Tom Tourdot racked up three pins en route to a 4-0 day and the 215-pound title to lead the Spartans to a fifth place team finish at the Sparta Invitational. MVC rival Holmen won the invite with 183 points followed by Weston/Ithaca with 166, Neillsville with 156, Marshfield with 155.5 and Sparta at 152.5.
There were plenty of opportunities for the Spartans to move up in the standings as they dropped 10 matches by three or fewer points. Winning just a few of those matches would have propelled the Spartans into third place and possibly higher. On the day, the Spartans went 3-5 against Holmen, 3-2 against Weston/Ithaca, 4-2 against Neillsville and 2-2 against Marshfield.
Other top finishers for the Spartans included Dylan Winchel (3rd), Derek VonRuden (3rd), Nick Winchel (3rd), Toby Mosley (3rd), Morgan Leis (2nd) and Chris Beeler (4th). Holmen’s 103-pounder, Darius Wright, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Wrestler after going 4-0 on the day with three pins and taking down the previously undefeated Phillip Opelt of Neillsville 2-1 in the finals. Opelt was 26-0 on the year heading into the finals. Wright is now 30-4.
For full match-by-match results for each Spartan, click here. Summarized results for each Spartan are below…
103 — Dylan Winchel, 3rd Place, 3-1 with a pin
112 — Tristan Zurfluh, Did Not Place, 2-2 with a pin and major decision
119 — Bryce Nowaczyk, 6th Place, 3-2 with a pin
125 — Derek VonRuden, 3rd Place, 3-1 with a pin
130 — Nick Winchel, 3rd Place, 3-1 with two pins
135 — Paul Vantassel, Did Not Place, 2-2 with a pin
140 — Michael Murnane, 6th Place, 3-2 with a major decision
145 — Toby Mosley, 3rd Place, 3-1 with a tech fall and major decision
152 — Morgan Leis, 2nd Place, 3-1 with a major decision
160 — Robert Ragan, Did Not Place, 0-2
171 — Xavier Lopez, Did Not Place, 0-2
189 — Kyle Burkhalter, Did Not Place, 1-2 with a pin
215 — Tom Tourdot, 1st Place, 4-0 with three pins
285 — Chris Beeler, 4th Place, 2-2 with a pin
The Spartans are off until Thursday when they travel to La Crosse Central. The JV wrestles at 6:15pm while the varsity takes the mat at 7:30pm.
There will be photos from today’s invite posted here in the coming days. I’ll also have individual results from the Stevens Point Tournament, the Lee Griffin Invite and more coming in the next few days. Also, a time-lapse video of both the Spartan Invite and Sparta Youth Tournament will be posted here in the coming days. Check back later in the week for that!!
