Tigers and Hornets too much for rest of the regional field at Cadott

WIAA DIV. 3 WRESTLING

With Stratford and Cadott entering Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 Cadott regional as the state’s third- and fourthranked teams in the division according to Wisconsin Wrestling, the other five teams in the field knew it could be a tough day to advance wrestlers to the Feb. 22 Edgar sectional.

And that’s just how it turned out.

With top-two finishes in 14 weight classes Stratford is sending 12 wrestlers on to sectionals, while Cadott qualified 11 more to fill 23 of the 28 sectional spots. Athens got four of the remaining five and Edgar got the last one.

Stratford won the regional team title 296.5-276 over Cadott and is once again headed to team state after it beat Phillips 64-10 and St. Croix Falls 43-30 in Tuesday’s team sectional at Cumberland.

The Cornell-Gilman Wolfpack had just four wrestlers entered in Saturday’s meet and got one third-place finish and three fourths to bring their 2019-20 season to a close.

The Wolfpack scored 34 points to finish sixth in the team standings, one spot ahead of Thorp (11). Athens was third with 127.5 points, followed by Marathon (73) and Edgar (70).

Senior Ethan Person was the thirdplace finisher but it came in a three-man, 113-pound bracket. In the semfinals, Cadott sophomore Logan Harel (27-16) beat Person 4-1 to advance to a championship match against Stratford junior Karter Stuttgen (19-3). Stuttgen earned an 18-3 technical fall, dropping Harel to second place and preventing Person from getting a wrestleback.

Person’s season ended with a 19-12 record.

Fresh off his Lakeland Conference championship, sophomore Julian Krizan wrestled at 160 pounds. He wound up facing his old teammate, 2019 state qualifi er Spencer Kraus, now of Athens in the semifinals. Krause pinned Krizan in 2:53 and went on to lose in 48 seconds to Stratford’s Devin Dennee (41-2) in the final.

Krizan (18-12) was pinned in his thirdplace match in 1:14 by Cadott’s Michael Pecha (15-18), who Kraus pinned in 2:24 to advance to sectionals.

Freshman Braeden Person (12-15) was defeated in a 16-0 technical fall in the 138-pound semifinals by Stratford sophomore Elijah Lucio (11-1), who won the title bout with a pin in 4:48 over Cadott’s Cole Pfeiffer (28-15). Person drew a thirdplace match with Marathon junior Jared Sweno (26-10), who pinned him in 1:31.

Senior Andrew Olson closed out his season wrestling in a five-man bracket at 285 pounds. He got a first-round win, pinning Marathon senior Cameron Blount (8-15) in 3:16 to earn a semifinal match with Cadott senior Josh Briggs. Briggs pinned Olson in just 55 seconds and was an 8-2 winner over Stratford’s Beau Gross (13-5) in the final.

Olson drew a third-place match with Edgar’s Austin Miller (11-7), who pinned him in 3:06. Olson finished the year at 10-10.