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A trio of individual champions helped lift Kaukauna over a formidable field to win the 16-team Pulaski Invitational Saturday.

Zach Lee (160), Bryson Alsteen (182) and Keaton Kluever (285) each claimed individual championships for the Galloping Ghosts.

Ten of Kaukauna’s 14 wrestlers earned a spot on the podium courtesy of a top-6 finish in their respective weight class.

“The result was pretty good. We won the tournament over some pretty good schools here,” Kaukauna head coach Jeff Matczak said. “I know not all of them were 100 percent. But even so, we put some distance between us and them. We competed where we needed to and beat kids we could. Not too many crazy upsets or anything like that, just good, hard wrestling. I’m proud of our kids.”

The win was Kaukauna’s first tournament victory of the season. That fact brought a chuckle out of Matczak and with good reason. His squad entered the season as four-time returning state champions and is currently ranked second in Division 1 according to Wisconsin Wrestling Online.

But the lack of hardware is a testament to the strength of Kaukauna’s schedule.

“All the schools here see good competition. But we put our kids through the toughest schedule in the history of our program this year and that’s saying something because we always have a strong schedule. But it was just a little bit tougher this year,” Matczak said. “It hardens you up for a tournament like this.”

Six of the teams entered Saturday’s event ranked in the state. In total, 66 of the wrestlers were either ranked or honorable mention in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling Online rankings.

D2 No. 1 Luxemburg-Casco had a tournament best four individual champions.

Lucas Joniaux (106), Bryce Bosman (126), Devan Vandenbush (152) and Nate Lloyd (220) all took top honors for the Spartans.

“This is a pretty tough tournament, it’s been like that for years. It’s just a great litmus test for how we are going to do in the state tournament and leading up to it,” Luxemburg-Casco head coach Chas Treml said. “To get five in the finals and get four champs, that’s good day’s work for them.”

Vandenbush, who is ranked No. 2 in D2, pinned No. 3 Sam Peters of Freedom in their championship bout. It was the second time Vandenbush pinned Peters in less than 72 hours. He also won by fall when the two crossed paths in a North Eastern Conference dual meet Thursday night.

Saturday’s matchup was just one of many championship tilts with high-level talent.

Twelve of the 14 championship matches were between two state-ranked wrestlers. Four of those twelve featured a No. 1 grappler.

Two No. 1 wrestlers tangled at 113 and 285 pounds.

D1 No. 1 Eric Barnett of Hortonville topped D3 No. 1 Koltin Grzybowski of Coleman 13-0 in the 113-pound championship match.

Barnett was later named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

The 285-pound final saw D1 No. 1 Keaton Kluever best D2 No. 1 Josh Frerk of Denmark, 7-4 in a rematch of a 2017 Pulaski Invitational title bout.

Kluever won that meeting 3-1 in SV-1.

Notes:

• Bay Port placed ninth despite being the only team at the tournament without a wrestler who is ranked or honorable mention. 

• Jacob DeMeyer became Rhinelander's career wins leader. The senior is 157-19. 

• Kaukauna's John Diener (120) and Pulaski's Lucas Gracylany (182) were the only wrestlers to make the finals who weren't ranked or HM. 

• Host Pulaski had three finalists, the most of any school without a champion. However the Red Raiders placed fifth in the team standings, the highest finish of any team that wasn’t ranked. Pulaski finished better than D1 No. 10 Elkhorn and D2 No. 7 Denmark. 

• Rhinelander’s Alec Kurtz won the Hammer Award (most pins in shortest time). He recorded three falls in a span of 3:32.

Championship matches:

106: D2 No. 3 Lucas Joniaux (Luxemburg-Casco) dec. D1 No. 3 Blake Peiffer (Port Washington), 7-6

113: D1 No. 1 Eric Barnett (Hortonville) maj. dec. D3 No. 1 Koltin Grzybowski (Coleman), 13-0

120: D3 No. 1 Caleb Gross (Coleman) dec. John Diener (Kaukauna), 6-2

126: D2 No. 1 Bryce Bosman (Luxemburg-Casco) dec. D1 No. 4 Cole Gille (Pulaski), 9-5

132: D1 No. 4 Daniel Stilling (Elkhorn) dec. D1 No. 6 Logan Bellow (Pulaski), 4-3

138: D3 No. 4 Jake Baldwin (Coleman) dec. D2 No. 5 (132) Garrett Ruckdashel (New London), 7-4

145: D1 No. 3 (152) Jacob DeMeyer (Rhinelander) maj. dec. D2 No. 10 Colton Worachek (Luxemburg-Casco), 10-1

152: D2 No. 2 Devan Vandenbush (Luxemburg-Casco) p. D2 No. 3 Sam Peters (Freedom), 3:06

160: D1 No. 4 Zach Lee (Kaukauna) dec. D2 No. 1 Evan Vosters (Freedom), 6-0

170: D2 No. 11 Dakota Brockman (Freedom) maj. dec. Lucas Gracyalny (Pulaski), 16-4

182: D1 No. 3 Bryson Alsteen (Kaukauna) dec. D1 No. 9 Tristan Griswold (Port Washington), 6-5

195: D1 No. 3 Alec Kurtz (Rhinelander) p. D2 No. 2 Matt Verhasselt (Freedom), 2:30

220: D2 No. 8 Nate Lloyd (Luxemburg-Casco) dec. D1 No. 9 Colton Krueger (Rhinelander), 7-2

285: D1 No.1 Keaton Kluever (Kaukauna) dec. D2 No. 1 Josh Frerk (Denmark), 7-4

Team Scores: 1. D1 No. 2 Kaukauna 216.5, 2. D2 No. 1 Luxemburg-Casco 188.5, 3. D2 No. 3 Freedom 164.5, 4. D3 No. 4 Coleman 145, 5. Pulaski 140, 6. Rhinelander 138.5, 7. D1 No. 10 Elkhorn 121, 8. D2 No. 7 Denmark 114.5; 9. Bay Port 105, 10. Hortonville 101, 11. Port Washington 93, 12. Oconto Falls 61.5, 13. Seymour 61, 14. New London 54.5, 15. Reedsville 29, 16. Peshtigo 25