Duellman places 6th, proves he’s right there with the best in his class

WIAA DIV. 3 STATE WRESTLING

It was a successful medal-winning trip to the WIAA Division 3 individual state wrestling championships for Cornell-Gilman- Lake Holcombe’s Troy Duellman, but there might not have been another wrestler in the entire tournament who was closer to some really big things than he was.

Duellman, a junior, went 2-3 to place sixth in the 12-man 145-pound bracket. He controlled the matches he won and finished with pins. Two of his losses were by one point and in his third loss, his fifth of the season to Clear Lake’s Tyler Sunday, he had a 2-1 lead and was about 10 seconds away from finally beating him.

No doubt, “close” was the word of the weekend.

“It really came down to small details in all those matches that could have helped him pull off the wins,” Wolfpack head coach Greg Sonnentag said. “He seemed to really out move and out wrestle his opponents but gave up some crucial points at pivotal times even though he controlled the pace often. I do think this will help motivate him and give him some confidence for next year.”

“I wrestled good, but I don’t know. I just need to touch up a few things next year,” Duellman said after accepting his medal during Saturday’s finals. Duellman finished the year at 30-9. “Have to keep practicing, hit some camps this summer.”

The loss to Sunday came in the fifthplace match Saturday afternoon.

After a scoreless one-minute first period, Sunday won the flip and chose bottom to start the second period and got an escape to take a 1-0 lead. It was Duellman’s turn to take the bottom to start the third and it took nearly a minute and a half, but he worked himself into a position where he was able to elevate and got a reversal to grab a 2-1 lead with time ticking away.

“I took bottom and I got a reversal with 30-40 seconds left and in my head I was like, ‘I won it. I just have to ride it out,’” Duellman said. “Then he got an escape and I was like shoot, I have to take him down to win it. Then he took me down.”

The takedown and ensuing two-point near fall as time expired gave Sunday (54-4) a 6-2 decision to go along with his 8-6 overtime win on Dec. 10, his 7-0 decision on Jan. 31, his 6-4 decision at the Feb. 4 Lakeland Conference meet and his 5-4 decision over Duellman in the sectional championship match. Sunday is also a junior.

“To be winning with eight seconds left and lose, again,” Duellman said, while shaking his head. “They’re all so close. Just little mistakes. Right there, I just lost my balance and he headlocked me.”

As the match ended, Sunday helped Duellman up from the mat and the two seemed to share a laugh about the way their seasons ended.

“We talk quite a bit. He’s super nice,” Duellman said.

Prior to that, Duellman certainly had a better showing than his one-and-done state appearance from a year ago.

As the sixth seed in the bracket, Duellman opened Thursday with a pin in 1:51 over 11th-seeded Colin Fischer (2915), a sophomore from Bonduel.

“That was good,” Duellman said. “I took him down and got an arm bar in and pinned him with the arm bar. I was feeling pretty confident after that, felt pretty good.”

That win put him in a Friday quarterfinal against third-seeded Mason Hoopman (47-5), a senior from Cedar Grove-Belgium. Duellman got a good shot in early on Hoopman’s legs and got the match’s first takedown, though Hoopman eventually escaped and got what proved to be a crucial takedown with five seconds left in the opening period to go up 3-2.

Duellman tied it with an escape in the second period, but Hoopman regained the lead with an escape in the third. Duellman got in deep on several more low shots in the last two periods, but Hoopman was able to hold off each one. Hoopman went on to make Saturday’s final, losing 9-0 to top-seeded Tarrin Riley (504) of Mineral Point.

“It really makes me sad and happy at the same time I guess,” Duellman said of his effort in that match. “I was a little upset losing to that kid by one point. It was super close. I had him in a cradle but out of bounds. I just have to finish those matches.”

“I know he was very frustrated after his quarterfinal match because he knew he should have pulled that one off,” Sonnentag said. “Then he followed that up with two more tight ones.”

His next match Friday wasn’t that tight. In a win a medal or be eliminated match, Duellman was in command throughout against Kewaunee’s Matt Wery (36-17), pinning the sophomore in 2:39 after a reversal put him up 4-0.

“I just remember, the match before that I was feeling pretty gassed,” Duellman said. “But I felt really good through that whole match. I pinned him with an arm bar again.

“I was obviously really happy knowing that I had medaled and was going to get sixth at least,” he added. “It felt good, but at the same time I was like I know I can beat these kids, I just have to wrestle good.”

In his consolation semifinal Saturday morning, he was paired with Syler Zdanczewicz, a strong, physical sophomore from Division 3’s top-ranked team Fennimore. Zdanczewicz got a second-period escape and rode Duellman throughout the third to win 1-0. Zdanczewicz (3118) beat Stratford’s Ryan Becker (42-15) 7-2 in the third-place match.

Sunday was the second seed. He lost 6-3 to Hoopman in the semifinals Friday night and was knocked off by the ninthseeded Becker 3-1 in his consolation semifinal.

“(Zdanczewicz) was good, really strong on top,” Duellman said. “He just threw legs in and just rode me out. There wasn’t much I could do when he put both legs in.”

Sonnentag felt Duellman’s performance over the weekend certainly puts him in the category of wrestlers to watch for next year.

“I do think this will help motivate him and give him some confidence for next year,” Sonnentag said.

“I’ll hit some camps probably, train in the off-season a little bit and whoop it up next year hopefully” Duellman said.