3:31 pm — Sparta improved to 4-0 on the day with a 56-11 victory over Monroe. For the third consecutive dual, the Spartans reached double digits in matches won winning 11 of the 14 bouts in the dual. Five of those victories came by forfeit while three came by pin or technical fall. Dylan Winchel, John Roddick, Tristan Zurfluh, Michael Murnane and Logan Degenhardt all received forfeits while Toby Mosley and Chris Beeler picked up pins in their victories. Brock Polhamus won 7-0, Derek VonRuden won 3-1 over a very tough opponent in Kevin Klopfenstein, Greg Skon won by technical fall 17-0 and Kyle Burkhalter picked up a 8-3 victory. The Spartans will now wrestle Weston/Ithaca for the team title.
On the middle school side of things, Sparta finished second at the Neillsville Dual Tournament. In pool action, Sparta went 3-0 before facing Wisconsin Rapids in the championships. In the dual against Wisconsin Rapids, each team won six matches, but a forfeit by Sparta at heavyweight proved to be the difference as Wisconsin Rapids came away with the victory 34-33. Congrats to the middle school wrestles on a great performance today!
2:13 pm — Sparta picked up another dual victory against Reedsburg winning 68-12. Sparta won 12 of 14 matches including 10 by pin, one by technical fall and the other in overtime. Picking up pins for the Spartans was Dylan Winchel, John Roddick, Brock Polhamus, Derek VonRuden, Michael Murnane, Greg Skon, Kyle Burkhalter, Michael Beeler and Chris Beeler. Toby Mosley won by technical fall. Falling for Sparta against Reedsburg was Julius Julson and Logan Degenhardt. Other than that, it was all Sparta. Six of Sparta’s pins were first period ones.
Following up the Reedsburg dual, Sparta continued its dominating ways with a 52-21 victory over Oregon. Against Oregon, Sparta won 9 of 14 matches with seven coming by pin or major decision. Picking up pins for the Spartans was Dylan Winchel, John Roddick, Tristan Zurfluh, Derek VonRuden, Kyle Burkhalter and Chris Beeler. Brock Polhamus won by major decision while Toby Mosley and Michael Beeler won by forfeit.
Up next for the Spartans is Monroe. Monroe defeated Racine Horlick 39-31 and lost to Weston 63-18.
11:48 am — I will be away from my computer for the next couple hours so do not expect any updates until probably 2:30pm. You can follow the action at Trackwrestling.com or keep coming back here after 2:30 to get updates. Currently, Sparta should be wrestling Reedsburg and they will follow that with a dual against Oregon.
10:52 am — Sparta won eight matches, seven by pin or major decision, to defeat Lancaster 43-24 in the first round of the Reedsburg Duals. Brock Polhamus, Toby Mosley, Kyle Burkhalter, Logan Degenhardt, Michael Beeler and Chris Beeler all picked up pins while Dylan Winchel picked up a 14-0 major decision. At 138, Derek VonRuden won his match 7-3.
Falling for the Spartans in round one was John Roddick at 113, who lost to Cole Martin, a tough freshman and state Greco and Freestyle champion. At 126, Tristan Zurfluh fell to Kyle Mezera, a 5th place finisher in division three last year at 112 pounds. Julius Julson dropped a 9-2 decision to Joe Crosby while Michael Murnane fell 9-6 to Trenton Cornell. Cornell placed fourth at state last year in division three at 130 pounds. Both Robert Ragan (4-2) and Greg Skon (4-0) lost close matches to their opponents.
In other action, Reedsburg defeated Oregon 40-26. Sparta wrestles Reedsburg next.
10:15 am — Action is underway at the Reedsburg Duals. Racine Horlick, who historically have been a squad teams have stomped all over, appear to be sending out a pretty tough team. They just lost to Weston/Ithaca 45-33 with Weston picking up two wins via forfeit. It’s not a W, but Horlick is making the matches wrestled a lot more interesting than in years past. In actual matches wrestled, Horlick won five to Weston’s six. Weston had one forfeit.
9:51 am — The Spartans have the following lineup at today’s duals… 106 – Dylan Winchel, 113 – John Roddick, 120 – Brock Polhamus, 126 – Tristan Zurfluh, 132 – Julius Julson and Steven Kelly, 138 – Derek VonRuden, 145 – Paul Vantassel and Michael Murnane, 152 – Toby Mosley, 160 – Robert Ragan, 170 – Greg Skon, 182 – Kyle Burkhalter, 195 – Chase Bernett and Logan Degenhardt, 220 – Michael Beeler, 285 – Chris Beeler.
Yep, it’s the first year with the new weight classes.
9:46 am — Hello everyone. The varsity kicks off the 2011-12 campaign once again at the Reedsburg Duals. Some tough teams will be in Reedsburg today as Sparta could see competition from Weston, Reedsburg, Racine Horlick, Oregon, Monroe and Lancaster depending on how they wrestle. Last year, Sparta defeated Monroe 39-28, Oregon 49-27 and Racine Horlick 63-12. Weston was not a part of last year’s tournament and should be one of the teams that could give Sparta fits. If you recall, Sparta defeated 33-29 by winning the last match of the night in the last second.
In round one, Sparta will wrestle Lancaster, in round two they will wrestle Reedsburg and in round three, Sparta will meet Oregon. Keep checking back throughout the day as we will have updates on how the duals are progressing.