NGL sends 3 athletes to state wrestling tournament

Three wrestlers from the Neillsville-Greenwood-Loyal (NGL) wrestling team will participate in the WIAA State Wrestling Tournament after placing in the top three at the WIAA Division 2 Sectionals held in Tomahawk on Feb. 17. Hudzon Sebesta-Opelt, Rydge Tibbett and Dane Luchterhand will compete in the state tournament at the Kohl Center at UWMadison from Feb. 22-24.

At the sectional tournament, Sebesta-Opelt took first place in the 150-pound class. In the quarterfinals, he won by a 14-3 major decision over Ethan Fischer of Somerset and won by a 6-4 decision over Taden Holldorf of Baldwin-Woodville in the semifinals. In his first-place match, Sebesta-Opelt won by a 6-0 decision over Nolan Thomley of Prescott.

Sebesta-Opelt has a 36-2 wrestling record and will compete in his first match at the state tournament on Friday. He will wrestle the winner of the Feb. 22 match between Thomley (43-7 record) and Odair Porras of Whitewater (24-13 record).

Taking second place at sectionals and earning a trip to state was Rydge Tibbett, who competed in the 113-pound class. He won his quarterfinals match against Garrett DeLong of St. Croix Central by a 7-5 decision and by an 18-10 major decision over Jackson Nechuta of Mosinee in the semifinals. In his first-place match, Tibbett lost in a 7-3 decision to Drew Ryder of Bloomer/Colfax before winning by no contest over DeLong in the second-place match.

Tibbett comes into the state tournament with a 34-16 record and will wrestle Nick Ersland of Wisconsin Dells (38-5 record) on the first day of the tournament. If he wins that match, he will compete the following day, Feb. 23, against Ethan Hady of Richland Center (37-9 record).

Dane Luchterhand is the final NGL wrestler to qualify for the state tournament, finishing in third place at sectionals in the 190-pound class. His first match in the quarterfinals against Hayden Buckel of St. Croix Central was won by a 3-2 ultimate tie-breaker. Luchterhand then lost in a 5-3 decision in the semifinals to Deangelo Sardina of Hayward/ Northwood before coming back and winning by a 6-3 decision over Evan Wilkins of Medford Area in the consolation semifi nals. He lost by no contest to Sardina in the second-place match but proceeded to win by a 5-2 decision in the third place match over Joe Petherbridge of St. Croix Falls to finish in third.

Luchterhand has a 40-11 record and will be wrestling in the state tournament on Feb. 22. He will compete against Ross Crist of Darlington/Black Hawk (44-5 record) and, if he wins, will compete the following day in a match against Wyatt Ingham of Amery (31-1 record).

Five other wrestlers also competed for NGL at sectionals. Taking fourth place was Adam Kautzer in the 132-pound class. He won his match in the quarterfinals against Tracker Dodds of Luck/Frederic/Grant/ Siren by 7-2 decision. In the semifinals, he fell in 3:56 to Colton Hush of Baldwin-Woodville and went on to win by fall (5:40) over Fletcher Boumann of Tomahawk in the consolation semifinals. In the thirdplace match, he fell in 2:35 to Jude Stark of Medford Area.

Also taking fourth place was Jakob Luchterhand in the 165-pound class. In the quarterfinals, he won by fall (4:25) over Brandon Lucas of Luck/Frederic/Grant/ Siren. He fell in 1:26 in the semifinals to Drake Petersen of St. Croix Falls. In the consolation semifinals, he won by sudden victory (11-9) over Connor Kaseno of Ashland but fell in 3:03 to Conner Melton of Spooner/Webster in the third-place match.

Chase Lindner competed in the 106-pound class at sectionals. He fell in 0:47 to Westin Ingham of Amery in the quarterfinals and lost by a 10-2 major decision to Kaiden Hahn of St. Croix Falls in the consolation semifinals. In the 285-pound class, Jackson Meyer competed for NGL. He fell in 1:33 to Koy Hopke of Amery in the quarterfinals before falling in 5:10 to Micah Butler of Hayward/Northwood in the consolation semifinals. In the 157-pound class, Gavyn Mc Farlane competed for NGL. He fell by technical fall (15-0, 3:11) to Griffin Marko of St. Croix Falls in the quarterfinals.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO AND CONTRIBUTED (BELOW)