MADISON — Martez Sheard needed no additional motivation days before the WIAA individual state wrestling tournament began.
The Aquinas High School sophomore was still bothered by a quarterfinal loss ended his championship hopes as a freshman, and that was pushing him along just fine.
But when seeded brackets were released by the association after sectional competitions concluded, Sheard was a little bothered to see the No. 4 next to his name.
He acknowledged on Friday that seeds don’t mean anything, but he couldn’t help but see it as some form of disrespect.
“I can be better than these guys, and I am better than these guys,” Sheard said after becoming a Division 3 state champion for the first time Saturday night at the Kohl Center in Madison. “When I saw the 4, I thought, ‘Okay, we’re putting in some extra hard work.'”
All of that paid off with a dominant weekend for Sheard (34-2), who beat Mineral Point sophomore Liam Carey (45-7) by a 9-4 score in the 126-pound title bout.
Carey came in seeded third and the owner of a 12-7 victory over Sheard, but he led for just five seconds of the championship match.
The pace was quick early, and Carey scored the first takedown. But five seconds later, Sheard reversed him and put him on his back for four points.
“Last time we wrestled, I wasn’t moving as much and push the pace like I did this time,” Sheard said. “This was the state finals, so I felt like I had to push the pace.”
Carey’s final chance to close his three-point gap came in the third period. He nearly took Sheard down midway through the third, but Sheard found control and scored the takedown himself for a 9-3 lead with 49 seconds remaining.
“He responded really well to being taken down early, and he kept moving through that position and got that reversal,” Aquinas coach Deke Stanek said. “Tez is so good on his feet that I think people sleep on his top game.
“I think he’s actually better on top than on his feet, but he has turned a lot of really good kids and pinned a lot of really good kids this year.”
The scramble in the third took the steam out of Carey and cemented the victory as he followed up Tyson Martin’s win at 285 and gave the Blugolds their second champion of the night.
“If he got that takedown, it could have gone to overtime,” said Sheard, who takes a 76-7 career record into his junior season. “I had to do a little flurry scramble there, and I came out on top of it.”
Sheard’s weekend included three pins — one over top-seeded Reegan Roy of Wabeno/Laona in a match that lasted 1:02 — and victories over the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds.
The Blugolds also finished with five medals with senior Roger Flege adding a runner-up performance and sophomore Tyler Paulson and senior Waylon Hargrove placing third.
Sheard thought the collective performance can help the Blugolds this week as they prepare to compete in the team state tournament at the La Crosse Center. Aquinas has been ranked No. 1 in Division 3 all season.
