Fourteen local boys wrestlers advance to individual state

By Casey Krautkramer

Two local wrestlers, Marathon junior Blake Underwood and Stratford senior Carter Lueck, are motivated to avenge last year’s state-runners up finish in their weight classes and stand at the very top of the state podium this Saturday night, March 1, at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Edgar junior Lucas Stahnke, 27-12, pinned Cadott sophomore Brock Webster in the thirdplace match at the WIAA Division 3 sectional on Saturday in Ladysmith to qualify for the state individual wrestling tournament in back-to-back seasons. Boys wrestlers who finished in the top three places in their sectional weight classes advanced to the state tournament. Edgar sophomore Isaiah Kraft, 29-14, placed fourth at 120 pounds in the sectional to barely miss qualifying for state.

Stahnke, seeded No. 8 in the Division 3 state 190-pound weight class, will attempt to win his first ever state tournament match when he wrestles No. 9 seed sophomore Simon Schwabe, 3813, from Random Lake at approximately 6 p.m. this Thursday, Feb. 27, in the preliminaries at the Kohl Center. Should Stahnke win, he’d then wrestle against No. 1 seed Lueck, 45-1, at approximately 8 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

Should Stahnke lose to Lueck, then he’d need to battle back through the consolation bracket this Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1, to take either fifth or sixth place and make the state podium. The top six finishers in each weight class make the state podium.

Lueck’s only loss this season was to Ben Kienbaum of Division 2 Kiel in the first-place match at the Bi-State Classic in La Crosse during Christmas break. Lueck pinned Brock Naessen of Shell Lake in the first-place 190-pound match at sectionals to qualify for the state individual wrestling tournament for the third straight season. He took fourth place at 170 pounds in his sophomore season and second at 175 pounds last season. Lueck is Stratford’s school career pins leader with 108 heading into this weekend’s state individual tournament. Matt Bauman previously held Stratford’s school record with 105 career pins.

Stratford senior Trenton Cournoyer, 53-3, placed second at 120 pounds at the sectional to qualify for state all four years of his high school wrestling career. He didn’t place at state his first two years before taking third place at 120 pounds last season. He is seeded third in his state weight class this weekend. Cournoyer has 173 career wins going into the state individual tournament. He has a chance to surpass Kamren Bornbach, 175 career wins, for second place in Stratford school history but he’ll come up a bit short of breaking the school record of 180 wins held by AJ Schoenfuss.

His junior brother, Colin Cournoyer, 44-6, placed second at 126 pounds at sectionals to qualify for state for the second straight season. He won his first 113-pound state match last season but he failed to place. He is seeded No. 5 in the 126-pound weight class at state this year.

Underwood, 48-0, took first place in the sectional 113-pound weight class to qualify for state for the first three seasons of his high school wrestling career. He has an impressive 149-3 career wins record going into this weekend’s state tournament. He has a No. 1 seed in his state weight class as he attempts to win his first individual state wrestling championship after placing second at 106 pounds last season and third at 106 as a sophomore.

His freshman brother, Taylor Underwood, 43-4, placed third at 106 pounds at sectionals to qualify for state. He is seeded No. 6 at state. Stratford sophomore Kolton Haupt, 35-12, took first place at 106 pounds at sectionals to qualify for state for the first time. He is seeded No. 4 at state.

Stratford sophomore Aaron Knetter, 47-8, won a 4-1 decision against Marathon junior Cale Quaintance, 40-6, in the first place 132-pound sectionals match. Both wrestlers qualified for state for the second straight season. Quaintance has 119 career wins going into this weekend’s individual state tournament. Knetter took sixth place at 126 pounds to make the state podium last year while Quaintance is seeking his first state tournament win this year. Knetter is seeded No. 5 and Quaintance is No. 6 in their state weight class.

See STATE WRESTLING QUALIFIERS/ page 20

PUNCHING HIS TICKET TO STATE - Edgar junior Lucas Stahnke is pictured wrestling against Cadott sophomore Brock Webster in the 190-pound sectionals third-place match. Stahnke ended up pinning Webster to qualify for state in back-to-back seasons.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

FINISHING THE JOB - Stratford sophomore wrestler Kolton Haupt claps his hands on Saturday after securing his first trip to the WIAA Division 3 state individual wrestling tournament in Madison. Haupt celebrates a 16-4 major decision win against sophomore Will Obermueller of Glenwood City in the sectional 106-pound weight class at Ladysmith High School.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

STILL UNDEFEATED - Marathon junior Blake Underwood has his arm raised by the wrestling official after pinning Cadott senior Kaleb Lodahl in the 113-pound sectional semifinals match. Underwood won his weight class to head back to state with a 48-0 record this season.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

EARNING ANOTHER TRIP TO STATE - Stratford junior Colin Cournoyer is shown wrestling at sectionals in Ladysmith. He ended up taking second place in the 126-pound weight class to earn back-to-back individual state appearances. PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

EMOTIONAL WIN - Marathon senior Levi Krautkramer is ecstatic after pinning Sam Schmitt in the 138-pound sectional semifinals match on Saturday in Ladysmith. He took second place to earn his first trip to the state individual wrestling tournament at the Kohl Center.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

BEAR HUG - Stratford junior heavyweight Drew Gage holds onto senior Blake Fayerweather of Glenwood City while attempting to take him down to the mat. Gage ended up pinning Fayerweather in the 285-pound sectional third-place match to earn his first trip to the state individual wrestling tournament.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

100TH WIN AT SECTIONALS - Marathon junior Swayne Stencil is shown in the process of winning an 8-2 decision against Cayden Paulson of Clear Lake in the 144-pound sectional third-place match to earn a state berth. Stencil also achieved his 100th career win against Owen Anderson of Turtle Lake/Clayton in the quarterfinals match.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

A CHAMPION - Stratford junior Mathias Kaiser has his arm raised by the wrestling official after pinning Magnum Moggo of Clear Lake in the 150-pound sectional semifinals match on Saturday in Ladysmith. Kaiser ended up placing second in his sectional weight class to advance to state in back-to-back seasons. PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

DOMINATING AS USUAL - It only took Stratford senior Carter Lueck 48 seconds to pin Brock Naessen of Shell Lake in the 190pound sectionals first-place match. Lueck is making his third straight trip to the individual state wrestling tournament.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

ADVANCING TO STATE YET AGAIN - Stratford senior Trenton Cournoyer is shown wrestling against Braden Johnson of Cumberland in the 120-pound sectionals first-place match. Cournoyer may have lost a tough 18-2 technical fall to Johnson, who only has one loss this season, yet he still qualifies for state for the fourth time.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

FRESHMAN HEADED TO MADTOWN - Marathon freshman Taylor Underwood is shown wrestling against Colin Hagen of Cumberland in the 106-pound sectionals consolation semfinals match. Underwood eventually pinned Hagen to advance. He ended up taking third place in his weight class to advance to the state individual tournament in Madison.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

BOTH WRESTLERS QUALIFY FOR STATE - Stratford sophomore Aaron Knetter ended up winning a 4-1 decision against Marathon junior Cale Quaintance in the 132-pound sectionals first-place match, yet both of them will still make their second straight state individual tournament appearances. Cale’s father, Red Raiders varsity assistant coach Clint Quaintance, is in the background. PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE

PERSEVERANCE - Stratford senior Brandon Knetter battled through a knee injury this season to qualify for the state individual tournament for the first time. He is pictured winning a 5-3 decision against Carter Daugherty of Turtle Lake/Clayton in the 157-pound sectional consolation semifinals match. Knetter ended up placing third in his sectional weight class.

PHOTO BY ELLE GAUERKE