Lancaster Invite

Sparta came up big in their third place matches to keep host Lancaster at bay as they took home their fourth straight Lancaster Invite title. The Spartans finished with 326 points to Lancaster’s 295. Dubuque Walhert was third with 219.5 and Viroqua fourth with 203.5.

Sparta did not have any individual champions, but they did have nine wrestlers finish in the top three. Sparta was trailing Lancaster for most of the day until a strong consolation round put them ahead of the hosts and then winning six of nine third place matches sealed the deal.

Brock Polhamus, Kyle Burkhalter and Chris Beeler all met tough competition in their championship bouts. Polhamus was pinned by Lancaster’s Kyle Mezera in 1:14, Burkhalter was pinned in 5:26 by Fennimore’s Logan Chappell and Beeler dropped a 4-1 decision to Richland Center’s Logan Schmidt. Mezera is ranked third at 120 pounds in division three according to Wisconsin Wrestling Online, Chappell sixth in D3 at 182 and Schmidt 8th at 285.

Winning their third place matches for the Spartans were John Roddick, Tristan Zurfluh, Derek VonRuden, Paul Vantassel, Toby Mosley and Greg Skon. Coming in fourth were Dylan Winchel, Michael Murnane and Dan Dawley.  Summarized results are below…

106  –  Dylan Winchel, 4th place, 3-2 with two pins
113  –  John Roddick, 3rd place, 4-1 with a pin, tech fall and major decision
120  –  Brock Polhamus, 2nd Place, 3-1 with a pin
126  –  Tristan Zurfluh, 3rd Place, 4-1 with a major decision
132  –  Derek VonRuden, 3rd Place, 4-1 with two pins
138  –  Paul Vantassel, 3rd Place, 4-1 with a major decision
145  –  Michael Murnane, 4th Place, 3-2 with a tech fall
152  –  Toby Mosley, 3rd Place, 4-1 with a pin
160  –  Bob Ragan, 5th Place, 3-2 with a pin
170  –  Greg Skon, 3rd Place, 3-1 with a pin
182  –  Kyle Burkhalter, 2nd Place, 3-1 with two pins
195  –  Dan Dawley, 4th Place, 2-2 with a pin
220  –  Logan Degenhardt, 5th Place, 1-2 with a pin
285  –  Chris Beeler, 2nd Place, 3-1

For full match-by-match results, click here.

It was the fourth straight year the Spartans won the Lancaster Invite. There were a ton of byes today.  At 285, Chris Beeler received byes all the way into his semifinal match. The reason some of the records above are different for different wrestlers even if they received the same place is that in order for a bye to count as a win on the wrestler’s record, they must win the match following the bye. If they lose, the bye does not count as a win.

Also on Saturday, the varsity reserve wrestled a dual against Black River Falls and were leading until the final match before giving up a pin and losing 32-28. It was a solid effort for the varsity reserve. Results from that dual is below…

138  –  Julius Julson defeated David Stahl (BRF) 15-2
145  –  Matt McLinn (BRF) defeated Margo Degenhardt 8-7
152  –  Dillon Erickson pinned Jacob Peterson (BRF) 5:22
160  –  Duston Krapata-Ball (BRF) tech falled Lucas Peters 23-8, 6:00
170  –  DOUBLE FORFEIT
182  –  Dillan Bunde (BRF) pinned Walker Polhamus 2:36
195  –  DOUBLE FORFEIT
220  –  Chase Bernett pinned Kody Cleveland (BRF) 0:24
285  –  DOUBLE FORFEIT
106  –  Justin Marx won by forfeit
113  –  Zak Marcellus won by forfeit
120  –  David Gorksi (BRF) pinned Steven Kelly 5:15
126  –  Brady Gartner (BRF) pinned Corey Bronner 1:00
132  –  Keith Dawley (BRF) pinned Austin Anderson 2:10

The Spartans are now off until Thursday when they wrestle Onalaska at home. JV wrestles at 6:15pm with the varsity following at 7:30pm. There will be no live blog for the Onalaska dual. The team championship today at Lancaster is the Spartans’ second team title of the year. They also took first at the Reedsburg Dual Invite. Congrats Spartans on a great day!

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Lancaster updates…

by Derek on January 7, 2012

4:39 pm  –  With 313 points, Sparta remains atop the team standings ahead of Lancaster’s 285 points. It’s a two team race now as third place Dubuque Walhert finds itself 112.5 points back of the Spartans with 200.5 points.

Since we last updated you, Dylan Winchel dropped his third place match to Viroqua’s Justin McClelland 11-0, John Roddick won 10-2 over River Ridge/Cassville’s Bart Kluesner, Brock Polhamus was pinned in his final against Lancaster’s Kyle Mezera in 1:14, Tristan Zurfluh won his third place match against Lancaster’s Joe Crosby 12-10, Derek VonRuden defeated Lancaster’s Daniel Rice for 3rd by a score of 5-1 and Paul Vantassel won 5-0 in his third place match against Riverdale’s Carl Portwine, Michael Murnane.

3:15 pm  –  Sparta now leads Lancaster 297.5 to 271. Dan Dawley won his consolation match over Dubuque Senior’s Mitch Powers by pin in 2:28 while Lancaster’s Curtis Olson pinned Logan Degenhardt in 46 seconds at 220. With 26.5 point separating Sparta and Lancaster, the three matches between the two teams will be critical toward the final team score.

2:55 pm  –  There are a number of matches between Spartan and Lancaster wrestlers coming up. At 120 pounds, Brock Polhamus meets Kyle Mezera in the finals. At 126 pounds, Tristan Zurfluh will wrestle Joe Crosby. At 132 pounds, Derek VonRuden will wrestle Daniel Rice and at 220, Logan Degenhardt will wrestle Curtis Olson.  In Sparta’s 43-24 victory over Lancaster earlier this year at the Reedsburg Dual Invite, VonRuden defeated Rice 7-3.

In further consolation round action, Bob Ragan lost 12-2 to Dubuque Walhert’s Gavin Gremmel while Greg Skon pinned Boscobel’s Jake Groom in 1:43. The wins push Sparta’s team score to 283.5 points to Lancaster’s 248.

2:45 pm  –  With a perfect consolation round, the Spartans have extended their lead over Lancaster to 274.5 – 241.  Since our last update, Tristan Zurfluh won his match 4-0 over Dubuque Senior’s Jordan Petersen, Derek VonRuden pinned Fennimore’s Justin Mulrooney by in 2:02, Paul Vantassel defeated Boscobel’s Logan Jones 4-1, Michael Murnane tech falled Boscobel’s Eric Mindham 21-6 and Toby Mosley beat Dubuque Senior’s Jack Freese 5-0. Robert Ragan, Greg Skon, Dan Dawley and Logan Degenhardt have yet to wrestle their consolation matches this round.

2:27 pm  –  And like that, the Spartans are in the lead. Sparta now holds a 243-241 advantage over Lancaster as many of the consolation matches play out. Chris Beeler became Sparta’s third finalist with a 3-0 victory over Fennimore’s Ryan Ashmore. Dylan Winchel won his consolation match with a 16 second pin over Ty Davidson of Fennimore. Davidson was no slouch either as he entered the match with Winchel sporting a 17-6 record. Finally, at 113, John Roddick picked up a pin in his consolation match defeating Lancaster’s Tyson Wolf by pin in 1:35.

1:50 pm  –  Midway through the day, Lancaster holds a solid lead over 2nd place Sparta. Lancaster checks in with 227 points to Sparta’s 194. Dubuque Walhert is third with 161 points.

Brock Polhamus and Kyle Burkhalter are in the finals while Dylan Winchel, John Roddick, Tristan Zurfluh, Derek VonRuden, Paul Vantassel, Michael Murnane and Toby Mosley are all going for third with one loss on the day.

The difference in team scores between Sparta and Lancaster is due partly to Lancaster winning their matches against Sparta. In the semifinals, Lancaster’s Cole Martin defeated Dylan Winchel by pin in 4:48, Trenton Cornell major decisioned Paul Vantassel 11-3 and Ethan Soderstrom defeated Toby Mosley by pin in 1:05. The only Spartan victory against Lancaster today came at 125 in the quarterfinals when Tristan Zurfluh dropped Joe Crosby 11-1.  Lancaster also has at least five individuals in the finals. Matches at 220 and 285 have yet to be wrestled. On that token, Chris Beeler has yet to wrestle his semifinal match.

In the finals, Brock Polhamus has Lancaster’s Kyle Mezera (22-1) while Burkhalter has Fennimore’s Logan Chappell (21-3).  Sparta has a good chance to make up the gap in points with Lancaster if they fare well in their third place matches.

Sparta has seven guys going for third and Beeler will either be going for third or first depending on his semifinal match. For Lancaster, they have  five individuals going for first, another going for third and two more who have yet to wrestler their semifinal matches.

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Domination might be an inadequate word to describe what the Spartans did to the competition on Saturday at the Lancaster Invite.  Sparta had four champions, two runner-ups and another five wrestlers finish in the top four Saturday en route to 249.5 team points, which was 98 points better than runner-up Viroqua who finished with 151.5 and third place Richland Center who finished with 149 points.

Leading the way for the Spartans was Tom Tourdot who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Wreslter.  Tourdot defeated the second-ranked wrestler in division two (Viroqua’s Trent Vesbach) and the fifth-ranked wrestler (Richland Center’s Logan Schmidt) en route to the championship in a stacked 215-pound bracket.

Other champions for Sparta included Nick Winchel, Toby Mosley and Morgan Leis.  Winchel picked up his 20th victory of the year by defeating Lancaster’s Trenton Cornell 7-5 in the finals.  At 145, Toby Mosley improved to 19-4 on the year with a 5-2 victory over Ethan Soderstrom of Lancaster in the finals.  Up one weight class at 152 pounds, Morgan Leis defeated Boscobel’s Dustin Smith 9-3 in the finals to improve to 16-3 on the year.

Runner-ups for the Spartans included Dylan Winchel and Michael Murnane.  Summarized results for each wrestler are below.  The numbers in parenthesis after the results is each wrestler’s season record.  For full match-by-match results from Lancaster, please click here.

103  –  Dylan Winchel, 2nd Place, 3-1 with a pin, (17-7)
112  –   Tristan Zurfluh, 4th Place, 3-2 with a pin and tech fall, (15-9)
119  –  Bryce Nowaczyk, 4th Place, 4-2 with a pin and major decision, (13-11)
125  –  Derek VonRuden, 3rd Place, 4-1, (17-7)
130  –  Nick Winchel, 1st Place, 4-0 with a pin, (20-3)
135  –  Paul Vantassel, 5th Place, 3-2 with a pin, (17-8)
140  –  Michael Murnane, 2nd Place, 3-1 with a major decision, (17-7)
145  –  Toby Mosley, 1st Place, 4-0 with two pins, (19-4)
152  –  Morgan Leis, 1st Place, 4-0 with a pin and major decision, (16-3)
160  –  Alex Hemmersbach, Did Not Place, 2-2 with a major decision, (11-13)
171  –  Xavier Lopez, 3rd Place, 4-1 with a pin, (13-10)
189  –  Kyle Burkhalter, 6th Place, 3-3 with two pins, (4-5)
215  –  Tom Tourdot, 1st Place, 4-0 with a major decision, (22-1)
285  –  Chris Beeler, 4th Place, 3-2 with a pin, (16-8)

It was the second straight year the Spartans won the Lancaster Invite in impressive fashion.  Last year the Spartans won with 331 points to Viroqua’s 273.5 points.

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Sparta took care of business Saturday at the Lancaster Invite winning the team title by 57.5 points over Viroqua.  The Spartans had 331 points while Viroqua had 273.5 points.  Third place Cuba City was 109.5 points back with 221.5.

Nine wrestlers for Sparta placed in the top three and five made it to the finals of which three brought home individual titles.  Brandon Brueggen, Jordan Stanek and Matt Tourdot led the way for Sparta winning their brackets while Brandon Rickert and Steve Stevenson brought home silver medals.

At 171 pounds, Brandon Brueggen squeeked out a 5-4 victory in the finals over Fennimore’s Logan Chappell, who entered the match with an 18-3 record.  All three of Brueggen’s matches on the day were close ones.  He won matches by scores of 3-2 and 5-2 leading up to the finals.  One weight class up at 189 pounds, Jordan Stanek broke the 20-win barrier by beating Quinn Sedlak of Riverdale 7-5 in the finals.  It was a thin weight class as Stanek advanced to the semifinals before even touching the mat due to byes, but when he did he handles his business.

At 215 pounds, Matt Tourdot continues to have a hard time finding mat time.  In his three matches, all pins, he racked up just 2:19 of wrestling.  The final was his fastest pin of the day coming in just 20 seconds over Trent Vesbach of Viroqua.  In the quarterfinals, he picked up a pin in 56 seconds and in the semifinals, his match lasted just 1:03.  The wins moves Tourdot’s overall record to 24-0 on the year.

At 119 pounds, Brandon Rickert came in second cruising through this first two matches with a pin in 1:39 and an 8-3 victory in the semis before running into yet another Donar for Cuba City.  The Donar family has pumped out a ton of great wrestlers over the years and it appears this installment is no different.  Rickert fell in the finals to 11-1 Bob Donor by a score of 9-4.  At 285 pounds, Steve Stevenson pined his first two opponents in 2:31 and 1:40 before running into one of the top heavyweights in the state in Viroqua’s Taylor Henry and losing by pin in 25 seconds.

For full match-by-match results, click here.  For a quick version, check below…

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103  –  Bryce Nowaczyk, 3rd Place, 4-1 with two pins and a major decision
112  –  Adam Wiedl, 3rd Place, 4-1 with two pins
119  –  Brandon Rickert, 2nd Place, 3-1 with a pin
125  –  Toby Mosley, Did Not Place with a pin
130  –  Derek VonRuden, 3rd Place, 4-1 with a pin
135  –  Nick Winchel, 3rd Place, 4-1 with a pin and a major decision
140  –  Logan Denasha, 6th Place, 1-3
145  –  Nick Anderson, Did Not Place
152  –  Morgan Leis, 4th Place, 2-2
160  –  Tom Tourdot, 4th Place, 3-2 with a pin and a major decision
171  –  Brandon Brureggen, 1st Place, 4-0
189  –  Jordan Stanek, 1st Place, 4-0
215  –  Matt Tourdot, 1st Place, 4-0 with three pins
285  –  Steve Stevenson, 2nd Place, 3-1 with two pins

TEAM SCORES:  Sparta 331, Viroqua 273.5, Cuba City 221.5, Lancaster 207, River Ridge/Cassville 181, Riverdale 154.5, Dubuque Walhert 147, Madison West 146, Fennimore 145, Dubuque Senior 128.5, Boscobel 104, Edgerton 45

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Next up for the Spartans is a dual Thursday night against La Crosse Aquinas.  JV starts at 6:15pm while the varsity takes the mat at 7:30.  Be sure to check Spartanwrestling.com Thursday night for updates on how the match went.

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