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.
Great Job Derek!!!
so sparta will only have two guys go to state hows the team for next year
There going to lose some good wrestlers i hope we have good replacements
what happen to brandon rickert
Hey Steve. Sparta will be losing some good wrestlers this year, but they lost one heck of a class of wrestlers last year. The seniors from last year’s team accounted over 150 wins on varsity yet a slew of newcomers stepped up this year and made this a team that might have been tougher all-around than last year’s squad. Look at guys like Burkhalter who didn’t really even step into a full-time varsity role until after the New Year started. Sparta is deep at a lot of weights and they will be having some very good middle school classes coming up over the next few years. I think Sparta wrestling will be tough from a team perspective for a long time to come. You can’t ever really predict how individuals will do on any given day, but Sparta has never lacked for strong individuals to complement strong teams.
A big thank you to the seniors…I hate that their season ended earlier than we wanted. Good luck and God Bless