February 2007

In a move driven by rules more perplexing than the myriad of calls leveled against Sparta at the end of their dual against Tomah in 2000, State placewinners Jared Rickert (3rd) and Jeff Dolan (5th) have received honorable mention awards from the MVC despite defeating every conference opponent they faced this year.  The reason for the ruling was that they split time between weight classes, although it seems odd that the rules would not take into account that they did so at times to give the team a more favorable matchup in the duals.  It’s a change in the rules.  The old rules where the tournament season held as much or more sway seems more appropriate.

So, here is the rundown for Conference awards as dictated by the MVC:

1st Team – Matt Tourdot, Michael Jacobsen, Trevor Hutson, Quincy Degenhardt
2nd Team – Jenna Ahnen
Honorable Mention – Jared Rickert, Jeff Dolan

Congrats to all Spartans on their awards…..

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A whole bunch of photos spanning decades have recently been added to Spartanwrestling.com.  Thanks to Spartan Wrestling alum Doug Brown, 35 photos from the 1960s have been added to the website.  Also, seven photos from the most recent state tournament taken and contributed by Mike Montgomery have also been added.  Additionally, 57 photos from this year’s Regionals in Sparta have been added.  To check out the galleries, click on their corresponding thumbnail under the "Photo Albums" section along the left hand side of the page or click on the thumbnail below to visit the gallery.

1960s Sparta Wrestling

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2007 State Tournament

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2007 WIAA Regionals at Sparta

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Finally,

Thanks to all the contributions from alumni, the city and other donors, a new mat was purchased and is already on its way to Sparta after being used in this year’s tournament season.  The new mat, pictured below, will sit front and center next year at the Spartan Invite and every home dual.  Thank-you again donors, alumni and everyone who helped contribute toward the purchase of a new mat. 

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It was a good three days for Jared Rickert and Jeff Dolan at the WIAA State Wrestling tournament.  Rickert went 5-1 over three days to capture third place while teammate Jeff Dolan went 4-2 to capture fifth place.

Rickert avenged an earlier loss in the quarterfinals to Kaukauna’s Dillon Bera to bring him his first state medal.  In the quarters Bera defeated Rickert 9-4, but fell to Rickert 9-8 in the 3rd place bout.  Below is how Rickert’s tournament went from start to finish:

Round 1  -  Rickert decisioned Collin Sharkey (Beaver Dam, 35-3) 7-5
Quarterfinal  -  Dillon Bera (Kaukauna, 46-5) decisioned Rickert 9-4
Cons. Round 1  -  Rickert decisioned James Miller (Milton, 30-14) 6-0
Cons. Round 2  -  Rickert decisioned Kris Magruder (Racine Case, 38-4) 4-3
Cons. Semis  -  Rickert decisioned Alec Schindler (Chippewa Falls, 41-9) 4-2
3rd Place Match  -  Rickert decisioned Dillon Bera (Kaukauna, 46-5) 9-8

Rickert’s 48 victories in a season is a new record for Sparta wrestling.  He was 48-2 overall on the year.

Both of Jeff Dolan’s losses came in overtime or by less than two points.  He capped off his tournament with a technical fall in the 5th place match.  Here is how Dolan’s tournament went:

Round 1  -  Dolan decisioned Russ Martiny (Whitnall, 3908) 7-5
Quarterfinal  -  Aaron Erickson (Merrill, 45-7) decisioned Dolan 9-4
Cons. Round 1  -  Dolan won by forfeit over Noah Budi (Kaukauna, 40-7)
Cons. Round 2  -  Dolan won by major decision over Trevor Kinney (Menasha, 40-9) 8-0
Cons. Semis  -  Mike Fuller (Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln, 40-7) decisioned Dolan 3-1 OT
5th Place Match  -  Dolan tech falled Ryan Dougherty (Stoughton, 40-9) 15-0

Dolan ended his season with a record of 42-7, which also ranks among the top three all-time in Spartan history.

Michael Jacobsen lost a match that was very close until he got caught and pinned by Milton’s David Miller in 3:51.  Miller then lost his wrestleback thus eliminating Jacobsen from competition.  Michael finished the year with a 31-10 record and will look to improve upon this year’s performance next year when he returns for his senior season.

In the next couple of days after I get Internet up here in Duluth I’ll put together a synopsis of the season, summary of new records and more.  The reason for the lack of updating over the past couple of days is that I recently took a position as a staff photographer way up in Duluth so I have not been able to update without any Internet.  I want to say here that I really enjoyed following the team this year and watching everyone do well and it was great to see the team have a great year.  I’ll be back some next year, but wanted to congratulate the team on an outstanding year.  In case anybody didn’t know who was updating and running the website, it’s Derek Montgomery (me) in case you were wondering.

Again, check back here in a few days for some added features and more.

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Sparta will send three wrestlers to the 2007 WIAA State Tournament in Madison this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Jared Rickert (140), Jeff Dolan (152) and Michael Jacobsen (171) will make up the 2007 State Tournament class for the Spartans.  Rickert and Dolan took home sectional titles while Jacobsen fell to Reedsburg’s Michael Huber in overtime. 

It was a solid day for Sparta, who sent 12 to sectionals.  Nine Spartans won their first round matches while three Spartans (Matt Tourdot, Trevor Hutson and Quincy Degenhardt) missed qualifying for State by one place.  The top two finishers qualify.

This will be Rickert’s third time at state, Dolan’s second and Jacobsen’s first.  Two years ago Rickert went   Seniors Rickert and Dolan will be looking to place for the first time.  Here is a quick preview of the opening matches at state for each wrestler.

Rickert (43-1) will kick off the action by wrestling Beaver Dam’s Collin Sharkey (35-2).  Sharkey was a state tournament qualifier last year and a two-time conference champion.  He won every tournament he entered this year except one in Bayport.  Should Rickert come out victorious, he would face either Milton’s James Miller (30-12) or Kaukauna’s Dillon Bera (43-3).

Dolan (38-5) starts off with Whitnall’s Russ Martiny (39-7).  Martiny too second at his sectional and 4th at the 2006 West Allis Invite wrestling at 145 pounds.  Jared Rickert met Martiny in the semifinals and pinned him in 1:41.  Martiny went on to lose another match to Kris Magruder of Racine Case in the 3rd Place match.  If Dolan wins, he would face Kaukauna’s Noah Budi (40-5) or Merrill’s Aaron Erickson (42-6).

Jacobsen (31-9) wrestles Milton’s David Miller (33-7) in his first match at State.  Miller took 4th at 171 pounds in last year’s Badger State Games.  During his junior year at Sectionals he lost in the opening round at 160 pounds.  Should Jacobsen win, he will face either Evan Palmer (39-1) of Menomonie or Hartford Union’s Jared Filo (39-4).

Wrestling begins Thursday at 330.  In the case of an opening round loss, Sparta would need the wrestler that beat them to win their next match in order to earn a wrestleback.  You can check back here for updates at the end of the day or follow them live as they happen at TrackWrestling.com

Youth Photos Posted

In other news, check out some photos from Sparta’s Youth Wrestling program.  You can CLICK HERE or click on the link titled "Sparta Youth Wrestling" under the Photo Albums section along the left hand side of the page.  A special thanks to ex-Spartan coach Mike Roddick for submitting photos from the last three weekends.

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