Sparta will be sending nine wrestlers to sectionals at Waunakee this Saturday after a solid second-place finish this past weekend at regionals in Tomah. Below we will look at the sectional and what awaits each Spartan.
- 106 – Freshman Jon Bailey will enter sectionals as the 3rd-ranked 106-pounder in the state. His losses come to some of the state’s best and all have been close. He will have his hands full at this sectional as there is a good chance he will meet Madison La Follette junior Francesco Schiro in the finals. Schiro has a 43-0 record on the year and is ranked sixth by Wisconsin Wrestling Online. Before Bailey can think of Schiro, he will have Madison Memorial’s Guillermo Tellez-Giron (12-6) and if he wins that match, will likely face Sauk Prairie’s Zeke Smith (38-6, ranked 12th).
- 126 – Christian Lamon enters this year’s sectional as a champion and will look to become a three-time state qualifier. It’s not an easy bracket, but it’s probably not the most difficult one Lamon has encountered all year. He will begin with a match against Portage’s Barry Beirne (20-15). If he defeats Beirne, he will face either Holmen’s Isaac Lahr (23-14) or Waunakee’s Zachary Marek (29-15). The other side of the bracket is definitely the more difficult one if you go strictly by record. You have La Crosse Central’s Jacob Obert (31-8) who Lamon defeated 10-5 at regionals, Madison East’s Malachi Cather (31-9), Tomah’s Bobby Bemis (29-14) and Middleton’s Kevin Meicher (36-3, ranked 9th).
- 132 – David Hayes will look to qualify for his first state tournament and he will face Sauk Prairie’s Aaron Hankins (32-7, ranked 8th) right out of the gate. Based on record, that would seem to be his toughest matchup on that side of the bracket. Top-ranked Jaden Van Maanen of La Crosse Central is the overwhelming favorite and he is on the opposite side of the bracket. Also on the other side of the bracket is 9th-ranked Chris Rogers (31-6) of Middleton.
- 138 – Brett Von Ruden will look to make it back to the state tournament after qualifying his freshman season. The sophomore enters with a 20-4 record and has the ability to beat everyone in his bracket. A close loss to Hunter Pierce (37-8, HM) led to a third place finish at regionals. Von Ruden will face off with Madison La Follette’s Derek Lawinger (26-18) in his first match and then will likely face Holmen’s Kalyn Jahn (30-7, ranked 4th) in the semis. Von Ruden can defeat Jahn and their dual match should not be representative of what to expect here. Von Ruden had to go for the pin in that match for the sake of the team score. On the opposite side of the bracket is Sauk Prairie’s Drew Fjoser (14-2, ranked 2nd) and Pierce. Von Ruden will have a difficult road to state no matter what path he takes. This also might be the weight class that might be the most difficult to predict who will qualify as there are four wrestlers who all have legitimate shots.
- 145 – Jaden Winchel will look to return to state for the third time in three years and will be seeking to match Justin Schroeder and Troy Lietzau as Sparta’s only multiple-state champion. Winchel opens up against Madison Memorial’s Connor Jones (12-18). If he gets past Jones, it’s either Tomah’s Casey Curran (35-11) or Madison La Follette’s Salim Danso (29-11). On the opposite side of the bracket, anyone could emerge. Only Waunakee’s Nate Lorenz (37-8, HM) is ranked by Wisconsin Wrestling Online.
- 152 – Hayden Krein (36-4, ranked 2nd) will be heavily favored to advance to the sectional finals and the same can be said for Sauk Prairie’s Eddie Smith (39-4, ranked 1st). It will be one of the more highly anticipated sectional matches across the state as there aren’t many matchups of the top two wrestlers in a weight class at sectionals. Beyond Krein and Smith, nobody else is ranked.
- 160 – Mathias Krein will face off against Madison La Follette’s Tray Turner (33-6) in his opening match. Only Baraboo’s Zach Raymond (39-7, ranked 9th) and Reedsburg’s Trey Haugen (31-8, HM) are ranked. Turner was the champion in the other regional to join this sectional. He will be wrestling Saturday up two weight classes from where he normally is so the mere fact that he qualified for sectionals at this weight is a great accomplishment.
- 170 – James Gann will face off against one of the tougher wrestlers in the state in Sauk Prairie’s Austin Powell (41-2, ranked 2nd). On the opposite end of the bracket is La Crosse Central’s Connor Williams (39-1, ranked 5th). Those two are the heavy favorites to advance, but don’t tell Tomah’s Marc Shuman that–he was undefeated I believe heading into sectionals and was caught and pinned in his first match back in 1997. Projections and favorites don’t mean a thing once you step onto the mat.
- 195 – Austin Zwiefel’s third place finish at regionals means he will face off against Middleton’s Gavin Adler (22-8) in his first match. If Zwiefel emerges victorious, he will likely face Reedsburg’s Dalton Hahn (41-1, ranked 3rd) who pinned Zwiefel in 2:33 at regionals. On the opposite end of the bracket is Sauk Prairie’s Logan Moore (32-13, ranked 10th) and Baraboo’s Nicholas Pierce (30-12) as favorites.
We will have updates on Facebook and Twitter throughout the day Saturday. Please check those for detailed results and updates on how the Spartans are doing. Good luck Spartans!!