Sparta will travel to Viroqua tomorrow morning to kick off the tournament season and will do so in some unfamiliar surroundings. No longer will Sparta face off with Reedsburg, Baraboo and their MVC rivals at the regional tournament. The Spartans have traded familiar faces for the likes of Adams-Friendship, Mauston, Richland Center, Viroqua, Westfield Area and Wisconsin Dells. Why? The Spartans dropped down to division two this year as a result of dropping enrollment.
The drop to division two also presents some new challenges to Spartan wrestlers. In division one, the top four wrestlers from regionals moved onto the sectional tournament. In divisions two and three, just the top two move on. At the sectional tournament, the top three in divisions two and three advance to the state tournament. In division one, it was the top two. That means Sparta will have to be on top of their game from the first match. The margin of error is much smaller this year and letting up for one second can spell the end to a season.
On the team level, Sparta should expect the stiffest competition to come from Viroqua and Adams-Friendship. Sparta has already defeated Viroqua in a tournament setting finishing 57.5 points ahead of them at the Lancaster Invite earlier this year. At that invite, Sparta won the team title while Viroqua was second.
At the Lancaster Invite, here is how some Spartans fared against Viroqua…
- Adam Wiedl won by pin over JP Patterson (Viroqua) in 1:21
- Brandon Brueggen decisioned Jack Cocchiola (Viroqua) 3-2
- Jordan Stanek decisioned Dylan Hoiland (Viroqua) 3-1
- Matt Tourdot won by pin over Trent Vesbach (Viroqua) 0:20
- Taylor Henry (Viroqua) won by pin over Steve Stevenson 0:25
Should the Spartans win the regional team title, they will wrestle Tuesday evening at 6pm against what will likely be Lodi. We are working on getting Internet access for Tuesday night so we can bring live duals to Spartanwrestling.com. You’ll have to check back here Monday evening or Tuesday morning to find out if we will have a live blog. Again, this is all contingent on Sparta winning the team title Saturday.
As for Saturday, check back here periodically for updates on how the action is progressing. I will be away from my computer between 10am and 4pm so I won’t be able to bring you the most up-to-date results, but as soon as I get back, I’ll post some updates here so everyone knows what’s happening. As always, you can also follow the action on Trackwrestling.com.
