A trio of Spartans finished fifth at this year’s state tournament. Dylan Winchel, Derek VonRuden and Toby Mosley all won their fifth place matches and they couldn’t have done it in more different ways.
In each of their first wrestlebacks, Winchel, VonRuden and Mosley ran into some very tough wrestlers. However, each of them rebounded nicely in the fifth place matches. Dylan Winchel dropped a 10-1 decision to Freedom’s Cody Walrath (40-6) and then backed that up with a 30 second pin over Port Washington’s Noah Rosado (38-7). The quick work by Dylan was the opposite of what Mosley and VonRuden faced. VonRuden wrestled Monroe’s Kevin Klopefenstein (38-13) for the third time this year and won for the second time by a 2-1 score. The win avenges his 3-1 loss to Klopfenstein in the sectional finals. At 152 pounds, Mosley lost 10-2 to Port Washington’s Jordan Dieringer (23-5), but rebounded in the fifth place match with a pin over Somerset’s Austin Bushinger (41-8) in 5:45.
In Derek VonRuden’s first wrestleback, he faced off against Luxemburg-Casco’s ach Skarda (46-9). This could be a preview of the 132 pound match later this week when the Spartans of Sparta meet the Spartans of Luxemburg-Casco at the first round of the team state tournament. Skarda defeated VonRuden 7-3. However, now VonRuden knows Skarda’s style and may be able to adapt. Should be interesting second time around.
The three state placewinners matches a team record set in 1989 and 1991. In 1989, Joel Dutton placed third, Chris Buckley 2nd and Terry Smith 2nd. Two years later in 1991, Justin Schroeder won Sparta’s first ever individual state championship, Jeff Erickson finished 6th and Rob Kimpel finished 2nd. With their wins today, Winchel and VonRuden are one win shy of moving into a tie for second all-time on the Spartan single seasons win list. Jordan Stanek is currently 2nd with 48 wins during the 2009-10 season. Winchel and VonRuden have 47 wins apiece while Mosley has 46.
The Spartans are off until Saturday, March 3rd when they travel to the Field House in Madison for the opening round of the Team State Tournament. Sparta faces the top ranked team in division two and arguably the best team in Wisconsin in Luxemburg-Casco. The dual is slated to begin at 1pm. We’ll have a preview of the dual later this week and what to expect as the Spartans make their first trip to the state team tournament since the 2003-04 season. Also, we will have MORE photos of the Spartans in action at state this year. They’ll be coming in the next few days so keep an eye out for that!
Congrats to Dylan, Derek and Toby on their fifth place finishes and to John Roddick, Brock Polhamus and Derek VonRuden on advancing to the state tournament. This entire team has made the city of Sparta, the school district, wrestling fans and alumni alike very proud. One more week to keep it going guys. Go Spartans!!!
