Wrestlers advance out of D-3 regional

New super regional held this season

By Casey Krautkramer

Stratford’s wrestling team on Saturday captured its ninth WIAA Division 3 regional championship in the last 10 years.

The Tigers won seven straight regional titles before finishing as runners- up to the Cadott Hornets in 2021. Stratford won the regional championship last season in Auburndale and on Saturday it defeated Glenwood City, 245 to 232.50, to again win the regional crown in Edgar.

Cadott placed third on Saturday with 231 points, followed by Marathon in fourth with 189.50. Auburndale took fifth place with 179 points, while Boyceville was sixth with 127 and Edgar seventh with 82. Athens placed 11th out of 13 teams competing with 34 points.

Stratford and regional runners-up Glenwood City both qualified for the WIAA Division 3 team sectional on Tuesday in Cadott. Stratford faced Clear Lake in the sectional semifinal and Glenwood City wrestled against Cumberland in the other sectional semifinal.

This year’s regional was much tougher for Stratford to win. That’s because this was the first year having a super regional with twice the amount of teams competing. There were 16 wrestling regionals in previous years, but this year’s invention of the super regional cut the number of regionals down in half to eight.

Adam Davison, Stratford head coach, said the WIAA installed the super regional this season to create more balance because he said in previous seasons there were so many regionals that only had two or three wrestlers in each weight class.

“The super regional just combines two regionals yet the same number of kids go to sectionals with very few wrestlers just guaranteed to get through regionals because of having an empty bracket,” he said.

When there were 16 regionals, the top two wrestlers in each weight class would advance to sectionals. With the new super regional this season, the top four wrestlers who place in each weight class qualify for the WIAA Division 3 individual sectional this Saturday, Feb. 18, beginning at 10 a.m. in Edgar.

The top three individual wrestlers in each weight class, which is the same number as in previous seasons, will advance from sectionals to the WIAA Division 3 individual state wresting tournament on Thursday, Feb. 23 through Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Ten individual wrestlers from Stratford, seven from Marathon, three from Edgar and one from Athens advanced out of regionals to sectionals.

Individual sectional qualifiers include: Marathon freshman Blake Underwood took first place in the 106-pound weight bracket at Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 super regional in Edgar to remain undefeated with a 42-0 match record this season. Underwood won an 8-4 decision against Derek Godard of Auburndale, 43-8 record, in the 106-pound first-place match. Stratford freshman Colin Cournoyer, 33-9, took third place.

Red Raiders freshman Cale Quaintance, 35-5, took second place and Stratford freshman Lucas Forrest finished fourth at 113 pounds. Stratford sophomore Trenton Cournoyer, 35-6, won the 120-pound weight class.

Marathon freshman Tate Sonnentag, 21-14, took second place at 126 pounds and Stratford freshman Matthias Kaiser placed third. Red Raiders junior Dylan Dodson, 31-8, placed third at 132 pounds and Athens freshman Evin Passehl, 27-16, was fourth. Marathon junior Derek Vesely, 21-9, placed fourth at 138 pounds.

Stratford senior Ryan Becker, 34-11, took second place at 145 pounds. Stratford junior Kaleb Krummel, 27-10, placed second at 152 pounds and Edgar senior Keghan Hartway, 21-16, was third. Marathon senior Hector Pintor, 39-10, placed second at 160 pounds while Edgar sophomore Jase Apfelbeck, 22-19, was third and Stratford sophomore Jack Tubbs, 10-8, finished fourth.

Tigers sophomore Carter Lueck, 36-6, won the 170-pound weight class and Tigers senior Jackson Ormond, 38-1, won the 182-pound weight class. Tigers senior Alex Mueller, 12-11, took fourth place at 195 pounds.

Edgar junior Harrison Graveen, 2215, took fourth place at 220 pounds. Marathon senior Logan Werner, 28-14, took third place at 285 pounds.