Sparta’s division two tournament season debut was one to remember as they saw seven wrestlers win their brackets and ten advance to the sectional tournament next weekend at Richland Center. Adam Wiedl, Brandon Rickert, Morgan Leis, Tom Tourdot, Brandon Brueggen, Jordan Stanek and Matt Tourdot all took home individual titles. Bryce Nowaczyk, Toby Mosley and Derek VonRuden all finished second to secure a trip to the sectional tournament.
Sending 10 wrestlers to sectionals and having seven of them go as champions means Sparta obliterated the team competition winning that title by 87.5 points over Adams-Friendship. The victory advances them to the team sectionals where they will face Lodi Tuesday evening at 6pm in Wisconsin Dells.
Coming up just short for the Spartans in third was Nick Anderson at 160 pounds and Steve Stevenson at 285 pounds. Anderson was wrestling up two weight classes moving from 145 to 160 after moves by Leis and Tom Tourdot forced Anderson to move up.
Big wins against higher seeds were made by Bryce Nowaczyk, Derek VonRuden and Tom Tourdot. Nowaczyk beat Kyle McClurg (25-10) of Viroqua 4-3 in the semifnals. VonRuden defeated Daniel Beane (24-12) of Westfield Area 6-2 and Tom Tourdot majored Tyler Potter (24-12) of Westfield Area 9-1 in the semifinals. All three of these victories were key in getting these guy through to another weekend of wrestling.
Other Spartans who did not advance to the sectional tournament include Nick Winchel and Jesse Amundson. While it’s disappointing that Winchel, Amundson, Anderson and Stevenson didn’t advance to the sectional tournament, their season is far from over. They’ll likely see action Tuesday evening against Lodi and possibly in the dual afterwards should Sparta be victorious.
Check out a summary of Sparta’s day in Viroqua below. For a full match-by-match rundown of Sparta’s day, click here.
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103 — Bryce Nowaczyk, 2nd Place, 3-1
112 — Adam Wiedl, 1st Place, 3-0 with two pins
119 — Brandon Rickert, 1st Place, 3-0 with a pin and a tech fall
125 — Toby Mosely, 2nd Place, 3-1 with two pins
130 — Derek VonRuden, 2nd Place, 3-1 with a pin
135 — Nick Winchel, 4th Place, 1-2 with a major decision
140 — Jesse Amundson, Did Not Place, 0-2
145 — Morgan Leis, 1st Place, 3-0 with two pins
152 — Tom Tourdot, 1st Place, 3-0 with a pin and major decision
160 — Nick Anderson, 3rd Place, 2-2
171 — Brandon Brueggen, 1st Place, 3-0
189 — Jordan Stanek, 1st Place, 3-0 with a major decision
215 — Matt Tourdot, 1st Place, 3-0 with a pin and a tech fall
285 — Steve Stevenson, 3rd Place, 2-2 with two pins
TEAM SCORES: Sparta 269, Adams-Friendship 181.5, Viroqua 174, Wisconsin Dells 168, Westfield Area 121, Richland Center 111.5, Mauston 91.5
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As a team Sparta went 35-11 to qualify for their first trip to team sectionals since the 2003-04 season. Sparta will now rest for a couple days before heading to Wisconsin Dells to face Lodi in the team sectional semifinals. Division two operates a little differently then division one in determining who goes to team state. Whereas in division one where two teams meet and wrestle one dual with the winner going to team state, in division two four teams meet at the team sectional, wrestle two semifinal duals and the winner of each wrestle for a trip to go to team state. The winner of the team sectional finds itself in the state team semifinals.
We will have a scouting report on Lodi and are working on finding out if we can get a live blog up for the match. I’d put the chances at a live blog of some sort at 90% since we can use mobile devices if we must to update the live blog, but having a dedicated Internet connection will provide a more complete experience. Check back here at the beginning for the week for details on this.
One last note about Sparta’s team title today. It was the fifth tournament this year where the Spartans came in first as a team. After today’s action, eight Spartans now have 30 or more victories on the season while two have 40 or more. Bryce Nowaczyk has 28 victories so depending on how Tuesday night goes and the sectional tournament, we could see nine Spartans with 30+ victories. It could easily be 11 if Brandon Rickert had not missed a couple tournaments due to sickness and Mosely would have reached the 30-win mark if not for some time missed due to injury. In other words, it has been a very solid year for the Spartans up and down the board.
Great fan support for Sparta Saturday! High school students and adults were all there and having fun. It was a great experiance for the kids. Thank you.
matt tourdot is a great wrestler but cody enders is better its gonna be a great match
Adam,
2:30
Sincerely,
Spartacus.
Adan Breunig, Matt Tourdot is a Superior wrestler. Not only was Cody Ender pinned but he was dominated throughout the first period! Since you felt that it was necessary to “publicly display” your thoughts on Cody. I think an apology is in order on your prediction between Ender vs Tourdot! I’m sure Matt just blows it off and gets it done on the mat. But the rest of us might enjoy watching you eat humble pie! : )
Rick Brohmer