WAUSAU, WI -The Shawano Hawks enter Sectional Saturday 9 strong after winning their first-ever Regional title last weekend. 5 of the 7 wrestlers are coming in as Regional Champions.
Drake Herm, Damien Wudtke, Wyatt Brandt, Reef Anthony, Caden Young, Andrew Popp, and Nick Kohn were all Regional Champions. Noah Jones and Gage Timm qualified as a second-place finisher.
Shawano Coach Mike Homan said the success was well deserved.
The 9 qualifiers that Shawano enters the tournament with ties Wausau West for the most in the Sectional field, giving Shawano a chance to finish in the top two and qualify for Team State. Homan says there is no reason to count Shawano out.
The tournament field is wide open with just one top ranked wrestler (Drake Anderson-195-Bay Port) and one 2nd ranked wrestler (Connor Ramage-182-Ashwaubenon) in the tournament field. Holmen and Marshfield are both in the Wausau East Sectional. Holmen is ranked number 2 in the State and Marshfield in 9th.
For Shawano, at 106 pounds, Freshman Drake Herm (12-0) looks to keep his unbeaten season going. Herm is ranked 10th and has 4 other ranked wrestlers in the bracket. Herm is the only unbeaten wrestler in his bracket. Drake’s first match is against Brayten Casey (12-2) of Menominee. Pulaski’s Ethan Eggert (9-1), last week’s Shawano Regional runner-up is also in the field.
At 113, Damien Wudke enters with a record of 7-2. Wudtke was a Sectional qualifier last year with Wittenberg-Birnamwood and looks to take the next step to State. Damien’s first match is against Tanner Schmidt (5-4) of Rhinelander. Bay Port’s Owen Noel (10-4) finished 2nd last week in the Shawano Regional and is also in the field.
At 126, Wyatt Brandt (9-3) enters looks to close out his senior year with his first trip to State. Brandt is ranked 10th and has two other ranked wrestlers in his bracket. Brandt says he is open to build on the success of last week.
Brandt will face Tucker Johnson (4-2) of Superior in the first round and a win could match him up with unbeaten Preston Kratochvill of Holmen.
Reef Anthony enters the 138-pound bracket will more work ahead of him than last week. Anthony only wrestled one match last week as he had a bye all the way to the finals before beating Brady Deal of Green Bay Preble. Gabe Pugh (8-0) of Marshfield may end up being his second-round opponent and is considered the favorite in the Sectional. Anthony said the team success is good momentum for him. Reef will wrestle Honorable Mention ranked Ryan Sering (11-2) of Wisconsin Rapids in the first round.
At 145, Noah Jones may be in the toughest bracket in the tournament. Four of the Eight wrestlers are ranked, led by Brett Back (13-0) of Wisconsin Rapids and Jacob Ward (11-1) of Bay Port. Brett Franklin (10-1) of Marshfield and Brandon Beers (11-2) of Holmen are also in the bracket and Jones will wrestle on of those two in the second round. Noah’s first match is against Ethan Winkleman (8-2) of Hudson.
At 160, Sophomore Caden Young looks for his first win in Sectionals. Young entered the Division 2 Sectional for Clintonville unbeaten on the season and lost two matches, falling short of State. Making the move to D1 has been so-far-so-good for Young with an 11-1 record coming in. Young is one of 6 ranked wrestlers in the bracket, two of which are unbeaten. Young will meet up with Kyle Gerold (8-5) of Holmen in the first round.
At 170, Andrew Popp (11-1) comes in ranked Honorable Mention. The field contains 5 ranked wrestlers and the wrestler who handed Popp his only loss of the season, Camren Dennee who is 13-1 and unranked. Popp may wrestle Dennee for the second time this season in the second round. Carter Vetsch (12-1) of Holmen is highest ranked and Jacob Hansen (9-0) of Hudson is the lone unbeaten wrestler in the bracket.
At 195, Senior Gage Timm had a tough road last week, facing top ranked Drake Anderson of Bay Port in the finals. Anderson is once again in the same bracket along with 3 other ranked wrestlers. Gage will wrestle his first match against 6th ranked Thor Lass (13-2) of Tomah. Timm moved up to 195 for the postseason.
At 285, Senior Nick Kohn is just two weeks into his season, but is wrestling well at 6-0. Kohn is ranked 10th and has three higher-ranked wrestlers in his bracket, but is the only wrestler without a loss. Kohn opens up against Athan Somers (7-1) of Wausau West.
Shawano and Pulaski make up the tournament field for the area. They will be joined by wrestlers from the Green Bay area who qualified out of the Shawano Regional.
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DIVISION 1 @ Hartford Union
Kaukauna and Hortonville make up the tournament field for the area. Kaukauna is ranked number in Division 1 and qualified 10 wrestlers for Sectionals. Leading the way is top-ranked Greyson Clark at 126, second-ranked Jager Eisch at 132, and second-ranked Titus Hammen at 152. Clark is a defending State-Champion and is 12-0 coming into Sectionals. Eisch is a Senior and is a defending State Champion, entering Sectionals at a perfect 11-0. Hammen is 11-0 entering Sectionals, after finishing fourth at State last year.
Kaukauna Coach Jeff Matczak says they will face some new teams this weekend with the WIAA condensing the number of Division 1 Sectionals down from 8 to 4.
Matczak says he expects the Sectional to be a State quality level tournament later in the day.
The coach added if his team is going to have some of the same success as past years, there can’t be many mistakes.
Hortonville has five wrestlers at Sectionals, all trying to make their first trip to State.
Breaking down the brackets:
The tournament field includes three top-ranked wrestlers, Ben Bast (106) West Bend West, Alec Hunter (120) Oshkosh West, Greyson Clark (126) Kaukauna.
BRACKETS TO KEEP AN EYE ON
106– Has the top-ranked wrestler Ben Bast of West Bend West. Local Wrestlers in the bracket include Tyson Peach (8-2) of Kimberly, Owen Blenker (9-4) of Neenah and Wyatt Skebba (6-3) of Hortonville.
120– Has the top-ranked wrestler Alec Hunter of Oshkosh West. Local Wrestlers include Bryan Winans (11-1) Kaukauna, Tyler Beauchamp (8-2) of Neenah and Henry Niebauer (8-3) Hortonville.
126– 7 of the 8 wrestlers are ranked in this bracket. Clark of Kaukauna may be the favorite, but #3 Michael Parker (13-0) of Slinger could be his Semifinal match. Parker was a state-runnerup last year. One of those wrestlers will have to wrestle back to third and hope for a wrestle back. The bracket also includes #5 Michael Smith (11-2) of Appleton North. All three were state place winners last year and one of those strong wrestlers will have to stay home this year.
138– A pair of two-time state qualifiers lead the pack with Logan Stumpf (10-1) of Kaukauna ranked number 5 in the state and Carter Ziebell (9-1) of Slinger ranked number 4 in the state on a course to meet in the Finals. Freshman Charlie Millard (13-0) of Homestead may have the chance to be in the mix.
General Information:
A trip to State is on the line for area wrestlers as Sectional Saturday hits the mats across Wisconsin. This years’ tournaments are being held at Wausau East, Hartford Union, Seymour, and Valders. Due to the need to condense the tournament field, all three divisions will only be sending the top two wrestlers from each bracket. Wrestlers who win the third-place match will get the chance to wrestle back to for second place if they did not wrestle the runner-up earlier in the day. The top two scoring team in each D1 Sectional will advance to team state.
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