3:16 pm — I will be away from the computer for the rest of the day. For updates on how the team is doing, please check Trackwrestling.com. As it stands now, Sparta has five state qualifiers with two more, Brock Polhamus and Tristan Zurfluh, needing one more win to advance.
2:52 pm — At 160 pounds, Lodi’s Jordan Worthing defeated Bob Ragan 9-7. Ragan’s sectional tournament has ended, but he will be entering the team state tournament in two weeks with a 23-24 record.
2:36 pm — At 145 pounds, Lodi’s Logan Cable avenged his 11-9 loss to Michael Murnane on Tuesday with a 12-6 victory in the consolation semifinals. Murnane’s sectional run is over, but he will carry a 36-15 record into the team state tournament in two weeks.
2:26 pm — Add Tristan Zurfluh to the list of wrestlers one step closer to wrestling at state. Zurfluh defeated Dodgeville’s Tyler Wunnicke 5-0 to set up a match against Monroe’s Aaron Hesgard. Hesgard defeated Lodi’s Kyle Claper 9-3 while Zurfluh defeated Clapper 9-0 on Tuesday.
2:19 pm — Brock Polhamus is one step closer to the state tournament with a 6-0 victory over Lodi’s Grant Robertson. If Polhamus wins his next match against Marshall’s Josh Murray, he will be assured a trip to the state tournament.
1:40 pm — While a few wrestlers are still fighting for state berths, a couple others have seen their days end. Dan Dawley at 195 and Chris Beeler at 285 have been eliminated. Congrats to each on fine seasons.
At 120, Brock Polhamus wrestles Lodi’s Grant Robertson. On Tuesday, Polhamus pounded Robertson 9-2. After that, if he wins, he’ll likely face Marshall’s Josh Murray (44-6). Polhamus will have to win two more matches to advance to state. At 126 pounds, Tristan Zurfluh wrestles Dodgeville’s Tyler Wunnicke (24-16). If Zurfluh gets past Wunnicke, he will either wrestle Lodi’s Kyle Clapper (21-18) or Monroe’s Aaron Hesgard (30-13). Zurfluh’s path to state appears a little easier than Polhamus’, but anything can happen at this time of the year.
At 145 pounds, Michael Murnane has another match with Lodi’s Logan Cable. On Tuesday, Cable got out to a big lead before falling to Murnane and his comeback bid 11-9. If Murnane wins, he’ll either have Clinton’s Tim Clothier (35-7) or Richland Center’s Jacob Butcher (26-10). At 160 pounds, Bob Ragan will be wrestling Lodi’s Jordan Worthing for the second time this week. On Tuesday, Ragan pinned Worthing in 3:30. If Ragan wins again, he’ll wrestle either West Salem/Bangor’s Alex Peters or Turner’s Kyle Allen. Ragan was pinned by Peters in 1:23 at last weekend’s regional final.
1:21 pm — Here’s what’s on tap for the Spartans in the finals. At 106 pounds, Dylan Winchel faces off once again with Viroqua’s JJ McClelland. This will be the third time this year they’ve met. Winchel lost both decisions by scores of 11-0 and 11-2. Here’s hoping the third time’s the charm. At 113, John Roddick will meet Cuba City/Southwestern’s JJ Donar (39-5). Donar defeated John Joutras 5-2 to reach the finals. Joutras defeated Roddick 6-3 on Tuesday. At 132 pounds, Derek VonRuden wrestles Monroe’s Kevin Klopfenstein (36-10). VonRuden already defeated Klopfenstein earlier this year in Reedsburg to the tune of 3-1. Both wrestlers are wrestling really well right now so this could be a good match. At 152 pounds, Toby Mosley faces off with Cuba City/Southwestern’s Scott Digman (34-4). Finally, at 182 pounds, Kyle Burkhalter will wrestle Belmont/Platteville’s Dusty Jentz (36-1). Jentz defeated Lodi’s Jessie Ziegler 9-3 and Ziegler defeated Burkhalter 19-6 on Tuesday.
1:06 pm — Make that five qualifiers. Kyle Burkhalter avenged his loss on Tuesday to Evansville/Albany’s Alex Yoerger by defeating Yoerger 7-5 in his semifinal match to ensure another trip to this year’s state tournament.
1:01 pm — Sparta has qualified four wrestlers for the state tournament midway through today’s sectional tournament. Making their first trip to Madison will be Dylan Winchel, John Roddick and Toby Mosley. Derek VonRuden is the other Spartan wrestler qualifying and he will be making the trip for the second year in a row.
In the other matches, Brock Polhamus lost an 11-4 decision to Belmont/Platteville’s Adam Niehaus. Tristan Zurfluh won his first match 5-1 over Evansville/Albany’s Alex Lange 5-1 then lost to Marshall’s Hunter Weber by pin in 35 seconds. Michael Murnane won his opening match 17-8 over Brodhead/Juda’s Brady Colden then was pinned in 1:27 by River Valley’s Seth Liegel. Bob Ragan lost a close 7-5 match to River Valley’s Garrett Riek while Dan Dawley fell 9-3 to Richland Center’s Jace Simonson. And at 285, Chris Beeler fell 3-0 to Lakeside Lutheran’s Ben Ewings.
Kyle Burkhalter still has to wrestle his semifinal match, but won his first match by pin in 1:11 over Marshall’s Gavan Langer.
Congratulations Sparta Spartans and Coaching Staff! You have had a great year!