The new rankings are out and a few Spartans are making big moves. Dylan Winchel, unranked at the start of the year, now finds himself ranked third in division two at 106 pounds. Winchel enters the new year with an 18-1 record. John Roddick debuts at 10th at 113 in the rankings while Derek VonRuden moves up to 8th overall at 138. At 152 pounds, Toby Mosley is 12th, Kyle Burkhalter remains steady at 6th at 182 and Chris Beeler remains an honorable mention at 285. On the team side of things, Sparta is still ranked 9th, one spot behind Lodi and ahead of honorable mentions River Valley and West Salem-Bangor. Lodi, River Valley and West Salem-Bangor are three teams Sparta may have to deal with come tournament time. West Salem-Bangor looks to be Sparta’s top competition at the regional level while River Valley and Lodi look like the best teams to emerge out of the other regionals.
Speaking of rankings, the Spartans will face two Aquinas wrestlers tonight appearing in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling Online rankings. Those two wrestlers include Jordan Corcoran at 113 pounds and John Paul Soldner at 145. Corcoran is ranked second in division three while Soldner is an honorable mention at 145.
Last year the Spartans defeated Aquinas 41-20 on the backs of three forfeits, two major decisions and a pin. Returning this year for Aquinas are Jordan Corcoran (113), Mason Miller (126), John Paul Soldner (145), Auston Stenger (152) and Nick Poellinger (170).
Here’s how Sparta fared against the returning Aquinas wrestlers in last year’s dual…
- 103 — Jordan Corcoran (Aquinas) major decisioned Dylan Winchel 14-1
- 119 — Mason Miller (Aquinas) major decisioned Bryce Nowaczyk 8-0
- 140 — John Paul Soldner (Aquinas) decisioned Paul Vantassel 7-4
- 145 — Toby Mosley major decisioned Austin Stenger (Aquinas) 13-0
- 160 — Alex Hemmersbach decisioned Nick Poellinger (Aquinas) 11-4
Aquinas did not have wrestler at 132 and 138 pounds for the Bi-State Classic so it’s hard to say if they will plug someone into those weights for the dual tonight or will forfeit matches for the second straight year. In duals against Melrose-Mindoro/G.E.T. on December 22nd and West Salem-Bangor on December 20th, those weights were occupied. In case you were wondering, Aquinas lost both of those duals. They lost 42-32 to Melrose-Mindoro/G.E.T. and 43-30 to West Salem-Bangor.
So will they have guys at those weights? Your guess is as good as mine. In each of those duals, there were forfeits at other weights that have been occupied at other points in the year so it probably depends on how they move guys around.
