Nine county wrestlers advance to D2 wrestling sectional

Despite 2022-23 being the first year of WIAA regional wrestling tournaments hosting nearly twice as many teams, Trempealeau County wrestlers made their presence known at Saturday’s postseason tournament in Richland Center.

Nine county wrestlers, including eight representatives from the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro co-op, advanced to this Saturday’s sectional meet by placing inside the top four wrestlers in their respective weight classes at Richland Center last weekend.

Senior Cruz Patzner will be Arcadia’s lone wrestler at the event, slated for 10 a.m at Wisconsin Dells High School. 

The top three wrestlers in each weight class at Saturday’s sectional will advance to the state tournament Feb. 23-25 at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Ben Peterson (170 pounds) and Jackson Blaken (132) each earned individual regional championships for G/M by going 3-0 and winning their respective weight classes on Saturday. Teammate Carson Koss finished second at 138 pounds (3-1) for the Titans, losing only the championship to Rhett Khoenig of Prairie du Chien.

Patzner was the next best finisher for Trempealeau County schools, taking third in the 152-pound bracket with a 2-2 record on Saturday behind two pins.

Colton Koss (106, 2-2 in the tournament), Layne Fry (126, 3-1), Gunnar Johnson (160, 3-2), Max Knapmiller (195, 2-2) and Alex Wieczorek (220, 2-2) will also compete for G/M on Saturday after earning fourth place finishes last weekend.

This was the first season of expanded regional tournaments for the sport, allowing the top four wrestlers to advance to sectionals instead of the prior setup of top two advancing. 

The top two teams on Saturday, Prairie du Chien and Lodi, both advanced to the team sectional competition, up from the previous advancement of just the top team.

The Titans narrowly missed out on a team berth at the sectional tournament, taking third at the regional with a team score of 214.5. Prairie du Chien earned 274 points to claim the team regional championship, and Lodi earned the second team sectional berth with 256.5 points.

Arcadia finished 12th as a team with 43 points. 

Arcadia’s Hunter Fitzpatrick narrowly missed qualifying for the sectional at 126 pounds, losing to G/M’s Layne Fry in the fourth place match. Gery Lopez (160) collected two pins for Arcadia but did not place.

The Titans had a trio of fifth-place finishers, including Koda Purney (113), Mitch Berg (182) and Cisco Jimenez (285). Hayden Fry finished sixth at 152 pounds, as did Jayce Stetzer at 120 pounds. Landon Windsor also competed for the Titans, going 1-2.