Sectionals

Individual Sectional Updates

by Derek on February 19, 2011

Mike Montgomery will be providing periodic updates throughout the day on how Derek VonRuden, Morgan Leis, Kyle Burkhalter and Tom Tourdot are doing at individual sectionals.  Remember, the top three individuals in each bracket advance to the state tournament.  For a little background on what the Spartans will be facing, click here.  Go Spartans!!!

7:25 pm —  Derek VonRuden wins his wrestleback for 2nd place with a 4-3 decision over Devin Weber of Marshall (48-12). Derek wrestled a great tournament today as did Kyle Burkhalter who finished in 3rd place to also qualify for the Individual State Tournament beginning next Thursday. Both Derek and Kyle will wrestle Thursday night when Division 2 and Division 3 begin at @7:15 pm. Division 1 action will begin at 3:00 pm with preliminary matches followed by a quarterfinal round at @ 5:00 pm.

* A very deserved congratulations goes out to seniors Morgan Leis and Tom Tourdot for outstanding seasons. Even thought the day may not have ended as hoped, they thrilled us and made us proud all season long. Their dedication, hard work and sacrifices over the past four years represent what Sparta Wrestling is all about.

6:10 pm —  Kyle Burhalter, 171 qualifies for State! Kyle defeated Jace Simonson from Richland Center by fall in 5:32 to earn 3rd place in the Sectional and qualify for next weeks State Tournament.

5:35 pm —  Updating action that has occured earlier this afternoon. At 215, Tom Tourdot lost in a wrestleback match 5-3 to Adam Carlson 5-3. After an initial takedown, Tom got caught in a granby giving up 4 pts. Each wrestler earned an escape in the next two periods but Tom was not able to get that equalizing takedown. At 171, Kyle Burkhalter remains alive for a State Tournament berth with a 7-2 win over Devin Wild. If Kyle wins his next match he will qualify for the State Tournament.

2:05 pm — Tom Tourdot at 215 lost a heartbreaker in double overtime 2-1 to Logan Schmidt from Richland Center. Neither wrestler could secure a takedown during regulation as each earned only an escape. After a scoreless 1st overtime period Tom was down for the first 30 second period. Unable to escape Tom had to do the same to Schmidt in the next 30 second period to extend the match to sudden death. Unfortunately Schmidt escaped to earn the 2-1 victory. Tom will now head into wrestleback action needing two wins to advance to State. Tom will first face Adam Carlson from Edgerton (35-8), who lost to Schmidt in the first round 5-0. Carlson finished 4th in the Lancaster Invitational which Tom won earlier this season. Also advancing to the finals at 215 is Trent Vesbach from Viroqua. Tom will need to defeat Carlson, then either Ryan Funk (29-4) from Lake Mills, or Trevor Gorr (34-8) from Monroe to earn 3rd place and hopefully have a chance to wrestle for true 2nd.

1:45 pm — In recent action affecting Morgan Leis at 152 and Kyle Burkhalter at 171, the news is good and bad. Morgan will not get a wrestleback. Schwitz from Monroe lost to Shuster from Marshall 13-7, this eliminates Morgan from the tournament. At 171, Jentz from Belmont/Platteville pinned Wild from Jefferson in 3:40. Kyle will now wrestle Wild in the wrestleback round with a chance to still qualify for State.

1:05 – Derek VonRuden, 125, advances to the finals and guarantees himself a sport in next week’s State Tournament with a hard fought 3-2 win over Klopfenstein from Monroe. Trailing 1-0 entering the 3rd period, Derek chose down and secured and escape and takedown to take the lead and hold on for the victory. Derek will now face Bob Donar (29-3) from Cuba City/Southwest. Donar defeated Derek by a fall in 1:47 Tuesday night in team sectional action.

12:30 pm —  At 215 Tom Tourdot (41-3) defeated Max Atkins from Jefferson (37-9) by a score of 12-6. Tom will now advance to the semi-finals to face Logan Schmidt (34-6) from Richland Center. Tom defeated Schmidt 3-1 in the finals of the Lancaster Invitational on Jan. 8.

12:10 pm —  Kyle Burkhalter (14-11) at 171 lost his first match of the day to Dusty Jentz from Belmont/Platteville by a fall in 2:00. Jenz was a State runner up at 152 last year and currently 40-1 this year. More than likely Kyle will get a wrestleback against Devin Wild from Jefferson (34-13).

11:35 am –  At 152 Morgan Leis lost to Dylan Schwitz from Monroe (38-5) by a score of 4-0. Morgan now must hope Schwitz defeats Thurston Shuster from Marshall (47-4) in the semi-finals to qualify for a wrestleback.

10:45 am --  Derek VonRuden wins his first match 6-2 over Shimshak from Lodi. Derek controlled the match the entire way similiar to his match Tuesday night vs. Shimshak. Derek (37-10) will now move onto the semi-finals to wrestle Kevin Klopfenstein (37-8), a sophomore from Monroe. Klopfenstein defeated Derek 8-1 at the beginning of the year in Reedsburg. A win in the semi-finals guarantees a wrestler at least third place and a spot in the State Tournament beginning next Thursday.

10:30 am —  Sectionals is underway and they are currently wrestling the 112-pound bracket.

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Individual Sectional Preview

by Derek on February 18, 2011

Sparta will have four wrestlers competing Saturday in Evansville for a trip to the state tournament next week in Madison.  The top three placewinners at sectionals in divisions two and three advance to the state tournament and unlike division one, if you lose your first match, you aren’t done.

At 125 pounds, Derek VonRuden wrestles Lodi’s Getasew Shimshak in a rematch of their Tuesday night bout.  In that contest, VonRuden defeated Shimshak 6-2.  If VonRuden wins again, he will face the winner of Monroe’s Kevin Klopfenstein and River Valley’s Joe Crook.  VonRuden defeated Crook in the 5th place bout at the Badger State Invite by a score of 9-2.  At the Reedsburg Dual tournament, Klopfenstein defeated VonRuden 8-1.

On the other side of the 125-pound bracket is Viroqua’s Erik Vesbach (33-13), Clinton’s Jason Rosales (12-12), Cuba City/Southwestern’s Bob Donar and Marshall’s Devin Weber (42-8).  Donar pinned VonRuden in 1:48 Tuesday night at team sectionals.  VonRuden defeated Vesbach 1-0 in the regional finals this past Saturday.

What do we know?  VonRuden has had trouble against Klopfenstein and Donar.  He can beat Shimshak, Crook and Vesbach.  Judging by the record, he could probably beat Rosales.

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At 152 pounds, Morgan Leis wrestles Monroe’s Dylan Schwitz.  The two did not meet at the Reedsburg Dual Tournament as Leis didn’t wrestle that day.  This could be a great match and a critical one for Leis.  Schwitz defeated Greg Skon in Reedsburg this year by pin in 1:01 and Nick Anderson last year by a 10-1 score.

Below the Leis-Schwitz match on the bracket is Marshall’s Thurston Schuster (45-4) and Prairie Du Chien’s Drew Achenbach (18-11).  Schuster is currently ranked 4th in D2 by Wisconsin Wrestling Online and should win his opening round match against Achenbach.

On the other side of the bracket is West Salem/Bangor’s Alex Peters (33-11), Cuba City/Southwestern’s Tyler Bass (25-13), Brodhead-Juda’s Hunter Colden (38-2) and Jefferson’s Nate Thomas (36-7).  Peters pinned Leis in the regional finals in 1:56, but I think Leis got caught and has a good chance of winning a rematch.  Leis pounded Bass at team sectionals to the tune of a pin in 3:37.  Despite Colden’s impressive record of 38-2, Wisconsin Wrestling Online only has him as an honorable mention, which is where Leis was the entire year before dropping out of the last rankings.

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At 171 pounds, Kyle Burkhalter has the toughest opening round bout of any of the Spartans in Belmont/Platteville’s Dusty Jentz.  Jentz is the second-ranked wrestler in D2 at 171 according to Wisconsin Wrestling Online.  Last year, he was a state runner-up at 152 pounds.

The other match on Burkhalter’s side of the bracket features Edgarton’s Alex Beechler (24-12) and Jefferson’s Devin Wild (32-13).  On the other side of the bracket is Adams-Friendship’s Dustin Kirsenlohr (37-4), Richland Center’s Jace Simonson (18-15), Lakeside Lutheran’s Mitch Huebner (23-13) and Turner’s Jake Jensen (24-15).  Kirsenlohr pinned Burkhalter in the 171-pound regional finals last weekend in 1:31.  Beyond Jentz and Kirsenlohr, this bracket could be up for grabs.

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At 215 pounds, Sparta brings the top-ranked wrestler at 215 pounds in division two according to Wisconsin Wrestling Online in Tom Tourdot.  In his opening match, Tourdot has Jefferson’s Max Adkins (37-7).  The other match on Tourdot’s side of the bracket pits Edgerton’s Adam Carlson (35-6) and Richland Center’s Logan Schmidt.  Tourdot defeated Schmidt 3-1 in the finals at the Badger State Invite.

On the other side of the bracket is Viroqua’s Trent Vesbach (31-10), Monroe’s Trevor Gorr (34-6), Belmont’s David Stoney (24-14) and Lake Mills’ Ryan Funk (29-2).  Tourdot defeated Gorr 3-0 at the Reedsburg Dual Tournament and Vesbach 12-4 this past weekend at the regional tournament.  I don’t have much on Funk besides him being a regional champion last weekend.  Tourdot can beat anyone in this bracket and has shown he can beat the top competition in the state and the area.  With the exception of Aquinas’ Lucas Shappell who is in division three, Tourdot has not lost to a Wisconsin wrestler this year and that loss to Shappell went to three overtimes.

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Be sure to check Trackwrestling.com Saturday for updates on how the guys are progressing throughout the day.  I’ll likely be in a canyon near Las Vegas.  Make a note of that in case a boulder falls on my arm while I’m rock climbing.  That way you can give people an idea of where I might be so I don’t have to cut my arm off after 127 hours.

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Wiedl, Rickert, Stanek and Tourdot heading to Kohl Center

by Derek on February 20, 2010

Sparta will be sending four wrestlers to the state tournament in Madison next week.  Adam Wiedl, Brandon Rickert and Jordan Stanek all placed second while Matt Tourdot took home the individual title.  Brandon Brueggen and Tom Tourdot were one match away from qualifying for the state tournament, but lost their third place matches.

It will be the first trip to the Kohl Center for Wiedl, Rickert and Stanek.  Tourdot will be looking to improve upon his third place finish in division one last year at 189 pounds.  He will enter the tournament with a 47-0 record and can improve to 50-0 should he win out.

Wiedl will enter the state tournament with a 39-12 record, Rickert a 27-6 record and Stanek with a 44-5 record.  State brackets should be up later tonight and when they are, we’ll update here with matchups.

Full match-by-match results from Saturday’s action can be found by clicking here.  Summarized results are below…

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103  –  Bryce Nowaczyk, Did Not Place, 0-1
112  –  Adam Wiedl, 2nd Place, 3-1 with a pin
119  –   Brandon Rickert, 2nd Place, 3-1
125  –  Toby Mosley, Did Not Place, 0-2
130  –  Derek VonRuden, Did Not Place, 1-2
145  –  Morgan Leis, Did Not Place, 0-2
152  –  Tom Tourdot, 4th Place, 1-2 with a pin
171  –  Brandon Brueggen, 4th Place, 2-2
189  –  Jordan Stanek, 2nd Place, 3-1 with two pins and a major decision
215  –  Matt Tourdot, 1st Place, 3-0 with two pins and a major decision

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In what might have been the match of the day, Sparta’s Matt Tourdot met Lodi’s Cody Endres in a semifinal match at 215 pounds pitting the top ranked wrestler in division two in Tourdot against the third-ranked wrestler in Endres.  At the start of the year, Endres was ranked No. 1 and Tourdot was ranked second.  Adding to the drama was the fact that Tourdot and Endres split matches over the summer.  It looked to be an epic battle–especially for a sectional.  Well it turned out to be anything but.  Tourdot largely controlled Endres in the opening frame and then only 30 seconds into the second period ended the match with a pin in 2:30.  Endres went onto take third while Tourdot major decisioned his opponent in the finals.

It’s going to be a fun state tournament and we will have a scouting report up here for Sparta’s opponents at the state tournament when all the information is compiled and put online.

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Sectionals underway at Richland Center

by Derek on February 20, 2010

5:27pm —  Sparta’s Morgan Leis, Tom Tourdot and Derek VonRuden saw their chances at advancing to the state tournament end this afternoon, but the Spartans still have Jordan Stanek and Matt Tourdot wrestling for individual titles.  VonRuden fell to Dodgeville’s Jasper Meeker (26-15) by a close score of 9-7 in the consolation semifinals.  Tom Tourdot fell 11-1 to Lodi’s Tony Zeman (44-2) and Brandon Brueggen lost a 7-4 decision to River Valley’s Tyler Ryan (33-9).  Congrats to those three on putting together a great year.

Sparta will send four wrestlers to this year’s state tournament in Adam Wiedl, Brandon Rickert, Jordan Stanek and Matt Tourdot.  Not all of the places are finalized yet, but we do know who will be wrestling at the Kohl Center next week.  Check back in awhile for a full update on today’s wrestling.

4:10 pm — Brandon Rickert loses in finals 4-3 to Bob Donar (34-3) from Cuba City/Southwestern.  Brandon will not have to wrestleback and will advance to State as a 2nd place finisher.

At 112 Adam Wiedl lost in the finals 15-0 to Hunter Weber from Marshall. Weber is 48-1 this year after going 55-3 last year as a freshman and finishing 2nd in D3 at the State Tournament. Adam will wrestle Daniel Bahn from Clinton for 2nd. Bahn is currently 43-2 and was a 5th place finisher at 112 last year in D2 at the State Tournament.

3:30 pm — The finals and 3rd place matches are underway. Look for important 3rd place matches at 152 and 171 for the Spartans. Wins are needed here to guarantee a trip to State.

2:14 pm —  The matchup that was supposed to be epic was far from it.  Matt Tourdot pinned Lodi’s Cody Endres in 2:30.  Tourdot dominated Endres in the first period then made quick work of him in the second period to send the Spartan contingent at Richland Center wild.  The win also gets Tourdot into the state tournament and brings Sparta’s total to four so far.

At 152 pounds, Sparta’s Tom Tourdot did get a wrestleback.  The tally for Sparta right now is four state qualifiers and five guys still in the hunt for a trip to the state tournament.  The guys wrestling back need to win their next two matches to advance to the state tournament.

2:01 pm —  Sparta can add another state qualifier in Jordan Stanek.  Stanek defeated Mike Nolden of Belleville/Monticello/New Glarus (30-14) by a major decision score of 13-5.  Brandon Brueggen lost his 171 pound semifinal and will now wrestleback for 2nd.  We are now awaiting the results of the Tourdot-Endres match and once we get the results, we’ll post them here.

1:37 pm —  Sparta’s Adam Wiedl and Brandon Rickert both won their semifinal matches and in doing so qualified for the state tournament.  Wiedl dominated Austyn Alt of River Vallery (38-7) by a score of 9-2 to advance to the finals.  Rickert shut out Kevin Klopfenstein of Monroe (38-10) 3-0 to advance.  If both Wiedl and Rickert lose, they will wrestleback for 2nd.  If they lose that match, they will take third and there is no wrestleback for third place.  Congrats to Wiedl and Rickert!

At 103 pounds, Bryce Nowaczyk was eliminated from the tournament after Nick Lechnir was defeated in the semifinals.  Toby Mosley and Morgan Leis did make it into the wrestleback round while Derek VonRuden lost his semifnal and will now wrestleback for 2nd place.  Keep checking back here for updates on how Sparta is doing!

12:50pm —  I made a mistake earlier when talking about how the wrestlebacks work.  The top three placewinners at each weight class advance to the state tournament.  However, if you lose your first match, you must hope for the guy who beat you to win his next match.  If that happens, then you end up in the wrestlebacks, but if they lose then you are out of the tournament.  Sorry for any confusion.

12:39pm —  Sparta saw six wrestlers win their first round matches this morning at Richland Center.  Adam Wiedl, Brandon Rickert, Derek VonRuden, Brandon Brueggen, Jordan Stanek and Matt Tourdot all won their initial matches.  Brueggen picked up a 5-3 victory while Stanek and Tourdot both picked up pins.

The second round will be the critical round of the day for Sparta.  Winning the semifinal match greatly increases the odds of going to state while those that lost in the first round need to win their wrestleback to stay in the tournament.

One of the top matchups at any sectional in the state today will feature Matt Tourdot against Lodi’s Cody Endres.  The two split matches over the summer and Endres was a state runner-up last year losing in overtime.  They did not meet Tuesday night in the team sectional.  Tourdot is currently ranked 1st in division two according to Wisconsin Wrestling Online–a spot that Endres owned at the start of the season before an injury kept him out a large part of the year.  Endres is currently ranked third in division two.

And in the meaningless team score category, Sparta is currently tied with Marshall for first place with 20 points.  Keep checking back here for updates as the day continues.

10:54am —  Action is underway in Richland Center and five Spartans have already finished their matches.  At 103 pounds, Bryce Nowaczyk ran into a wall against Nick Lechnir of River Valley (40-3) losing by technical fall.  At 125 pounds, Sparta’s Toby Mosely saw the same result falling to Cuba City’s Jarod Donar (43-0) also by tech fall.  At 112 pounds, Adam Wiedl won by pin and at 119 pounds, Brandon Rickert beat Lodi’s Alex Ibinger 6-1 for the second time this week.  And at 130 pounds, Derek VonRuden (31-16) scored a major upset of Marcus Hudson of Delavan-Darien (31-6) winning by pin in 5:36.

Still coming up for the Spartans is Morgan Leis (145), Tom Tourdot (152), Brandon Brueggen (171), Jordan Stanek (189) and Matt Tourdot (215). Unlike division one, if you lose your first match you are not out of the tournament. The top three finishers at each weight advance to the state tournament and if you lose your first match, you begin wrestling back for 2nd.  CORRECTION:  If you lose your first match, you must hope for the guy who beat you to win their next match.  If they do, then you get the chance to keep wrestling for 2nd.  Keep checking back here for updates on today’s action!  I plan to post the next update at the end of the first round.

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