Sparta’s varsity squad will wrestle their last matches of 2011 Friday when they travel to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison for the Badger State Invite. Joining Sparta in the tournament hosted by Stoughton will be Campbellsport, Horicon, Iowa Grant, Janesville Craig, Lomira, Madison Lafollette, Menomonee Falls, Merrill, Oak Creek, Owatonna MN, River Valley, Sauk Prairie, Stoughton, Sycamore IL, Waterford, Waukesha South, Waukesha West and Waunakee.
Sparta will see some tough competition from all three divisions. According to Wisconsin Wrestling Online, the following teams at the tournament come in ranked or receiving votes: Merrill – 6th D1, Sauk Prairie – 9th D1, Stoughton – HM D1, Iowa Grant – 6th D3 and River Valley – 12th D2. Sparta will want to pay close attention to wrestlers from River Valley as they will be in Sparta’s sectional tournament.
Just as there is no shortage of tough competition at Badger State, the same can be said for the individuals. Here is a peek at some of the ranked wrestlers wrestling at Badger State:
- 106 – Dylan Winchel – Sparta 9th D2, Caleb Smith – Stoughton 6th D1,
- 113 – Nick Stahl – Campbellsport HM D2, Bill Holz – Menomonee Falls 13th D1, Bill Prochniewski – Waukesha South 3rd D1,
- 120 – Ryan Costello – Campbellsport 3rd D2, Austin Schmidt – Horicon 12th D3, Logan Mills – Iowa Grant 7th D3, Tyler Schardschmidt – Lomira 7th D2, Scott Arneson – Marrill HM D1, Seth LaBodda – Oak Creek 14th D1, Kody Azarian – Waterford 4th D1, Brandon Wade – Waukesha West 7th D1, Jake Paschke – Waunakee 13th D1,
- 126 – Garrett Schmelling – Merrill 7th D1, Nick Urso – Stoughton 6th D1,
- 132 – Marcus Reinhardt – Merrill 9th D1, Austyn Alt – River Valley 3rd D2, Austin Fjoser – Sauk Prairie 6th D1,
- 138 – Rashaun Sparks – Campbellsport 6th D2, Tucker Sarbacker – Iowa Grant 10th D3, Matthew Reinhardt HM D1, Nick Lechnir – River Valley 10th D2, Brandon Sprecher – Sauk Prairie HM D1, Derek VonRuden – Sparta 9th D2, Joe Nelson – Stoughton HM D1,
- 145 – Jacob Yelinik – Iowa Grant HM D3, Garrett Keller – Lomira HM D2, Joe Crook – River Valley HM D2, Mike Miller – Sauk Prairie 13th D1, Austin Christenson – Waterford 6th D1,
- 152 – Zack Mulrooney – Janesville Craig HM D1, Mason Reinhardt – Merrill HM D1, Seth Liegel – River Valley 2nd D2, Toby Mosley – Sparta 11th D2, Cody Nannemann – Waterford 13th D1, Kyle Johnson – Waukesha South 4th D1,
- 160 – Brandon Pierick – Iowa Grant 7th D3, Ray Paul – Merrill 6th D1, Jared Schaaf – Sauk Prairie 9th D1,
- 170 – Logan Bollant – Iowa Grant 2nd D3, Ethan Cook – Lomira 11th D2,
- 182 – Blake Welu – Iowa Grant 1st D3, Josh Regazzi – Oak Creek 8th D1, Kyle Burkhalter – Sparta 6th D2,
- 195 – Taylor Flasch – Campbellsport 12th D2, Spencer Lowery – Madison LaFollette 10th D1, Noah Lassa – Merrill 4th D1, Caleb Sisbach – Sauk Prairie 11th D1, Dillon Dewey – Stoughton 8th D1, Josh Wipperfurth – Waunakee 6th D1
- 220 – Tyler Schmidt – Merrill 6th D1, Michael Gamboa – Sauk Prairie 7th D1,
- 285 – Grant Collins – Merrill 12th D1, Mike Heard – Oak Creek 5th D1, Jessie Nelson – Stoughton 3rd D1
That’s a lot of ranked wrestlers. The 120 pound weight class with nine ranked wrestlers looks particularly loaded. Also looking strong are the 138 pound weight class with seven ranked wrestlers, 145 with five ranked guys, 152 with six and 195 with six.
Only one wrestler comes in ranked at the top of his weight class, but five more come in the top three. Iowa Grant’s Blake Welu at 182 pounds is the top ranked wrestler in division three. After that comes Iowa Grant’s Logan Bollant at 170 pounds at no. 2 in his weight class in division three. River Valley’s Seth Liegel also comes into the tournament ranked second at 152 pounds in division two. After that we have a few guys ranked third in their weight classes. Those include Waukesha South’s Bill Prochniewski at 113 in division one, River Valley’s Austyn Alt at 132 pounds in division two and Stoughton’s Jessie Nelson at 285 pounds in division one.
Merrill leads all teams with nine ranked wrestlers followed by Sauk Prairie and Iowa Grant with six, Stoughton with five and Sparta, Campbellsport and River Valley with four apiece.
Badger State is a tournament that Sparta has done pretty well at since first appearing in 2008. That year the Spartans took 5th, followed by 4th in 2009 and 4th again last year.
We will have results throughout the day here on Spartanwrestling.com of Friday’s action at Badger State. Go Spartans!
