Krizan, Duellman end wrestling seasons with fifth-place finishes

WIAA DIV. 3 ST. CROIX FALLS SECTIONAL

Dreams of reaching the WIAA Division 3 state tournament ended in the consolation semifinal round for Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe wrestlers Julian Krizan and Troy Duellman, who both closed their seasons with fifth-place wins at Saturday’s sectional at St. Croix Falls.

The efforts of both wrestlers, who attend Gilman High School, capped successful abbreviated seasons on the mat. Their efforts produced 17 team points for the Wolfpack and a 15th-place finish out of 22 teams represented in the meet.

Krizan started the day with an 11-0 record for the season and he bumped that up to 12-0 in his 170-pound quarterfinal by pinning Boyceville’s Kyle Lipke (11-5) in 1:28. That set up a semifinal match with Stratford’s Logan Rueth (15-2), who entered the tournament ranked fifth in the state. Rueth got the pin in 5:46 and went on to win the sectional title by pinning Spring Valley-Elmwood’s Brayden Wolf in 5:21 in the championship match.

Krizan, meanwhile, went to the consolation semifinals, where he was upset and pinned by Ladysmith freshman Matthew Roach (10-8) in 5:15. Krizan beat Roach 7-2 in the regional championship match on Jan. 30. That sent Krizan to the fifth-place bout, where he was named the winner by having already beaten Lipke earlier in the meet.

Duellman took a different route to fifth place at 132 pounds. He had a tough draw in his opening round against seventh- ranked and undefeated Mason Will of St. Croix Falls. Duellman avoided the pin but dropped a 13-2 major decision to immediately head to the consolation side of the bracket. Will (15-0) went on to win the weight class championship, earning a 19-2 technical fall over Marathon’s Jared Sweno (14-3) in the final.

Duellman (11-5) got a big win to stay alive, pinning Clear Lake senior Shane Larson (10-5) just before the second period expired at 3:59. Duellman avenged a 2-0 loss to Larson suffered back in the season’s first meet on Dec. 17. That set up a rematch with Shell Lake’s Tyler Schunck for a spot in the thirdplace match and a chance at a potential wrestleback for second.

Schunck (10-3) won the Jan. 14 match 6-2 and he took Saturday’s match 5-2 to temporarily stay in state contention. He won the third-place match 9-3 over Cadott’s Nick Fasbender (11-6), but did not get his wrestleback.

Duellman closed out his day and season with a 3-1 win over Justin Fowler (10-9) of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm in the fifth-place match. This was yet another rematch for Duellman. Fowler beat him 4-3 in the previous week’s regional title match.

Cadott won the team sectional championship with 170 points and earned a spot in the WIAA Div. 3 team state tournament Feb. 20 at Wausau East. The individual tournament is this Saturday.

St. Croix Falls (161), Stratford (152), Boyceville (138.5) and Ladysmith (87) rounded out the top five at Saturday’s sectional. Among the Wolfpack’s Lakeland Conference counterparts, Clear Lake was 11th with 33 points and sent 138-pounder Tyler Sunday to state, Shell Lake was 13th with 29 points and sent 182-pounder Blake Flach to state, Turtle Lake-Clayton was 16th with 16 points, Unity was 17th with 15 points and Bruce did not score to finish 22nd.