Pardon any errors/typos, it’s late and I’m getting a little tired. 🙂
Christian Lamon, John Roddick and Jaden Winchel all dominated their opening round matches today to join Brock Polhamus and Logan Degenhardt in Friday’s quarterfinals. Senior Dylan Winchel ran into Oconto Falls’ Dewey Krueger and could not get past the defending state champion. Dylan finishes his season with a 27-16 record after qualifying for state for the third time and winning over 100 matches as a Spartan. Thank you for all your hard work and contributions to the Sparta Wrestling program, Dylan.
Anyone who wins tomorrow’s quarterfinal matches will advance to the semifinals Friday evening and will be assured a top four finish. Christian Lamon kicked things off today with a 13-9 victory over Campbellsport’s Bennett Marchant (28-14). With a quick takedown just seconds into the match, Lamon dominated for the entire six minutes in a match that was not as close as the score indicates.
Just a few minutes after Lamon advanced to the quarterfinals, junior John Roddick looked to advance to his third quarterfinal in three years and did so with a third period pin of New London’s Scott Cook (33-14). After finishing the first period up just 2-0, Roddick began to take control in the second period and sealed the deal early on in the third period. It was a quick succession of Spartans as just minutes later, Jaden Winchel took the mat to face East Troy’s Ryan Engel (36-11). Two years ago, John Roddick defeated Engel in his first ever match at the state tournament. Would Jaden Winchel have the same fate? Certainly. Winchel dominated the entire match picking up quick takedowns, earning back points and never letting Engel get into a rhythm en route to a 10-1 major decision victory.
At 145 pounds, Dylan Winchel was pinned in the first period by defending state champion Dewey Krueger of Oconto Falls. It was probably not the finish Dylan wanted to his career, but let’s take a second to look at some of Dylan’s accomplishments over the last four years: 100+ wins, three state tournament appearances, two state tournaments where he finished on the podium, a runner-up finish last season and a legacy for being one of the most exciting and talented wrestlers to come through the program. Congrats, Dylan!! Now let’s see what’s on tap for the Spartans tomorrow.
- 113, Christian Lamon – Lamon will wrestle Wrightstown’s Dillan Micke (41-7), was a state qualifier at 106 last year, but did not place, 6th at the Cheesehead, 1st in his conference and at regionals and sectionals as well as the competitive Marty Loy Classic,
. - 126, John Roddick – Roddick will face Cody Chelminiak who was a state qualifier last year at 126, but did not place. At state that year, he lost 5-0 to Cuba City/Southwestern’s JJ Donar who defeated Roddick in the closing seconds of the sectional final on Saturday. Mutual opponents between Roddick and Chelminiak include Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Tyler Berg. Roddick defeated Berg 2-1 early in the season and lost to him by pin in 3:19 at the Ellsworth Invitational while Berg pounded Chelminiak 8-3 in the middle of January.
. - 132, Jaden Winchel – Winchel will see another Wrightstown product in Josh Verbeten (35-15). Verbeten caught Brock Polhamus and won by pin in 57 seconds earlier this year at the Cheesehead.
. - 138, Brock Polhamus – Brock will wrestle Luxemburg-Casco’s Mason Berceau (35-8). Berceau was a state qualifier last year at 126, but did not place. Berceau defeated River Valley’s Elijah Alt by pin in 1:35 at the Battle on the Bay and beat him 10-6 at Badger State. Jaden Winchel pinned Alt last weekend in 5:09 in the 3rd place sectional match. Berceau also won 9-6 over Wrightstown’s Josh Verbeten, who awaits Jaden Winchel if he wins his first match. Both Polhamus and Berceau lost to Mineral Point’s Ross Siegenthaler. Polhamus was pinned in 2:46 at Badger State while Berceau was pinned in 2:49 at the same tournament. At Bi-State, Berceau placed 9th and defeated Cuba City/Southwestern’s Josh Donar 4-2. Polhamus defeated Donar 2-1 in the sectional finals.
. - 220, Logan Degenhardt – Logan will wrestle Wisconsin Lutheran’s Bryce Roberts in the quarterfinals.
The five Spartan quarterfinalists will begin action at 11:15am Friday morning. Now that you’ve seen a few photos above from today’s action, let’s check out some images of other area wrestlers including La Crosse Central’s Ben Thornton, Tomah’s Jordan Reisinger, Holmen’s Ryan Stalsberg, Noah Risch, Charles Serauskas and Onalaska’s Tyler Wood.
