Duellman captures regional title, is a step closer to return to state

WIAA DIV. 3 EDGAR SUPER REGIONAL

Gilman junior Troy Duellman cleared his first obstacles in his quest to the WIAA Division 3 state wrestling tournament with a championship effort at Saturday’s super regional meet in Edgar.

Duellman won the 145-pound regional title, backing up his top seed in the bracket with a 3-0 day. He earned a return trip to Edgar this coming Saturday for the WIAA Division 3 sectional meet, where a top-three finish in his bracket will send him back to the state tournament in Madison Feb. 23-25.

As a team, the Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe placed ninth out of 13 teams in Saturday’s meet. Braeden Person fell one place shy of moving on by placing fifth at 152 pounds, Preston Fredrickson was sixth at 132 pounds and Anthony Schofield did not place at 220.

Duellman (25-5) drew a first-round bye and then pinned junior Paul Kurschner of Boyceville (8-15) in 3:08 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Duellman gave Auburndale freshman Wyatt Malsin (2519) nothing to work with and won 4-0 to advance to the championship against Stratford senior Ryan Becker (34-11). Duellman again won a defensive match and didn’t allow a takedown, winning 3-1.

At this Saturday’s sectional, Duellman has a quarterfinal match with Turtle Lake-Clayton freshman Brandon Wright (17-19), who Duellman pinned in a Jan. 10 dual meet. The winner gets either Harrison Ruppel of Cumberland (31-17) or Gabe Knops of Glenwood City (29-8) in the semifinals. Tyler Sunday of Clear Lake (48-2) and Jesse Bruhn of Phillips (30-10) are the headliners in the other side of the bracket. Sunday has beaten Duellman in three close matches this year. Bruhn and Duellman have not run into each other this year.

Person, a Gilman senior, drew a firstround bye at 152 pounds, but he was upset in his quarterfinal match by Glenwood City’s Andrew Blaser 4-3. Person stayed alive in the consolation bracket by pinning Boyceville’s Jack Gruenhagen (9-20) in 3:02 and by pinning Marathon’s Jacob Smith (20-16) in 3:55. Those pins unfortunately weren’t quite enough to give him a shot for fourth place and a spot in the sectional as Blaser’s earlier win over Person prevented a wrestleback match.

Person finished a solid senior year at 28-12 and earned 70 wins in his Wolfpack career.

Fredrickson, a sophomore, finished the year at 17-19. He won his first-round match by pin in 2:56 over Auburndale’s Tanner Wargowsky (21-22) but then ran into undefeated Brayden Sonnentag of Cadott (43-0) in the quarterfinals. Sonnentag pinned him in 55 seconds. Fredrickson pinned Boyceville’s Alex Obermueller (16-19) in 2:38, but then was pinned in 1:18 by Evin Passehl of Athens (27-16) in the fifth-place match.

Schofield won his first 220-pound match with a pin in 2:38 over Marathon’s Christian Pintor, but that put him against top-seeded Sloan Welch of Auburndale in the quarterfinals. Welch (46-2) pinned him in 34 seconds and went on to win the championship. Schofield was pinned in 4:48 by Glenwood City’s Conner Gross (16-12) in the consolation semifinals.

The Wolfpack scored 56 points to outscore Thorp/Owen-Withee (54), Athens (34), Durand-Arkansaw (29) and Mc-Donell Catholic Central (13). Stratford (245) and Glenwood City (232.5) were the top two teams and advanced to Tuesday’s team sectional meet at Cadott. Cadott was 1.5 points behind Glenwood City. Marathon (189.5) and Auburndale (179) rounded out the top five.

Saturday’s sectional meet in Edgar starts at 10 a.m.

WIAA Div. 3 Edgar sectional bracket

145 pounds

Tyler Sunday (48-2), Jr., Clear Lake vs. Wyatt Malsin (25-19), Fr., Auburndale Jesse Bruhn (30-10), Sr., Phillips vs. Ryan Becker (34-11), Sr., Stratford Harrison Ruppel (31-17), So., Cumberland vs. Gabe Knops (29-8), Sr., Glenwood City Brandon Wright (17-19), Fr., Turtle Lake-Clayton vs. Troy Duellman (25-5), Jr., Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe