Sparta Spartan Wrestling

UPDATED:Assistant coach Jake Larsen hired as new head coach

Here is a photo of Larsen in case any of you can't connect the name and the face.

Turtle Lake, WI native and UW-L alumnus Jake Larsen has been hired as the new head coach for the Spartan wrestling program.  Larsen, a three-time All-American and national champion while at UW-La Crosse, will take over as head coach for the 2008-09 season.  Larsen was an assistant under Bill Tourdot this past season and is a physical education teacher at Sparta High School.

Larsen will replace Bill Tourdot who exits after a 10-4 record and runner-up finish in the MVC in his only year as head coach.  He will remain involved with the program as either an assistant coach or volunteer assistant. 

Best of luck to both Larsen and Tourdot!!

Team holds Awards Banquet, Spencer Yohe speaks

The Spartan wrestling team capped off their season with an awards ceremony last night featuring Spencer Yohe as the keynote speaker.  Yohe was a former coach at Caledonia High School, the University of Minnesota-Morris and Minnesota State Mankato.  He is in the Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame and will be inducted this week into the National Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.

The award ceremony didn't have many of your typical awards like Most Valuable Wrestler, but awards were given out to those with the most pins and takedowns and other statistical categories like that.  One special award went to Matt Tourdot for most weight gained since the end of the season.  Tourdot, a 140-pounder during the 2007-08 season, is north of 180 pounds now.  He expects to wrestle at 160 or above next year.

Below is a video of Yohe speaking to the Spartan team.  Check it out, it's a good listen.  Oh and there will be updates this week to the all-time Spartan records as well as the MVC records and some predictions for next year.  I have been without a computer for the last few weeks and now I am back on track so keep checking back for some new items.  Thanks.

Hutson Nabs 5th!!

For the 6th time out of the last seven years, a Spartan has placed at state. Trevor Hutson grabbed 5th place today by defeating Merrill's Joe Akey by a score of 6-4.

The day didn't start as good as it ended as Hutson lost a tough match to Trevor Weinkauf of Waterford 11-2. Trevor didn't have much time to dwell on the loss as he took the mat again just hours later to take down a wrestler with 41 wins on the year. To see just how close Hutson was to advancing to the state finals, the same guy who beat Hutson by a single point in the quarterfinals defeated Akey in overtime. Then the same guy who beat Hutson by a single point in the quarterfinals (Grube) was beat by a single point in the finals. Ultimately all of this means nothing, but it goes to show how tough Hutson wrestled and to show that the 215 weight class was a bracket comprised of parity this year.

Throughout the tournament, Hutson beat a number of guys with a lot of wins including Joel Yogerst (25-3), Joe Epping (40-7), Jacob Keeser (39-8) and Akey (43-8). All in all, Hutson was 4-2 at the Kohl Center with a pin. He is the first Spartan to medal at 215, but that should come as no surprise considering the weight class is only a few years old. Congrats to Trevor on a great tournament and a great season.

Another interesting fact is that half of Hutson's losses this year came at the state tournament. He finished with a record of 28-4 on the year.

Check back later this week for a roundup of the season and a short summary of some of the seniors careers. Also, be sure to check out my MVC predictions for next season.

UPDATE: Hutson to wrestle Weinkauf

UPDATE:  Sparta's Trevor Hutson will wrestle Waterford's Trevor Weinkauf after Weinkauf  lost to Ashwaubenon's Mike Taylor by a score of 7-3 tonight.  The match will go down tomorrow during the consolation round that starts at 11am.

Trevor Hutson will wrestle on Saturday.  In his latest match, Hutson made quick work of Fort Atkinson's Jacob Keeser by pinning the senior in 1:25.  The victory ensures that Hutson will leave the Kohl Center with a medal.  He must await tonight's semifinals before knowing his next opponent.

He will wrestle either Ashwaubenon's Mike Taylor who carries a 42-1 record into tonight's match against Trevor Weinkauf (41-1).  The loser of this match will wrestle Hutson in the consolation round starting at 11am Saturday.  The winner of that match advances to the 3rd place match while the loser will wrestle for 5th.

Hutson wins another

Trevor Hutson won his second match of the tournament this morning taking down Kenosha Tremper's Joe Epping 5-0. With the win, Hutson moves on to wrestle Jacob Keeser of Fort Atkinson (39-7). The match will start in the consolation round that kicks off at 145pm this afternoon.

Should Hutson win his match against Keeser, he will be guaranteed no worse than 6th place. The best he can get now is 3rd. Check back here later this afternoon for full updates.

McDonald out, Hutson falls

The season for Derek McDonald ended tonight as Logan Cudd fell in the quarterfinals to Wisconsin Rapids' Carl DeLuca 10-3.  McDonald ends a very successful breakout season at 36-12.  Congrats to Derek on a fine year.

At 215, Sparta's Trevor Hutson lost a heartbreaker to Wisconsin Rapids' Vance Grube 3-2.  The loss knocks Hutson into the consolation bracket where he will face off with Kenosha Tremper's Joe Epping (40-5).  Epping is coached by former Spartan and state runner-up Joel Dutton.  So there is a little drama and intrigue to this match.  Hutson will wrestle in the round that starts at 10am tomorrow so check back here after noon for updates on his match.

On the topic of Hutson, the La Crosse tribune had a nice article awhile back about his recovery from knee surgery at the beginning of the year.  You can check it out by clicking here or copying the following URL into your browser.

http://www.insidepreps.com/articles/2008/02/13/preps_content/
columnists/sommerfeldt.txt

Be sure to check back tomorrow for full updates on Hutson and other area wrestlers.

Hutson dominates, McDonald falls...

Sparta's Derek McDonald fell behind early and lost to River Falls' Logan Cudd 12-9.  McDonald had Cudd on his back as the match ended.  Now, McDonald needs Cudd to win his next match in order to earn a second match.  Cudd will wrestle Carl DeLuca of Wisconsin Rapids later this evening so McDonald's fate will be known by the end of the night.

215-pounder Trevor Hutson won his opening round match in dominating fashion by beating up on Slinger's Joel Yogerst 8-1.  Hutson now advances to wrestle Wisconsin Rapids' Vance Grube (40-4) in the state quarterfinal match later this evening.  If Hutson wins, he won't wrestle again until tomorrow night's semifinals, which start at 7pm.  Should he fall, Hutson would wrestle tomorrow in the consolation bracket starting at 10am.  Either way, Hutson's first round victory guarantees him two more matches.

Check back here tonight for full updates.

Today's the day for Hutson & McDonald

It's state tournament time in Wisconsin and Sparta will see two of its wrestlers take the mat at the Kohl Center today.  Derek McDonald (112) and Trevor Hutson (215) will make their state tournament debuts today.

Derek McDonald (36-10) would really like to get to 40 victories on the year.  Four more victories either means a state championship or a medal.  However, before he can worry about that he has to worry about River Falls' Logan Cudd.  Name sound familiar?  That's because it's just the latest installment in a long line of great wrestlers with the last name of Cudd to come out of River Falls.  A number of Logan's brothers wrestled for UW.

If McDonald should defeat the freshman Cudd, he would likely have Carl DeLuca of Wisconsin Rapids who comes in sporting a 40-2 record. 

Then there is Trevor Hutson.  Hutson takes a 24-2 record against Slinger's Joel Yogerst (25-1) who lost his only match of the year in the sectional final against Kaukauna's Matt Wallace (35-9).  So the 25-1 record might be deceiving. 

If Hutson should get by Yogerst, he'll have a tough match.  He'll face either Wisconsin Rapids' Vance Grube (38-4) or Kenosha Tremper's Joe Epping (40-3). 

Both wrestlers will be taking the mat early this afternoon.  Check back here later today for updates, possibly some video and more information on the state tournament.  As always, if you need up to date results, be sure to check out Trackwrestling.