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Individual State Wrestling Day 2 Notes and Observations

02/28/2020, 9:45pm CST
By Nate Woelfel

Cadott's Brady Spaeth (yellow) will wrestle for a second straight title on Saturday

Friday night provided plenty of action during the semifinal round of the 77th annual WIAA Individual Wrestling State tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison

To view updated brackets, please click here.

Arrowhead senior Keegan O’Toole kept his pursuit for four consecutive state titles alive by pinning Ben Kumprey of Burlington in 2:37. All three of O’Toole's wins this weekend have come via fall. He’s spent just 7:44 on the mat across those bouts.

Below are a few of the other highlighted matches from the state semifinals.

Action resumes Saturday morning with the consolation semifinals, followed by the third- and fifth-place matches.

Then comes Session 5, the pinnacle of high school wrestling in the state of Wisconsin. The state finals are slated to begin at 5:30 p.m.

Division 1

126 pounds: No. 1 Jager Eisch of Kaukauna bested No. 2 Hayden Halter of Waterford 4-2 in their semifinal tilt. With the win, Eisch denied Halter a shot to wrestle for his third consecutive state title.

Eisch squares off with No. 3 Michael Parker (Slinger) in Saturday’s state title bout.

132 pounds: Top-ranked Cayden Henschel (West Bend East) survived a scare from No. 6 Tyler Goebel of Mukwonago Friday night. However, Henschel escaped with a 2-1 sudden victory.

Henschel faces No. 3 Cody Minot of Ashwaubenon in the state finals.

152 pounds: Arrowhead’s Noah Mulvaney made a case for being the state’s top freshman as he pinned No. 1 Luke Mechler of Stoughton with eight seconds remaining in their semifinal bout.

Mulvaney gets undefeated No. 2 Kaden Reetz of Madison Memorial in the finals Saturday night.

182 pounds: No. 3 John Gunderson (Baraboo) maintained his perfect record with 4-3 victory over No. 1 Sam Skillings (Menomonie).

Gunderson toes the line against No. 2 Mason Diel (Arrowhead) in the championship match.

Division 2

138 pounds: Third-ranked Charlie Stuhl of Ellsworth handed No 2 Jessie Tijerina of Portage his first loss of the season via a 3-2 decision in the semifinals Friday night.

Stuhl moves on to face No. 1 Matty Bianchi of Two Rivers for all the marbles. Bianchi is ranked No. 17 in the nation by FloWrestling.

170 pounds: No. 8 Hunter Andersen of GET/Melrose-Mindoro qualified for the state title match courtesy of a 9-6 win over No. 5 Sawyer Helmbrecht (Lodi) in the semis.

Andersen will square off with No. 2 Clayton Whiting of Oconto Falls for the D2 state title at this weight. Whiting, a sophomore, was a state champ at 152 a year ago.

Division 3

120 pounds: Second-ranked Cash Stewart of Poynette punched his ticket to the state finals by pinning top-ranked Carter Greening (Weyauwega-Fremont) 4:43 in to their semifinal tilt.

Stewart will face No. 3 Josiah Berg of Boyceville in the state championship match Saturday night.

160 pounds: No. 3 Nolan Springer (Mineral Point) knocked off No. 1 Devin Dennee ((Stratford0 8-5 on the semis.

Dennee is one of a D3-best six state place-winners for the Tigers.

Springer will attempt to become Mineral Point’s 51st all-time state champion when he faces No. 7 Will Peters of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm.

170 pounds: Marshall’s Dylan Horstmeyer earned a state title match berth with a 5-2 win over No. 2 Conor Vatland of Westby.

No. 5 Horstmeyer will do battle with undefeated No. 1 Brady Spaeth of Cadott in the championship bout.

Tag(s): News Archive  Wrestling  Nate Woelfel  News