Sparta took care of business Saturday at the Lancaster Invite winning the team title by 57.5 points over Viroqua. The Spartans had 331 points while Viroqua had 273.5 points. Third place Cuba City was 109.5 points back with 221.5.
Nine wrestlers for Sparta placed in the top three and five made it to the finals of which three brought home individual titles. Brandon Brueggen, Jordan Stanek and Matt Tourdot led the way for Sparta winning their brackets while Brandon Rickert and Steve Stevenson brought home silver medals.
At 171 pounds, Brandon Brueggen squeeked out a 5-4 victory in the finals over Fennimore’s Logan Chappell, who entered the match with an 18-3 record. All three of Brueggen’s matches on the day were close ones. He won matches by scores of 3-2 and 5-2 leading up to the finals. One weight class up at 189 pounds, Jordan Stanek broke the 20-win barrier by beating Quinn Sedlak of Riverdale 7-5 in the finals. It was a thin weight class as Stanek advanced to the semifinals before even touching the mat due to byes, but when he did he handles his business.
At 215 pounds, Matt Tourdot continues to have a hard time finding mat time. In his three matches, all pins, he racked up just 2:19 of wrestling. The final was his fastest pin of the day coming in just 20 seconds over Trent Vesbach of Viroqua. In the quarterfinals, he picked up a pin in 56 seconds and in the semifinals, his match lasted just 1:03. The wins moves Tourdot’s overall record to 24-0 on the year.
At 119 pounds, Brandon Rickert came in second cruising through this first two matches with a pin in 1:39 and an 8-3 victory in the semis before running into yet another Donar for Cuba City. The Donar family has pumped out a ton of great wrestlers over the years and it appears this installment is no different. Rickert fell in the finals to 11-1 Bob Donor by a score of 9-4. At 285 pounds, Steve Stevenson pined his first two opponents in 2:31 and 1:40 before running into one of the top heavyweights in the state in Viroqua’s Taylor Henry and losing by pin in 25 seconds.
For full match-by-match results, click here. For a quick version, check below…
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103 — Bryce Nowaczyk, 3rd Place, 4-1 with two pins and a major decision
112 — Adam Wiedl, 3rd Place, 4-1 with two pins
119 — Brandon Rickert, 2nd Place, 3-1 with a pin
125 — Toby Mosley, Did Not Place with a pin
130 — Derek VonRuden, 3rd Place, 4-1 with a pin
135 — Nick Winchel, 3rd Place, 4-1 with a pin and a major decision
140 — Logan Denasha, 6th Place, 1-3
145 — Nick Anderson, Did Not Place
152 — Morgan Leis, 4th Place, 2-2
160 — Tom Tourdot, 4th Place, 3-2 with a pin and a major decision
171 — Brandon Brureggen, 1st Place, 4-0
189 — Jordan Stanek, 1st Place, 4-0
215 — Matt Tourdot, 1st Place, 4-0 with three pins
285 — Steve Stevenson, 2nd Place, 3-1 with two pins
TEAM SCORES: Sparta 331, Viroqua 273.5, Cuba City 221.5, Lancaster 207, River Ridge/Cassville 181, Riverdale 154.5, Dubuque Walhert 147, Madison West 146, Fennimore 145, Dubuque Senior 128.5, Boscobel 104, Edgerton 45
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Next up for the Spartans is a dual Thursday night against La Crosse Aquinas. JV starts at 6:15pm while the varsity takes the mat at 7:30. Be sure to check Spartanwrestling.com Thursday night for updates on how the match went.
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Good job Spartans –
Beaver Mike
95# – 1966-67