WIAA DIV. 3 STATE WRESTLING - Angell impresses at 215; Duellman takes 5th at 157

WIAA DIV. 3 STATE WRESTLING

A stellar career for Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe wrestler Troy Duellman ended Saturday one step higher on the WIAA Division 3 state tournament awards podium than it did a year ago, while freshman Taydyn Angell announced his arrival as a force to be dealt with during a run to fourth place over the weekend.

Angell’s 3-2 weekend was impressive as the only freshman in a 215-pound weight class full of upperclassmen. On Thursday and Friday, the 11th-seeded Angell eliminated two seniors with dramatic victories that certainly caught the attention of Division 3 wrestling observers.

“I’m going to have to deal with that anyway,” Angell said of wrestling older and often bigger opponents at his weight. “I knew it was going to be like that all year.”

The first upset Thursday came in the do-or-die preliminary round when Angell faced sixth-seeded senior Michael Upson of Random Lake. The two hand-fought through much of the first period until Upson got a takedown late to go up 2-0.

Upson reversed Angell to start the second period for a 4-0 lead. Upson was called for locked hands and Angell escaped, but he got taken down again with 10 seconds left to trail 6-2 going into the third period.

Starting the period on the bottom, Angell got an escape. Upson got warned for stalling with 58 seconds left and that came back to bite him. Angell finally got his first takedown of the match with 13 seconds left and just before time expired, Upson was called for stalling again, giving Angell the tying point and sending the match to overtime.

“It was very exciting,” Angell said of the finish. “I had to take him down, run the match on my feet. I got a high crotch (to take him down). Then I just had to outlast him.”

In the one-minute sudden-victory period, Upson took the first shot, going for Angell’s legs, but Angell fought him off. With the two scrambling near the mat’s outer boundary as the final seconds approached, Angell got his opening and took it with a takedown and two-point near fall for a 10-6 win.

“It was scary at first because he got very deep,” Angell said. “But once I got the body lock and tossed him over, I kinda knew. I got on top of him and it was done.”

Angell advanced to the quarterfinal round early Friday afternoon, where he didn’t get much established in a 9-0 loss to third-seeded Joe Schoeder (50-6) of Cedar Grove-Belgium. Still, it was just a 2-0 match going into the third period when Schoeder got a takedown and five back points off that control. Schoeder went on to finish second, getting pinned in Saturday’s title match by top-seeded Jackson Shramek (42-3) of Blair-Taylor.

So it was do or die again later in the afternoon in consolation competition, where either Angell or seventh-seeded senior Jackson Geitner (30-11) of Poynette would advance to Saturday’s placement matches.

Geitner had the edge in upper-body size and strength and set an early tone with a takedown in the minute-long first period. Wrestling from the bottom in the second period, Angell appeared to be in some trouble, but in one quick move he got a reversal and a pin at 1:48 to assure himself of a medal.

“I don’t know (what happened),” he said. “It was very exciting. He went to cradle me and I just got my head out and got on top of him and stuck him.”

At the time, Angell said it was “really cool” to be wrestling for medal placement on Saturday.

“Whatever happens (Saturday) is good,” he said. “It’d be nice to move up a little bit. Podium as a freshman for this weight class is still an accomplishment.”

Move up he did by pulling off another upset Saturday morning. He avenged a Jan. 13 loss to Cadott senior Alec Tegels by defeating the senior by getting him turned in the last half-minute for a three-point near fall and a 5-4 win. The fourth-seeded Tegels (39-10), who finished sixth, took a 4-2 lead in the second period with a near fall and a late reversal.

Angell then wrestled in the third-place match Saturday afternoon and lost a close 2-0 match to second-seeded junior Bode Brokopp (35-12) of Iowa-Grant/Highland on a third-period two-point near fall. Angell finished his first varsity season at 38-13.

Duellman also went 3-2 over the weekend to finish his 100-plus win career with a fifth-place medal and a 39-8 record for 2023-24.

Duellman was the fifth seed in the 12man bracket and opened Thursday night with a 6-1 win over 12th-seeded Mitchell VanGoethem, a senior from Kewaunee. Duellman got takedowns in the first and third periods and two stalling points added to his scoring total. “That kid was definitely tougher than I thought he was going to be,” Duellman said. “He didn’t move the best but he was just solid.”

That win set up a Duellman/Tyler Sunday match for the fourth straight weekend, the fifth time this season and the 10th time the past two seasons. This one ended just as the regional championship match did on Feb. 10 with Sunday earning a 1-0 win with the only point coming on an escape. He got that in the second period. Duellman was unable to escape in the third and at least tie it.

Sunday won all 10 of the matches the last two years. The last four came with scores of 3-1, 1-0, 4-3 and 1-0. Last year, Sunday beat Duellman in the final seconds of the fifth-place match at state.

“I’m definitely pretty upset about the Sunday match,” Duellman said Friday. “It should’ve at least gone to overtime. It was just typical Sunday.”

Sunday (45-3) lost 11-3 in the semifinals to eventual champion Tristan Steldt (41-4) of Fennimore and wound up fourth.

In the do-or-die consolation match Friday afternoon, Duellman responded with a solid effort against ninth-seeded Nolen Waldner (38-14) of Ithaca-Weston, beating him 10-2. He got a first-period takedown, then added another in the second with two two-point near falls to build a commanding 8-0 lead.

“I knew I was going to be better on my feet than him,” Duellman said. “I got up and just kind of stalled. I just didn’t want to get thrown. I knew I was up and I was like I just have to hang on to the leg and just sit here because I’m not getting tossed and losing. That’s happened to me before.”

Duellman’s hope at that time was to get into the third-place match Saturday, but that plan was dashed when third-seeded sophomore Jaxson Busse (40-7) of Iowa-Grant/Highland beat him 5-0 in the consolation semifinal. Duellman, though, concluded his career as a winner, taking the fifth-place match 7-0 over sixth-seeded junior Caleb Mackey (53-6) of Pardeeville. Duellman got a takedown with nine seconds left in the first period, added an escape in the second and then finished it with a takedown and two-point near fall in the third with a stalling point tacked on.

Medford’s Jude Stark tries to escape from Belmont-Platteville’s Dylan Weigel during their Division 2 first-round 132-pound match Thursday.

Unable to escape in the third period, Wolfpack wrestler Troy Duellman lost 1-0 to nemesis Tyler Sunday of Clear Lake in Friday’s Division 3 157-pound quarterfinals.