Steve, the state titles or uh being the guest on our special Pokemon episode. Not guest, the the co-host for that one.
SPEAKER_01Co-host, yep. I still haven't watched that yet, though, T, I gotta admit. Sorry, Liam.
SPEAKER_00And well, you call you you call like Pokemans or something, but Pokemon or something? I don't remember what it is. Crook after Team State, of course, going to wrestle at Virginia 190 pounds. Reed folk of Middleton. Impressive undefeated year for Falk and ends it with a 10-3 victory over a Jacob Hutchins of River Falls.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just uh dominant, right? Just dominant got CM early in the year, once in the middle, and every time he wrestles, it's just under control, strength, and uh uh a lot of technique uh for Reed.
SPEAKER_00Um, there's a moment where Hutchins got the tech fall over Grow, and I'm like, uh-oh. Hutchins is wrestling really well at the right time. And then Falk, yeah, just kind of hard to do anything against him. He came through, I think another fun match in this one was the Villarreal Sprangers quarterfinals where the Oak Creek five seed came out on top. Steve, I just gotta say, uh, Verona area. I don't think they had a place winner. Yeah, Jackson did not place here, but I think Verona ended up getting three place winners, right?
SPEAKER_01Verona uh did. Yeah, I was trying to, well, and they end up, I'll do team scores in a little bit, but team-wise, they ended up ninth. They had a um, let's see, they took third, third, and six. So Verona had a had a great weekend. Wow.
SPEAKER_00215 pounds, a battle of the tanks, McCoy Smith of Wannaky, four to two over Nico Kleinsch for D.C. Everest. A little closer than the by-state matchup, but Smith still held on. And for being a dude that is 95% muscle, Steve, his gas tank is pretty impressive. All two-point matches in the three matches that he wrestled, but wow, the the Badgers got a good one.
SPEAKER_01They sure did. And great, great uh semifinal with Cody Slater of Jane Zoe Parker. Um, and um Olsen. Olsen was a 11 seed. So Wes Olson, just a junior, came at 36 and 14 at a heck of a tournament as well.
SPEAKER_00There's a good amount of underclassmen that are coming back next year at these upperweights.
SPEAKER_01And uh I apologize, folks. It's my job to look at the comments, and I haven't been, but uh Mr. Miller says that folk is Miller trained. So not Miller time, but Miller trained. Oh, that explains it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Right. Oh, and all the Verona kids are returning. Lordy. Oh, 285 pounds. Oh. Oh, look at this. We got Jason Grohl. Jason, I was hoping I would see you this year. Well, I guess you still got one more, but Aiden Krolke of Hartford Union, who looks even scarier in person than when watching a stream or from afar.
SPEAKER_01Someone uh at school came up to me. One of the teachers said, Hey, I saw a picture of the 285-pound D1 champion, and they didn't say any words. They just went, oh yeah, he's a he's a massive human being.
SPEAKER_00Four to two over a D low, Steve. And Steve, I respect the pick. Yep. Again, it's the one C that comes out on top here. This was a bracket. I think if you look at one highlight moment, Brendan Grabo from Kenosha Indian Trail, the throw on Rogers. A props to Rogers for his return to the mat and uh ended up placing that lat. That was the lat drop heard around the coal center at the end of that session. Yes, team. I went to give Grolke his uh jolly rant, and my hand looked like a little doll hand compared to his when I was handing it off. Yeah. I think I might have even accidentally called him sir. I don't know. Please don't eat me.
SPEAKER_01That's good stuff.
SPEAKER_00I'm liking the McCoy Smith. We need a McCoy Smith, Aiden Grolke, Oklahoma drill. Sure.
SPEAKER_01Well, and to watch those two wrestle would be pretty cool too. Uh division one, filtering scores. You want just D1, Teague?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, let's hit let's hit D1 right now.
SPEAKER_01Top five schools. Let's do uh I'll tell you what, we'll do six because O'Connor's just one place out of one point out of fifth. So O'Connor, sixth place, 54. Milton had 55 points. Fourth place was Arrowhead, 62 and a half. Hartford Union, 64 and a half. Holman, 95, and the individual tournament champion was Kakana with 108.5.
SPEAKER_00Congratulations to uh the team scoring champs at individual stake Kana. All right, going to uh D2, 106. Drake Ren. Oh, wait, sorry, before D2. Steve, division one. Oh, yeah, how'd we do? I got nine right, you got eight right. Oh, dang it. Unfortunately, this is where the the party ends for me. Not to spoil too much, but well, so we're hey, that's not bad though.
SPEAKER_01Nine and eight. That's uh that's respectable. Way to go, us. Let's give uh both of us a pat on the back. Yep. We let's not talk about our pick the podium standings though. Oh, yeah. When does that get announced? I didn't I was looking on uh the website, I couldn't see it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I thought they posted on the but you can check it out on the app now. Oh, well, I don't have the app, I just have the computer. Oh, okay. Yeah, you just gotta scroll a little bit to get to yours, but you're somewhere in there. Uh Drake.
SPEAKER_01Somewhere, somewhere near the bottom. Is that no?
SPEAKER_00I would say, I mean, out of like the 250, you were in the top 25%, I think. Oh well, that's good. That's respectful. Yeah, we got D2 of 106, Drake Ren, Aritas Altoona, the two seed, 4-0 over Maddox Mao of a Sugar Ripper. Mao looked impressive. He won 5-1 over Gartman and your uh over uh your pick in the quarterfinals. We kind of knew it could be uh whoever's bracket, but it just uh Kren did look like the best wrestler this weekend and it and it showed, obviously.
SPEAKER_01And Teague, we're gonna point this out three other times here. This uh once in D2, but Kren is Regis Altoona's first individual state champion. So congratulations to that program.
SPEAKER_00Onto 113 pounds. Oof, a lot to unpack here, but Trendan Holzer makes the finals again, and the St. Croix Central senior pins a Bronco Garcia of Cuba City, Benton Southwestern in three minutes and 24 seconds. Uh, Steve, this match, how many points total were scored in the first period? It was 18 to 9 midway through the second period, and the only shame about Holzer getting the pen pinned, so happy for the kid. I just want to see how many points were gonna be uh put up on the board.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what did you say after the first period? It was it was uh should I click on it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you want to click on it, and Matt, hey, you you click on it, math it out real quick. I'll go through some other matches. Got Caden Hahn of St. Croix Falls, 10-6 over Kepke, Noak and Hellendrung. They wrestled, was this the third or fourth time now? Noak won at 10-9 over at Hellendrung in the quarters, and I think the match that stole everyone's attention on Thursday night. Bronco Garcia, the eighth seed from Cuba City, the freshman, takes out the returning state champ Colin Fry of Evansville 9-5. It was even closer than that score looked, but props to him for flipping around two major decisions from earlier in the year, making making the adjustments, and even bigger props to Fry as well for uh battling back to fifth.
SPEAKER_01Tigue was 14-9 after the first period uh for Garcia and Holzer. And uh, I don't know if you said this already, just tell me to be quiet if you did. But Han Holzer, that was a great semifinal. They met, I think that was the third time in three weeks. I don't know how many times they met in their high school career, but uh yeah, just shout out to to Mr. Holzer on the championship because I think after Garcia got that win, I think everybody like, holy cow, is this guy gonna be stopped? And uh and Holzer did a good job of uh of getting the final. And hey, head coach Brad, uh congratulations to him as well. We like that guy.
SPEAKER_00We uh we like Brad, yes. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the the all-northwest semi between Hahn and Holzer. 120 pounds. Mary, glad to see you tuned in, repping the Xavier Hawks. 120 pounds. Colton Ballig of Evansville wins his second state title. One of us picked him, and uh I was not expecting it to be a major decision on this goal around, Steve, but yeah, props to Ballig on winning his second state title in as many years.
SPEAKER_01Who oh yeah, never mind. I was gonna say who picked him. I can't remember who picked him, but uh you did. I did, yeah. Yeah, Shane Rashon. Uh great, great wrestler, right? I mean, it's uh with that Easton Felton semifinal. I'm like, wow, he's looking really good. I thought it was gonna be pretty tight, but uh Colton is just he's uh he's next level, man. He's he does he does a really good job out there.
SPEAKER_00Oh, we had another 13-4 upset here. Derek Hoff of St. Croix Falls got the pin in the first round. 126 pounds. Willie Ducheman, man old man, 22-5 in the finals. Doesn't matter what division you put him in, he just wins championships. I think the last chance to take out his four-year run might have been last year, Steve. I'm throwing out the challenge right now to anyone that wants to go to his weight. But after last year, when we didn't pick him, I was not gonna make that mistake again. He came through tech falls all the way throughout. He is now three for three. And I think the other big story coming from this one, up of the 11th seed, Desmond Severson, a bear boo.
SPEAKER_01I well, and the second man out of his sectional, right? And I told you, um, remember when we were doing picks and I said, look out for Desmond, and I said, look out for who's on the other side, uh, Teague. Oh, the same sectional, sectional E. Find it for me, buddy. Briar Caves. Briar Caves, because I said those two came out of a very uh the top five or six out of that sectional were awesome. And I said, watch out for these guys, and Desmond made it all the way to the finals.
SPEAKER_00Oh, and we got a shout out the Raptors, uh, Drew Ryder on his 10 over two upset, 7-3 over Tegan Moore from West Salem. 132 pounds. Brady Collins, he's Troy. Two-time state finalist, now a state champ, wins the battle on the Bay rematch against Logan Shott of Keel, a four to one in the finals.
SPEAKER_01And T Colton Coss, is he a four-time? I know he's a four-time state qualifier. Is he a four-time medalist? Uh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I could uh Well, you don't have to check right now, but I just think if the grappler was tuned in, they could check out on their website real quick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but just a just a fun way class, and Caleb Horwath gotta give a shout out to him. Nice little 13-4 upset, 57 seconds in that uh preliminary, preliminary round. So just a really fun bracket at 132.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, and Briggs and Briggs and Brady. Fun 9-6 tilt in the semis. 138 pounds.
SPEAKER_01A little slow here tonight. Gotta get the squirrels running a little bit better, T. Want me to take over for you?
SPEAKER_00Um I'm just kidding. You got it. Oh, we're good. We're we're doing fine. I think I'm just doing too many things on my computer right now. All right. We'll be good. 138. Will the thrill comes out on top? Neither of us picked him, Steve. But he was. I wanted to. 11-3, a major decision over Lannon Bogard of East Troy. Credit Bogard, pin over Crandall, and the third time. They've wrestled each other, and then not often you see the seven-point sudden victory win, but Bogard and Sowell had an exciting one. Oh, even Sowell got a little scare in the quarterfinals. This bracket had it all, and how fitting that someone nicknamed the Thrill came out on top.
SPEAKER_01The Thrill. And uh New London's second state champ in school history. I think uh when I looked it up, the first was just in 2017, which I was surprised by because uh I grew up watching New London. They always seemed to have wrestlers that were placing all over the place, and and I think it just reminds us all of how tough it is to win a state championship down at the coal center. Yeah, is it Scott Cook is the other New London state champ? I can't remember. That was a while ago. But seriously, when I was in high school, I just remember constantly, and and they were D1. They went back and forth from D1 to D2, and it was New London over here, New London over there, and it's like just they never got a guy on the top of the podium until 2017.
SPEAKER_00E2, 144 pounds. Ethan Immel, 8-6 over a Dylan Weigel at Belmont Platville. If I had to describe this bracket one way, Steve, I mean a lot of warriors in this one. Immil had to grind his way to his second state title. Him and my boy Nate Johnson had a fun one in the semis. But Immel came out on top five to four. Johnson and Fick was seven to four in the quarters. And then Immel came out on a heater against Weigel. And man, Dylan battled back, but that's not enough. Ethan wins his second state title. Congratulations to him on a great career.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Fick was fun to watch. I really haven't got to watch him. Well, I saw him at Battle on the Bay, fun. He won the backside. Um T, I like what you said there. Just a gritty. Immal is uh, that's how he wrestles, just a gritty kid. So um sad to see him go. I liked watching him every year at the Battle on the Bay and uh and following his career. But um, I don't know if he mentioned or if we know if he's wrestling anywhere. Maybe somebody could put that in the comments, but uh I hope it continues because he's he's fun to watch.
SPEAKER_00A lot of seniors in this one that I'm gonna miss. Move on before I get too emotional. Save that for the end. D2150. Sasquatch himself, Hunter Stevens, Tech Fall over the 7C, Jacob Lutanz of Redis Altoona. Lutans. Just uh fun, fun ride. I mean, two sun victory wins, 12-8 over skick on the bottom side. Steve, I think the top side of the bracket is what a lot of folks were watching this weekend.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00You got it. Oh, yeah. Well, the quarterfinals, Stevens and Max Gonzalez lived up to the hype, and then some for the first two periods, and then Stevens just uh too much on the mat. He ended up getting the fall, then two to one over Weston Ingham of Amory. We knew that it was going to be a fun tilt just based on uh how things looked at by state, and Ingham gave uh Stevens everything he could handle, but ultimately Hunter Stevens comes out on top of the scrum with the state title.
SPEAKER_01Uh and want to give it a shout out, John Faulkner. Did he no, he did not? Um, we were wondering, Xavier, when is the last time if they had have had a WIA medal? Um we're we're watching uh Faulkner there to see if that happened. And then um Teague, I wanted to make a comment on another wrestler, and I totally forgot. Oh, uh Lutance, just a sophomore. So that's uh exciting for Regis Altuna. We were told when we went up there that uh they are a team on the rise, and here they are.
SPEAKER_00157 pounds. D2 Bryson Skulls, Key Wascomb first aid title in a dominating fashion. That's that's unbelievable. Pin tech tech. What else is there to say about Bryson? Right. I mean obviously looks pretty good going into it as junior year. Uh Byer and White, that had to have been this pound for pound for 157 pounds. I'm guessing Bayer and White bench a combined like 550 pounds. Byer came out on top of that one, a six to three. But it's fun watching a skulls wrestle, Steve.
SPEAKER_01It is, and uh, I gotta give a this is where you were talking about meeting different people and seeing people. Gotta give a shout out, Matt for Baton. I hope you're not listening. Uh, you know, I got to hang out before the semifinals. T had to go back and prepare, and I was with uh a whole bunch of Irish fans, probably about 10 of them or so, and I had absolute fun, Teague, and they were they're darn good people over there in Freedom. I'm just gonna say that on the air. And yeah, I got to meet uh Eric Clausen's nephew, and boy, oh boy, he looks just like him. I could not believe I had to get over the shock of I thought he was uh I thought he was Eric's twin, but only uh, well, I'm gonna say a few years younger.
SPEAKER_00Well, hey, Steve, the the Xavier rep came through. Yeah, Mary did point out I forgot to bring it up at one of the, but yeah. Yeah, Christian Rodriguez Salgado.
SPEAKER_01And I didn't know that. I meant before this year, I guess Mary is what I'm asking. Uh um before this year, has Xavier had a had a medalist.
SPEAKER_00So, Mary, gotta do a little deeper diving now. Sorry to make you do work on this fine Tuesday night. Uh D2 165. Also, Mary, you better still stay tuned in, even though the Falconers have graduated. 165. Hawk and Peterson, man, 15-4 over Easton Cameroon in the finals.
SPEAKER_01Fourth four-timer to be undefeated in his high school career. Um and another one going to Michigan.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, great, great weekend for Michigan fans if they were tuning in. I gotta say, I think going forward, Steve, dare I say it could at this weight class or going up, could it be Cameroods to lose? Because pretty, pretty solid performance against Hawken.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he looked good. Uh tough freshman. Uh, and Mont Horror Barnveld in general, right? That program is uh doing a lot of good things.
SPEAKER_00I'd say between Hawken, Kellen, and Taylor, I'm excited to uh to have them on the show. All great kids, super nice families. Gonna be some fun wrestling conversations. Congratulations, Hawken, on a great career.
SPEAKER_01I do like that they saved, I don't know how people felt about it, but I do like that they saved the four-timers uh for the end. I like it.
SPEAKER_00Everyone just needs to stay in the stands. That's it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you mean for when they get their medals? You're saying. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's all. That's the one the one rant I'll have. Don't even know that's long enough to qualify as an outburst, if you will. D2, 175. Believe it or not, there's another Heiser at the top of the podium. This one is a Tommy Heiser of Evansville. 11-6 over Eli Meyer of Mount Horror Barneveld. Steve, this was a crazy one. We knew it would be take it away here.
SPEAKER_01Well, in the finals, he had a 3-5, right? So that just tells you how much shakeup there was. Uh number one seed, uh, number one seed went down, number two seed. That was both in the semis. Number one and number two seed went down. Um and yeah, we did the commentary for it, Teague, and uh, we have a lot of I guess a lot of good people that we know in this one, so it was uh an emotional bracket for us, so to speak. But uh the only thing I can say is it was what we thought it was gonna be, right?
SPEAKER_00100%. I I'd say it's gonna hurt that I can't pick against Stephen Kielpakowski anymore. Yeah, and a pleasure covering that, dude. Yeah, shout out to all the seniors in this one and uh good mix of underclassmen in here, too. 190, that's D1. D2, 190. Eli Leonard of Mount Horror Barnevel, the pin in 148 over Sawyer Daly of a Plymouth. Sawyer Daly is an excellent wrestler, Steve, but Eli Leonard has just jumped levels this year.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he had a tech fall and a medical forfeit and a pin in 148. That was his uh uh so 213 and 148. That was his time on the mat, his senior year.
SPEAKER_00And we'll miss seeing Eli at the high school level. Gonna do great in college, but you know, I'm glad. Another one of my favorite interactions was I'm walking out from the coal center, last session, Steve, and who else is there but the Mount Hora Barneveld bus? And you gotta have a bus driver to have a bus. The driver of Mr. Matt Leonard, who we had a talk that it it tugged at my heartstrings and uh gave the Conclusion, it makes sense why Eli is the way he is because I'm guessing mom's the same way, but Matt Leonard, one of the best dudes in this sport, and just one of the nicest, purest of heart people that I could ever meet.
SPEAKER_01Funny you saw him going out. I saw him going in, and he was probably positioned in the same spot with his boss, had a great conversation with him. Anti, I want to give one more uh shout out or final shout out uh to Lake Mills wrestler Olin Berling. Uh covered him a lot this year, and uh he was a four-time state qualifier, two-time medalist.
SPEAKER_00Feels like just yesterday we're talking about him being a good freshman in a higher rate.
SPEAKER_01Oh, they grew up so fast.
SPEAKER_00I know. 215. Garrett Kovchinski at Port Washington, 7-1 over uh Max Mathias. Uh, was a little closer on his by-state rematch in the semis. Uh, 4-1 over Kate Splinter. Uh, this bracket, again, had a lot of hype. It had everything and then some and the rounds leading up to the finals, but this just really highlights it goes to show how good Kofchinsky is.
SPEAKER_01Shows how good he is. And Teague, 215 pounds, the top six in this weight class. Unbelievable how good these guys are. I'm just looking at these names and going, oh, wait, what? That guy took sixth? Think about it. Havlish took sixth place, Teague.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, we got the epic 215 underclassman match between Havlish and Splinter. Krieger and Matthias was 10-6 in favor of the two Rivers grappler. Matthias had to beat Havens 4-1. And how about Bryce Seafelt of Coleman? He gave uh Havens a good run for his money in the first round. Got 285. Yeah, that's 215 classes fun. I just want to keep looking at it. Also, got to see Bryce's older sister and former Coleman team manager, Maddie Seefeld this weekend. 285. I've got to pull up something. Well, we made some fun picks in this one, Steve. But coming out on top in the finals, one last time, Big Thunder himself. Kale lights gang of Seymour, a four to one over a gallon empty of Stoughton.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I just I guess I put all this energy into 215, 285. And folks, I'm gonna tell you, um, Teague, I'm gonna, I'm gonna you gotta forgive me on this one. I'm gonna give a little uh Athens remix, right? There was a uh wrestler by the name of Sean Angie from uh from Athens, and literally people would wait for him to wrestle. He was one of the upper weight class, and right after he wrestled, the crowds just funneled out because they he was must see TV, and Cale has become that. People were just kind of waiting around watching, and uh that semifinal with Brock Swenson was one for the ages, and people weren't there for it. Stay in your seats for the big fellas, and it was awesome. And I don't I don't remember how much time was left, but Kale was just not gonna be denied. There was like 10 seconds left, and he needed uh something big and he went for it and he got it and uh advanced. Brock Swenson, shout out to him because he's not that big. Well, he's a big guy, right? But not that big guy compared to Kale, and he gave him everything he could handle. But um, that's what champions do, right? They just keep going after it, and uh Kale advanced to the finals and had a really good match with uh a guy that we really like in Empi uh as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, MP uh 4-3 in the semis over the big man, Devin Otto of uh Coleman. Steve Otto had a first round scare. Well, that I don't know if it was a scare or not, but only 2-0 over one of our favorites, Bobby Edwards of Powaki, who I'm so glad is a junior. I only had a few back and forths with the Powcky guys this season, and got to meet the the Powkey gang down at the in the halls of the coal center. And great kids, and you understand why they made such big leaps and bounds this year. Well, when you have a guy like Bobby Edwards on your team, Steve, I think it it's good to keep things light during the wrestling season.
SPEAKER_01Bobby Edwards looked like, where was it? Uh he lost in the blood round, and it looked like he was consoling his coaches after the match was over, like, hey guys, it'll be okay. Smiling, I'm like, that's Bobby Edwards right there.
SPEAKER_00So after every win he had, he uh he was helped he like helps every kid up after a mat. Like just I cannot say enough good about Bobby, and I hope the best for him and the Powaki crew next year.
SPEAKER_01We get to I I don't know what Swenson, I'm gonna say a few things. I don't know what Swenson's uh I I would hope football wrestling, whatever he wants to do is I hope he does something at the next level sports-wise, because he is he is all muscle. Obviously, we get to see Kale wrestle next year for the Badgers, so excited to see that. And in the future, I don't know what Redshirt if that's gonna be, but uh um, you know, you talk about T MP is one of those guys where you're just gonna miss covering because he is uh he's just a good dude. And so we are uh I don't know if it just comes with the heavyweight nature that these guys are all great guys and we've had a lot of conversations with them. They're just you know happy and go lucky and jolly guys, right? And uh, but a lot of seniors usually, which goes with being a uh um a heavyweight, and uh we're gonna miss these guys.
SPEAKER_00And big respect to Kale. He's been nothing but good to us, Steve, and especially this weekend. It was a two-part interaction. So Friday night, we grab Sam Incha. So we go and take the Incha Lice gang picture, and I knew it shouldn't have been me. I told you it shouldn't have been me. You should have been the one to take the picture. But I go to Kale, I'm like, hey, Kale, can we grab a picture with you and Sam real quick? And I'm between you guys, and he's like, No, I'm not messing with you right now. You didn't you didn't pick me because it was him versus Swenson that night. And you know what? In that moment, I respected the gamesmanship. He was he was locked in, understand it. And then uh after after his finals, I made my way onto the floor, got him a jolly, and uh he said we were cool, and he said, honestly, that was a really that was a slick pick that you had right there. So he he acknowledged it, respected it, and I'm glad glad we're not leaving with Big Thunder hating me as the legacy. Teague, who did pick him, by the way?
SPEAKER_01You did. You picked Kale. How did our picks go? And then why don't you uh why don't you Teague will get our picks before he does that? I will get up the top five Division II teams, and I have to say sixth because we had a tie. And uh, you know what? For one final time, I'm gonna give Kiwaskum seventh because they were only one point out. Kiwaskam was in seventh place at 61. Dodgeville and East Troy were tied for fifth at 62 and a half. GET Melman was fourth at 65.5. Osceola. Wrong side. Osceola in third place at 73. Evansville, your runner-up at 92. Monthorub Barneveld was your individual point leader at 117 points.
SPEAKER_00All right, D3. Oh, wait, sorry, picks. Picks, yep. Well, Steve, I I had a hardy seven, which is 50% pretty good in big.
SPEAKER_01That's not bad. That's kind of hey, listen, that's a solid, that's a solid F, Teague, and that's that's respectable.
SPEAKER_00Well, and you had 10. Yes. Wow. Wow. Yeah, pretty, pretty good D2 run. It only goes downhill for both of us after this, I think.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it does. Darn it, I didn't do well in D3. I'm kind of upset with myself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that that's the that's the big one.
unknownD3.
SPEAKER_01Well, but hold on. I have to have the victory locked in, though. Is that correct? Oh, we'll see. All right.
SPEAKER_00I couldn't have done that badly. D3-106. Well, if you don't want breaking rights, I think you get breaking rights for the rest of the show on this one. The six seed from IG great weekend to be a six seed from IGH, Griffin Wineski, 7-0 over a Tucker Keberline of Shy Octon. And Wineski is just a grinder, man. That every match is like he just got better as the match went along, and then just controlling in the finals. You said it perfectly. This bracket was gonna be a wild one, and wild it was. It sure was.
SPEAKER_01I to be honest with you, T, I'm um I wonder if he gave me, was he, I'm trying to find this real quick. Was he at by state? He must, yeah, he was at by state. No, it wasn't there because he didn't place. I in the back of my head, I'm going. He had a pretty good conference, didn't he? Okay, and I'm and I like I was looking through the bracket, I'm like, okay, right there. I'm gonna go with Samuel. He is, I'm sorry, not Samuel, Griffin. He was looking tough, and I can't remember where I saw him, so I went with him. I rolled the sixth seed all the way to the championship. He sent us a message saying, nice pick, Steve. And I said, Absent dog on Lutley, bud. You make me look smart, really smart.
SPEAKER_00Hey, some fun, some fun knowledge from Ellie. Parker Treloff, the second freshman ever to be a state qualifier for Cambridge. Nice. Did he happen to coach the first ever qualifier? That was a fresh Cambridge team?
SPEAKER_01No, that was after me. That was um, gosh, I cannot remember the kid's name. Um start with a G. His last name started with a G, I think, and that's all I can remember.
SPEAKER_00So nice one-point match between Riley. Oh, Radins almost made the semis as a 12 seed. D3-113. The madness continues. Yep. Whalen Frye, the what seed, Steve? Oh, Whalen Fry was the sixth seed. Couldn't ask for a better way to start a potential four for four campaign than a sudden victory win over last year's state runner-up, and then a 4-0 finals victory over the one seed at Taylor Underwood. This was one of the tightest knit brackets through and through.
SPEAKER_01You're looking through this, a lot of great scores. Uh, obviously, Taylor's gonna be able to wrestle this coming weekend for um Marathon. They qualify for team safe. First time in school history. So, but yeah, 113 pounds, just like 106, up for grabs. Who wants it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Fry 6-3 over Lenoble. Underwood had to beat Heimerman 4-2 in the semis. Grunenfelder and Lenoble had a great match in the quarterfinals. Yeah, when I when Fry beat Burkhalter like he did in the quarters, that's when I knew he was gonna potentially pose some problems in the later rounds. D3 120. Blake Underwood of Marathon. Pin in 329 over Gavin Slark of Marquezan. He's now 56-0 on the year. And uh excellent career by Blake. Still got team stuff next year, but I feel like Blake's tied of our buddy, Steve. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Blake, yeah, and I gotta buy him his uh wasn't able to get this weekend. I still owe him his uh hot dog and his beverage, so it's probably best next week, next week, after he doesn't have to make weight for a while. Um, I was gonna text dad today and see. I know he was uh had it narrowed down to which school he was gonna go wrestle at. Hopefully we'll be able to find that out, maybe report that out. Um T, here's something interesting about Blake and his dominance this year. Trey Wyatt Hoffman from Iowa Grant. He beat him in the quarters 11-5. That was his closest, that was Blake's closest match this year, and before that, it was uh it was like a 14-point major decision. So Blake is just looked dominant this year.
SPEAKER_00Shinjak and Reed had a nice uh quarterfinals match, but yeah, this was this was Underwood's great last hurrah at the coal center. 126. Sheared of Aquinas, 9-4 over Liam Carey in the finals. I forgot how many times they met the last two years, but ultimately is the phenon that came out on top. He beat last year's state champion in the semis in dominating fashion, and Martez looked good, man. He did, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I did either of us pick him? Maybe that's uh maybe that was the motivation. I don't think we did.
SPEAKER_00We did not. Because you went Spearings, I went Roy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Sorry about that, buddy.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if all I mean, depending on how the brackets look next year. I'm gonna be hard-pressed to pick again shear.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, and you you being kind of right by Aquinas. I figured you would uh have a little bit more. I better take him. I might run into this guy more, but no. Teague uh Teague doesn't play that way.
SPEAKER_00100 and I'm just ruthless. You you are sometimes. You make your picks. I'm like, oh, ouch! 132 pounds. Well, it doesn't work out, so maybe I need to quit being ruthless. 132 pounds. McAllister Ramage, a lake country Lutheran, 7-4 over our picks, Lucas Orloff of Pecatonica Argyle. Just the the pick talk real quick, Steve. I think we weren't going totally black and white on this one. We just, I think we were both kind of 51-49 on Orloff. His resume was just too much to look against, and uh they put on a show. Ramage came out on top, and uh pretty awesome for the LCL senior.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, McAllister Ramage becomes LCL's first state champ in school history. Congratulations to him. And uh yeah, it was a fun, fun match. Anytime they go into sudden victory like that, and the whole coal center's watching, it's it's good times.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, good quarters between Lasecki beat bus at nine to seven. I also, one of the last people after the Matt Leonard interaction, I was walking alongside the Lake Country Lutheran people. We talked about the show and whatnot. They were good sports about the picks, they were good people.
SPEAKER_01Tegans, you're moving on to 138, talking about our picks. I do think this. I think you and I, because I'm looking at who I picked, and and I didn't win in this one either. I think we might have had the most finalists total in Division III. We just didn't pick the right ones.
SPEAKER_00We did a lot of Wisconsin wrestler hedging, or we had people against each other in the finals. Yes. Braden Johnson of Cumberland, the pin in 458 over Isaiah Sanchez of Cheocton. Very exciting bracket, but I felt Braden was hungry this year. And he, yeah, he was he was pretty dominant in his efforts on his way to his first state title.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, quarterfinal, Vascal from Cedar Grove, Belgium, uh 7-5 decision over Mies. There was some some good scrapping in this one.
SPEAKER_00Well, speaking of this quarterfinal, this was it kind of just got lumped in with uh the rest of the quarterfinal madness that was going on for about 45 minutes. Uh Tyler Paulson of Aquinas, 4-1, a sudden victory over a turning state champ and Quaintance in the quarters. Then Sanchez and him had a great match. 6-3 for Sanchez. That's a good uh I'm glad I thought of that, Steve, but from D2-113 to like the D3 to like 144-150. Yep. Was that not the best 45-minute span of the weekend on Thursday night?
SPEAKER_01It was awesome. And we said, well, at least I said it probably three or four times, no D1, I'm sorry, no number one or number two seed is safe. And uh, I think a lot of coaches are gonna do something different next year and figure out a way to get that guy who has a match off where the other guy gets a match in the coal center. I they're gonna figure out some way to get him a live go and uh and go hard because uh those I and I saw a lot of guys, even when number ones and number twos that were you know high more highly favored, they don't look they don't all all pistons weren't firing totally. There were some close scores. So I think uh coaches are gonna learn from that this year and do something different next year.
SPEAKER_00144 pounds. Carson Busson at Partiville. Yeah, 7-2 over Roger Flaggy of Aquinas, a very talented bracket. Busson had went 5-3 over Netter in the semis. Flaggy, that nice pin over Birdie Shaw. Birdie Shaw and Gross Crews even had part three, Steve. Birdie Shaw did come out on top 9-6 in some victory, but you get the bragging rights on this one. I did go with an Aquinas pick here, and uh you had it right with the undefeated Partyville sophomore.
SPEAKER_01Business is busting Partyville's first state champ in school history. How do you like that for my Bebop and rapping Teague? Not bad. Um, hey, and I'm surprised. I actually sent Matt a text to this. There, I was really floored that this was Partyville's first state champ. I remember, and folks, uh, some of the older folks are gonna remember, they had um these, I think they were brothers, and they were Clatwaters were their names. And they were like, I think between the two of them, they probably had, oh, I'm gonna say five, maybe even six state medals. Maybe they each had three. And I thought one of them had a state title. I was wrong, but uh nice job for uh Carson getting bringing home that first one for the Bulldogs.
SPEAKER_00All right, back on the chat here. 150 pounds.
SPEAKER_01Wait, did you say back on the chat and then you went 150 pounds?
SPEAKER_00Sorry, I was uh yeah, I was off the chat for a second. Yeah, I'm out. The brain span started to fall apart, Steve, or the attention span. Well, hey, another great plug by you, Steve. Uh, Colton Kluge of a brilliant eight years in a row of finalists for the Lions, and Kluge breaks the streak, comes through on top, and wins a nine-to-one over Kingston Galeka of a partyville in the finals.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Klug gets that title for the Lions, and I was I dug deep for this one, Teague, and then I I couldn't find it, and then I actually text Nick Miller, head coach, and I literally saw him. He must have felt his phone vibrate. I watched him down on the floor and he pulled out his phone, responded back immediately. Klug was Brilliant's first state champ since his brother won the heavyweight division, since Nick's brother Perry, uh Piller Perry Miller won state championship in 1993. So think of all the great Brilliant wrestlers we have seen. And uh once again, just a testament how tough it is to win a state championship because Brillian has had some really darn good wrestlers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that's impressive to think about. Top side of this bracket, Clue got an eight to three against Heard in the quarters, Miller at 5-4 over uh boy JJ Automatis from the Loggers, and then Galetka and Baum camp, Partyville and Parkview Albany. Nice. Great match, 4-3 in the semis. Yeah, Clue just the way he wrestled. See, that was one of the like looking at it in hindsight, like, oh, maybe you should have just gone with the one seed in this one. But that makes things that makes things less fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Austin says, hey, it's much more fun to watch a live stream than uh on this thing called Spotify. So I hey appreciate the shout-out, Austin. We enjoy ourselves too.
SPEAKER_00I I appreciate it. I hope it's still listenable in delayed form, Austin. But yeah, you get you get to see things behind the curtain a little bit more here. 157. A lot of offense in this bracket, and it showed Colin Hamm of Wyatt Week of Fremont 14-9 over Gavin Tritz of Assumption Pacelli in the finals. Colin put up 21 points the prior two matches. And how about this one, Steve? Tritz and Gerber of Ladysmith, 24 to 14. Tritz had three takedowns right away in the second period. Gerber came back on a tear, takedown and a four near fall. There was a reversal, escape, and Tritz picked up two more takedowns, then uh had a reversal, a takedown, and a one more reversal to put the icing on the cake against the two seed in my official Limit Barn burner of the week.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. That's awesome. Hey, Perry Miller's in the chat. Hi, Perry. I saw that. Perry Miller doing a little shout out, just talked about him. Brilliant's uh previous last time state champ. Perry, you're gonna love this. You're gonna love this. Teague, before Perry, the state champ at 171 pounds was Rhett Reichhart, and before that was heavyweight Steve. Cools. So there you go, Perry. There's a little uh brilliant line shout-out shout-out for you. Got a couple of state champs in on the chat here.
SPEAKER_00Make me nervous. Oh, who's the other one? Well, you got Kyle Mesera commented earlier. There's probably a couple state champs that I don't know are state champs.
SPEAKER_01You got a mom of a state champagne. Missari. Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Steve, anything else? Hargrove and Hood 13-9, just showing the offensive proficiency of this bracket. But any anything else before 165?
SPEAKER_01No, let's move on to 165 because uh Perry, Perry informed me I was wrong. Steve Cools took second. So I thought he was a state champ. Oh wow. Oh, way to rub it into Steve Cools. Well, you know, I mean, it was it was a while ago.
SPEAKER_00We'll just call him a he was a finalist. All right. Hey, before one speaking on the state champ conversation, I I would like to throw it out there, but I saw Oh, yeah. Sorry, Stephanie. Two state champs.
SPEAKER_01Oh, she's getting all technical on me. She's not the mom of a state champ, two state champs.
SPEAKER_00That's um when Kyle Mesra of Lancaster commented on a post yesterday. I said, you know, it's a great day when state champ Kyle Mesera comments on a post of ours. And he's like, Whoa, that's a deep cut there. Like, yes, I was, but that was a long time ago. And I'm like, okay, I guess it's been 13 years. Maybe that's a little weird on my part, but that's just good memory. I think part of, you know, if you win a state championship, why not? You know, it's good to have people gas you up a little bit. That's right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. If other people are gassing you up, that's good.
SPEAKER_00165, Liam Richards of Oostburg. The Dutchman come home with the champ. Richards wins a four-one over Jackson Bussey of IGH in the finals.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, got a chance to chat with some of the uh Oostburg coaches before the semifinals, I think it was. And uh good guys, man. They can tell why that program has taken off. So they're doing some good stuff.
SPEAKER_00And at Jackson Bussey, it has been an honor, sir. I can't think of the last four years without covering him in IGH wrestling. I was thinking when he was a freshman, and I was at the Richland Center invite, and I'm like, oh, this kid's pretty good. And then it turned out he was pretty good.
SPEAKER_01He was pretty good. Yeah, another kid that we're uh sad to see go because we love covering him.
SPEAKER_00Jackson Pussy, the antithesis of the gingerbread man.
SPEAKER_01Which I still don't get, but we should go.
SPEAKER_00That's all right. Oh, good match between Asher Turner and Jacob Dannenberg in the quarters, and Logan Peterson also 5-4 over Tristan Verbaton of Reedsville. Steve, we got a lot of gear this weekend, so I can't give all the gear shout-outs, but we did get some Reidsville Panther gear as well.
SPEAKER_01We did, and it is bright orange. I'm excited to wear it. But uh yeah, congratulations to Donnie Verbaten on getting a medalist.
SPEAKER_00D3 at 175. It was an eventful Saturday night for IGH, and it kicked off on a high note. Brock Hinderman of 5-0 over Seth Race of a Cedar Grove of Belgium.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I just thought of that. They started with uh a finalist that got a champ and then uh had one nestled in between and then had a finalist at the end. So that's uh the book ends.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, him and Wright actually pretty close before they uh before uh race ended up getting the fall in the finals, and uh Weston Schmidt of Brilliant uh ended up placing third. Him and Wright had a nice third place match on the last day. I'd say it's if if we feel tired on Saturday morning, I can't imagine how the wrestlers feel. Like when you're watching those blood rounds and placement matches, it is a grind to win those matches on the backside.
SPEAKER_01It's a grind and it's emotional, right? I mean, you gotta come back. Some of these guys wrestled matches that they, you know, they thought they were gonna win or they were, you know, they had goals of doing this, and it's kind of like, okay, now you gotta go back and wrestle for a a placement to get into fifth, you know, whatever it is. And it's uh that's uh it's emotional for us. Only imagine how emotional it is for them. 190 pounds. Wait, hold on, Teague. Let's uh Drew says, nice pick on this one, Teague. Who did you pick at? Uh I picked Brock. Oh. You did not. Oh I thought uh okay, I thought he was uh mocking you. That's uh I should have looked at the last name. Who did I pick?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I picked I picked right. Great, great, great deductive reasoning there, Steve. Hey, when you're two hours in, reading's not my strong point. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we here we are. Not gonna be a long one tonight. Owen shot, Michikott, my pick. State champion of 14-5 over a Nolan Hankey of Lancaster.
SPEAKER_01I don't remember who I picked. You picked Hankey. Oh, I did. We had star bets on that one. Yeah, Shott has looked good all year. Got to see him at Battle in the Bay. I think it was a uh loss in the semi-final. What I liked about uh Shott is I think he lost in the semifinals, but then it's a third place match, which is probably disappointed not being the finals. He just went out there and was just a hammer, if I remember correctly, but that was a long time ago. So congratulations to Mishcott. Uh I don't I know their last state champ, you guys were talking about it, but Mishcott does have a craycraft. That's right, but they do have a state champ in their arsenal way back in I think the uh the teens, and his name is John Junk.
SPEAKER_00John Junk, that's an epic name. All right, I went back to 138. Leon Sheller, I know a Shyocton fan. 138 trivia, three finalists, the schools are within 10 miles of each other. So uh it's gotta be Shy Octon. And are you talking about another weight class, Leon?
SPEAKER_01138 D3. Oh, hold on, let me go. I'm I'm the I'm the map guy. We got Shyocton and Cumberland, that's not uh No, and then yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, that's not true. I'm sure he'll give us some clarification here, but guess what, Steve? We're talking ultimate brackets next week, but the last penultimate individual weight class of the year. And did this not end up being this may have been the finals match for I think this was this may have been the most exciting finals match. Because it came down to ultimate tiebreaker, and what a fitting story. I mean, Jack Simmons or prayer to Sheen had to win a close one in the quarters and semis. He had to survive a cradle in the quarters, and uh Simmons made the finals for the second time in his career. Toy Regatz from Lancaster had to ride out the big man Simmons, and uh very fitting given his dad is a bull wrangler. Was a bull wrangler, don't know if he still is, wins an ultimate tiebreaker at 3-2. Oh this was pure guts by these two.
SPEAKER_01What's up, Steve? Oh no, I just saw the answer to the tri. I shouldn't, I shouldn't have read it at that time. I kind of ruined your butt. You're right. You're right. This was fun. And just uh I I don't have anything to add to it. I was trying to look through this weight class. Um is he a sophomore?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yes, he is.
SPEAKER_01Wow. No, I you're talking about bull riding. I remember it uh not to bring back college stories, but I wrestled this guy in college in the finals and uh and he beat me. And they I don't know if they told me this to insult me at the end, but they said, yeah, that kid didn't even wrestle in high school. He was just a bull rider. And Teague, nobody rides me, and this guy I could not get away from. So I can tell how the bull riding would uh definitely definitely help. So I think he wrestled in high school. So I think they were just ripping on me. But I did find out he was a bull rider. It really is. Maybe, maybe, folks. I tell you what, part of your offseason training, go do some bull riding.
SPEAKER_00Well, Ethan Soderstrom of Lancaster, also a bull, a bull rider. So yeah. FUT Steve Reagan's winning the state title, Hankey in the finals. It confirms it. Lancaster is back.
SPEAKER_01The flying arrows are they flew into the rankings this year, and uh next year they will surprise Noan Teague. Um, 138. I was thinking D3 138, but it was New London, Hortonville, and Cheyochton all had a final. So different weight classes, I'm sorry, different uh different divisions in 138, all had a uh 10 miles apart from each other. That makes more sense.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that okay. I'm I'm picking up on that now.
SPEAKER_01Yep. So bottom, Christopher, and Sanchez.
SPEAKER_00Good trivia there, Leon.
SPEAKER_01That was good, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I like it. And uh last but not least, the big man, Tyson Martin of Aquinas, comes through, wins his first eight title, four to one over Grant Matthews, and excellent wrestling throughout. Kind of thought this would come down to Martin and Matthews. And uh, Steve, could we ask for two better kids to uh to kind of end the bracket talk on?
SPEAKER_01No, great guys. We got to spend we spend a lot of time. We go down to the southwest part of the state a lot, and uh Tyson Martin Matthews, a uh great, yeah, like you said, great guys. Uh Zach Hellendrong Voiceville. Uh that is a senior that I know we didn't get to spend a lot of time with him, but we followed him for four years and uh great kid as well. And Bader Kiwani. Yep, absolutely. Car uh Owen Luck, just a junior. Um, gotta give a shout out, Teague. We we were talking about uh gotta give a last shout out for Sam Incha, my boy from Cambridge. Uh got a first round win, but Teague, we talked about at the beginning of the broadcast on Thursday. You said, I wonder how many guys will lose first round and wrestle all the way back. Well, uh Sam's opponent, Brent Collar of Shockton, did just that. He he lost first round, wrestled all the way back, and took fifth place, um, beating a couple kids who have beaten him throughout the year. So that's uh that's a nice job by the sophomore.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, one more. And Grant Matthews, one of the one of the good dudes in the sports, one of the many good people in the sport, I should say. And Tyson Martin gave an excellent interview. It was like the local uh, is it Cooley Sports that did the article, but he gave an excellent interview, Steve, and very graceful in uh winning his first title. Seeing those two, just the show of respect afterwards was uh pretty pretty epic for me. Uh oh, that is it for the state coverage. We we have a team state podcast tomorrow. I'm just gonna uh point that out now because I won't say that at the end of the show, but see, we come to the end of another year. We uh we have uh not Siri, no Steve. My phone started lighting up. See, we come to the end of another year.
SPEAKER_01Hold on, Teague. Collar, uh, that I just talked about, this is interesting. That's his first year, uh, first year wrestling. So sorry to interrupt, but um, yeah, hey, Teague's gonna go ahead and read something. It gets pretty emotional. I'm just gonna say this um that I have the utmost respect for any wrestler that steps on the mat. Um, whether you're state champ or whether you're old for whatever and you you do it for a year and you finish the season, I think uh this is a brutal sport, it's a hard sport. And uh I think what Teague's gonna read is is very telling. But uh to everybody, careers ended, careers ended next week. It's uh you have my utmost respect. And uh once it's kind of like wrestling is a little fraternity, right? So it's a brotherhood, a sisterhood, if you will. And it's like as soon as you meet somebody and and you you know, oh, they wrestled, right when you have that connection, it's like, oh yeah, there's just an instant connection. My wife is floored at how many conversations I start with people around the country. I see them, I can tell that they wrestled, and I just start conversations with them. My kids go, Oh, do you know that guy? No, I just met him. We just started talking wrestling. It's a it's an instant bond. So anyway, Teek, sorry to interrupt. I thought I'd just mention that. And uh, I'm gonna step off just for a second, take care of something, I'll be right back, and I'll I'll get to hear the ending for you.
SPEAKER_00Oh Lord, see now you're leaving me alone? All right, I'll suck it up. Here we go. At least while uh because I got one little thing to say before I get into reading it, and then you can step away for a second. How about that? Okay, okay. Sure. I just might need your moral support here. Uh this one, this one hits a little tougher this year, but uh yeah, seniors, thank you so much. Uh, just Steve's wife brought up the connections and the memories made over the course of four years. It is an honor being able to cover this sport uh the way that we do. And for some of you seniors, it's like I'm not a coach. I know Steve got to do some coaching, but how much I've seen some of you like you and your parents become like my friends, feels like a family, and uh it you can't help but feel emotionally connected to these kids, and it hurts a little bit when uh when they graduate. So it's been an honor. Thank you, class of uh 2026. Uh, I have to say, Steve, this this reading it it hits a little more this year, and I know we talked about it slightly, but I just have to say something that I you know something that I knew about over the last couple of weeks. There was a a senior this year who uh I was at the same tournament. They found out the day of the tournament that their uh that their father passed away, and I won't say who they are. If you know who they are, then you do. If you don't, then you don't, but it doesn't matter in this sense. We'll keep them anonymous. Uh they found out their dad passed away the morning of a postseason tournament, and they still wrestled. They still wrestled, they had a great tournament, and they ended up going on making the podium at state, but I'm not gonna lie, I I think I thought of this every day since that tournament. And uh I think a couple of conclusions, and Steve, you can hop in if you have any thoughts, but for for a bit it it made me think like, wow, like the the stuff that happens on the map, win or lose, it's kind of moot, right? Like there's a lot bigger things. There's wrestling that wrestling ultimately just prepares us for other things in life, and that was just uh yeah, a powerful moment in that sense. But at the same time, to think of this wrestler that went out there and did what they did, not only was it intestinal fortitude, but wrestling is also the great distractor. For the short time that you're on that map, nothing else matters on that map but what you and your opponent are doing. And I just think of that story and the respect that I have for that wrestler for doing what they did. I think it just it goes in and nicely. I hope they end up hearing this reading because I think uh whether you won state this year, whether you lost, whether you have, you know, you had the most beautiful life or you've had tragedy, I think this is uh just a very well-written article or a forum post, actually, by Baraboo State champ uh John Gunderson of Baraboo. His dad, Dan Gunderson, wrote this after John State title his senior year. So, Steve, anything before I get into it. No, go right ahead. Alright. Take a drink of water. Also, Steve, you can step away if you want for a second. No, I'm good. I'll just I'll just suck. This is gut check time right here. I'm good. The other guy on the mat by Dan Gunderson. With the blow of a whistle and a slap of the mat, my son's dream of being a state champion was finally realized. We've seen a lot of crazy celebrations at the end of big matches, and it was John's turn to do the same. He released his grip of his opponent, jumped up, flexed, pointed over to the mat side cameras to COVID empty bleachers, and finished things off with a breathtaking backflip. Um, no. He released his grip, and before getting up, his moment was interrupted by the awareness that he was not the only one on the mat. The other boy was still on his back, hands over his head. One boy's dreams had been realized and another's had been swept away. Pivoting to stand up, John stopped, turned back, and reached down to pat his opponent on the arm. It wasn't much, but with that short expression of encouragement, the other boy immediately worked to his feet and they each made their way to the center of the mat. I've always wondered how John might react to winning such a big match. Apparently no different than any other. He walked to the center circle, shook hands with his opponent, and offered another pat on the shoulder. Each wrestler went to the opposing corner to shake hands with coaches before crossing paths one final time. Another handshake and this time reciprocating pats on the back. Respect. Nice. Now, I'm not really intending to make a statement against celebrating a big win. I think I would have. But wrestling, unlike any sport I know, has a distinct loser. The win is all yours and for all to see. And so is the loss. John has known the thrill of many victories, but he's also known the agony of falling just short. Until Saturday, he had never won a state title. People sometimes dismiss the significance of the youth state tournament compared to the high school experience, but in our memories it was very big. It was held at the Alliant Energy Center with stadium seating and under big lights, creating a larger than life experience. John made the finals there as well. Three times. He lost each time, always close matches, once in the final seconds. Those losses were devastating to him. Each time he thought it was his time to win. After that third loss, we left the tournament and tried to distract him with the special stop in Madison to Applebee's. The family ate well that night, celebrating a great tournament. John sat in the car to cry instead. John lost in the high school finals as well. The memory is vivid, being just last year. He had decisively won every match throughout the season before knocking off the top ranked favorite in the semifinals. Then came those finals again. Two minutes in and I could see he was having some sort of blood sugar issue or something. Maybe his opponent brought it out of him, but I had never seen him like that before. He was dizzy, confused, and running on autopilot. He kept looking over at me with fear in his eyes, like he wanted me to do something. I couldn't help. Somehow he was leading five to two with two minutes to go, but I knew he was done. The kid who hadn't given up a takedown in thirty-six matches throughout the season gave up three in the final two minutes. He could have given up thirty. Deep in the bowels of concrete hallways of the coal center, John cried again. The deep kind. The kind that makes a dad wonder why we do this. But character is forged through the fires of adversity. We learn from losses. John said in a newspaper interview last week that he went through a period when he had to learn that his identity was not in wrestling. He said that wrestling is something that he does. It's not who he is. These are not new concepts to us or to him, but I think he resonated with Olympic champ Kyle Snyder, who after losing in the finals of the world championship said that he was not defined by his wins or by his losses, but by his relationship with Jesus. John said something similar for the paper. For that, I'm glad Kyle Snyder had a big loss. And for that, I can be glad that John had a big loss as well. I'm not sure you learn things like that through winning. We need the losses as well. As John and I sat back together in the bowels of Kacona High School, waiting our turn for the finals, trying to stay positive and relaxed, wrestlers from the smaller weight classes were finishing their matches, jubilant winners were soaking it up in the gym, celebrating with family or being interviewed by reporters, others were making their way back by us, finding secluded spots to have their moment to cry. Really good wrestlers, nationally acclaimed wrestlers, deep cries. Eventually it was time to make our way to the gym. Another top wrestler in the hallway on all fours in exhausted agony. Reminders all around us of what was at stake in a championship match, at least for a time. Well, John wrestled, and he wrestled well, but he did not wrestle alone. He did not beat a clock or a team. There was a winner and there was a loser. We didn't know much about the boy John wrestled in the finals. We knew he was an outstanding wrestler. He qualified for state all four years. He got third last year. He went 60 and 2 over his last two years at both losses to the same nationally ranked wrestler. John was 50 and 1 over the same stretch. It wasn't even matchup. The other boy deserved a title just as much as John. He too had put in the work, and he too had experienced loss. I'm glad I didn't look it up ahead of time, but I later read an article that said he lost an older brother to cancer ten years ago. Wow. Maybe he had great composure after his finals loss because John was so nice. Or maybe it was. Because this young man had taken his own path in learning that there are bigger things in life than wrestling matches. We've learned a lot of things through this journey in wrestling. We're glad to learn a few things through a big win this time. What joy and satisfaction in setting high goals and achieving them. It was quite an evening. But on the long ride home, John was drawn to talk about how bad he felt for certain kids who fell just short that night, though just as deserving. Another pat on the back. The jubilance of winning is not diminished by acknowledging those around you. They faced what was at stake in trying to do something remarkable. Our deepest respect to those who fell just short on our big day. You are much more to us than just the other guy on the mat. And on that note, ladies and gentlemen, we'll catch you on the flip side.