MADISON — Aquinas High School sophomore Tyler Paulson was determined to end his match against top-seeded Cale Quaintance of Marathon as quickly as he could once regulation was reached on Thursday night.
There was an opportunity on front of him, and Paulson pounced by driving through a double-leg takedown that produced one of the biggest individual wins of the first day of the WIAA individual state tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Ninth-seeded Paulson (34-8) and Quaintance (49-5) were knotted at 1 before Paulson took care of business to dump the top seed out of the title picture with a 4-1 sudden victory.
“At the whistle, I started hand-fighting,” Paulson said. “That led to the double leg. My coaches, for the past week, have really been trying to get me to get on to my feet and drive.
“(Quaintance) got a whizzer on me, so I had to throw my leg in. That makes it pretty hard to get the takedown, but I managed to get it.”
Paulson is one of five Blugolds — sophomore Martez Sheard, senior Roger Flege, senior Waylon Hargrove and senior Tyson Martin are the others — to qualify for Friday’s Division 3 semifinals. G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro senior Colton Koss and junior Aaron Dunigan and West Salem/Bangor senior Mason Chambers did the same in Division 2.
While Paulson said that seeds don’t mean much, he acknowledged that the victory gives him a boost heading to the semifinal round after qualifying by not placing at 126 as a freshman.
“It motivates me a lot,” Paulson said. “It lets me know that anything is possible and that I can do really well in this tournament.”
Up next for Paulson in the semifinal round is fourth-seeded Izaiah Sanchez (50-1), a senior from Shiocton. He advanced with a technical fall that he completed in the first period of his quarterfinal.
Koss, Flege and Martin are the most decorated of that group of semifinal qualifiers.
Koss (43-7) placed third at 106 as a sophomore and second at 120 as a junior. He is seeded third at 132 in Division 2 and pinned one opponent in 29 seconds before an injury default in the quarterfinals gave him a semifinal match against second-seeded Logan Schad (49-7) of Kiel.
Flege (34-4), who is the top seed in the Division 3 144 bracket, is trying to build on fourth-place finishes at 106 and 120 as a freshman and sophomore and his third place at 132 a year ago.
He followed up a bye on Thursday with a quarterfinal pin of eighth-seeded Dax Steinbach (33-9) or Cornell/Gilman/Lake Holcombe in a match that lasted 1:54.
“I needed to get that pin,” Flege said. “If I hadn’t gotten it, I would have been down on myself. I was already down on myself because of the beginning of the match, but that was kind of a wake-up call for me.”
Steinbach took Flege down 41 seconds in, but the match was all Flege from there. He put Steinbach on his back for four points before doing it again for the pin with just 6 seconds left in the first period.
Martin (42-1) was a runner-up at 195 as a freshman and 190 as a sophomore before a semifinal injury led to a fourth-place finish at 215 his junior season.
He said a calm and collected approach is what will allow him to reach his potential this weekend. Martin is seeded first in the Division 3 285 bracket.
Martin needed just 50 seconds to scored an 18-2 technical fall over eighth-seeded Samuel Incha (33-7) of Cambridge in the quarterfinals and meets Kewaunee senior Mitchell Boeder (38-6) in the semifinal round.
Martin took Incha down three times and put his back for additional points each time.
“A lot of times, I’m like that but not tonight,” Martin said when asked if he wanted to end the match quickly. “I didn’t have a specific goal other than scoring points.
“I’m grateful to be here, and I know I can’t control if I win or lose, but I can control my emotional state, so I’m not worried about my history here. I’m just trying to wrestle my best match every time.”
Sheard was fifth at 120 and Hargrove sixth at 157 a year ago.
Sheard (32-2) is the fourth seed at Division 3 126 and won both of his matches on Thursday by pin. He needed just 2:21 to finish fifth-seeded Carson Weiler (60-4) of Auburndale in the quarterfinals.
That gives Sheard, a two-time Bi-State Classic champion, a semifinal against top-seeded Reegan Roy (53-3) — last year’s Division 3 champion at 106 — of Wabeno/Laona/Three Lakes in the semifinal.
“I’ve been working hard in practice to learn better attacks to score on people I’ve already wrestled that already know my style,” said Sheard, who overcame a slow start to beat Weiler 11-0 at the Bi-State semifinals in December. “I had to change things up a bit.”
Hargrove (35-8), who is seeded fourth at Division 3 157, won by technical fall and decision on Thursday. He earned his spot in the semifinals with a 13-9 victory over fifth-seeded Dylan Hood (43-4) of Kenosha St. Joseph.
Hargrove never trailed after scoring a takedown 30 seconds in and using the move to score four more back points.
He will wrestle top-seeded Collin Hamm (54-2) if Weyauwega-Fremont in the semifinal round.
Chambers (45-5), seeded fourth at Division 2 157, scored two pins in his Thursday matches. He stopped 12th-seeded Joseph Stimac (39-11) of Antigo at 51 seconds of the quarterfinal.
“I just try to go out there and dominate every match,” Chambers said. “It doesn’t matter who it is.”
Chambers said a change in mentality has spearheaded his first trip as a competitor to the state tournament.
“There was always a block for me, but now I’ve made it this far,” Chambers said. “I don’t know what changed, but I know that every match starts 0-0, and I have to trust by training to know that I can go out there and do what I have to do.”
Chambers matches up with Kewaskum junior Bryston Scoles (41-0) in the semifinals. Scoles was state runner-up at 150 a year ago and third the year before.
Dunigan (46-4) is the fourth seed at Division 2 190 and is making his second state appearance. He spent his Thursday posting two victories — both by decision.
Dunigan scored all of his points in a 4-3 quarterfinal win over fifth-seeded Drew Chambers (39-6) of Shawano in the first two periods. That moved him to a semifinal bout against Mount Horeb/Barneveld senior Eli Leonard (55-0), who won his only match on Thursday via technical fall.
Leonard was a 175-pound champion a year ago and is committed to wrestle at the University of Wisconsin.
DIVISION 2
Thursday night's quarterfinals
126: (10) Drew Ryder, sr., Bloomer/Colfax (36-6) dec. (2) Teghan Moore, sr., West Salem/Bangor (49-5) 7-3
132: (3) Colton Koss, sr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (42-7) won by injury default over Michael Ciancio, jr., Coleman (36-4), 1:18
157: (4) Mason Chambers, sr., West Salem/Bangor (45-4) pinned (12) Joseph Stimac, so., Antigo (39-11) :51
165: (1) Haakon Peterson, sr., Dodgeville (46-0) tech. fall (9) Merek Windsor, so., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (36-16) 19-4, :44
190: (4) Aaron Dunigan, jr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (46-4) dec. (5) Drew Chelberg, sr., Shawano (39-6) 4-3; (1) Eli Leonard, sr., Mount Horeb/Barneveld (54-0) tech. fall (9) Caden Anderson, sr., West Salem/Bangor (46-9) 16-1, 2:13
Thursday's first-round results
113: (5) Gregory Hellendrung, so., Chilton/Hilbert (43-5) pinned (12) Cayson Anderson, sr., West Salem/Bangor (17-9) :53
120: (7) Austin Voeltz, so., St. Croix Central (35-11) tech. fall (10) Koda Purney, sr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (39-12) 23-5, 5:47
126: (5) Logan Boehnlein, jr., Seymour (34-4) dec. (12) Gunnar Kremer, sr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (34-11) 15-11
132: (3) Colton Koss, sr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (42-7) pinned (14) Rhett Welsing, fr., Denmark (31-20) :29
144: (10) Matthew Jakel, sr., Abbotsford/Colby (23-6) pinned (7) Brody Banse, jr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (41-8) 5:59
157: (4) Mason Chambers, sr., West Salem/Bangor (44-4) pinned (13) Gabriel Brittnacher, so., Chilton/Hilbert (35-12) 1:42; (7) Cody Meyer, so., Osceola (50-5) pinned (10) Jayce Stetzer, sr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (45-8) 3:51
165: (9) Merek Windsor, so., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. (36-15) pinned (8) Cole Berth, sr., Coleman (39-6) 4:33
175: (7) Jake Luchterhand, sr., Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal (45-7) dec. (10) Braden Peterson, jr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min (27-6) 11-9
190: (4) Aaron Dunigan, jr., G-E-T/Mel.-Min. ((45-4) dec. (13) Jayden Stave, so., St. Croix Central (39-13) 11-5; (9) Caden Anderson, sr., West Salem/Bangor (46-8) pinned (8) Eli Ogi, jr., Kewaskum (23-12) 1:19
285: (5) Valentino Vargas, sr., Martin Luther (42-1) dec. (12) Kaiden Stello, sr., West Salem/Bangor (46-14) 4-1 SV
DIVISION 3
Thursday night's quarterfinals
126: (4) Martez Sheard, so., Aquinas (34-3) pinned (5) Carson Weiler, so., Auburndale (50-4) 2:21
138: (9) Tyler Paulson, so., Aquinas (34-8) dec. (1) Cale Quaintance, sr., Marathon (49-5) 4-1 SV
144: (1) Roger Flege, sr., Aquinas (33-4) vs. (8) Dax Steinbach, fr., Cornell/Gilman (33-9) 1:54
157: (4) Waylon Hargrove, sr., Aquinas (35-8) vs. (5) Dylan Hood, jr., Kenosha St. Joseph (43-4) 13-9
285: (1) Tyson Martin, sr., Aquinas (42-1) vs. tech. fall (8) Samuel Incha, sr., Cambridge (33-7) 18-2, :50
Thursday's first-round results
126: (4) Martez Sheard, so., Aquinas (33-3) pinned (13) Corbyn Holderman, fr., Cameron (44-11) 1:30
138: (9) Tyler Paulson, so., Aquinas (33-8) dec. (8) Samuel Springer, so., Mineral Point (32-10) 7-1
144: (1) Roger Flege, sr., Aquinas (32-4) receives a bye
157: (4) Waylon Hargrove, sr., Aquinas (34-8) tech. fall (13) Scott Daniels, sr., Shiocton (36-15) 17-0, 2:32
165: (5) Tristen Verbeten, sr., Reedsville (47-6) maj. dec. (12) Marcus Klar, sr., Aquinas (32-13) 17-6
285: (1) Tyson Martin, sr., Aquinas (41-1) receives a bye
