MADISON — One Coulee Region wrestler had his attempt to qualify for a WIAA individual state wrestling championship stopped by an injury on Friday, and four others suffered defeats that will have them chasing third place on Saturday at the Kohl Center.
Aquinas High School junior Tyson Martin (42-3) left the venue on a stretcher after an awkward landing during his Division 3 215-pound semifinal against Ilijah Sanchez (12-1) of Shiocton resulted in a dislocated elbow.
The injury happened early in their bout, which was stopped immediately for Martin — a two-time state runner-up and the top seed in the bracket — to get medical care.
Teammates Roger Flege (132 pounds) and Trevor Paulson (150) made it through their semifinal matches, but neither pulled out the victory to get to Saturday’s finals.
Flege (45-3), a junior with two fourth-place finishes under his belt, battled through a tough match against Riverdale’s Lakota Brewer (46-7), who prevailed by a 3-2 score. The match was scoreless through two periods, and Brewer took control on a takedown with 55 seconds remaining.
Flege escaped with 37 seconds to go to get within the final margin and shot for the winning takedown in the closing seconds. Flege had top position at the edge of the mat when time expired, but the referee determined that Brewer still had control of Flege’s left leg and didn’t award the three points.
Paulson (40-11) was also in a close match for two periods, but Weyauwega-Fremont’s Collin Hamm (55-3) eventually pulled away for an 8-3 victory. He joins Flege in a search for two victories and third-place finish on Saturday.
West Salem/Bangor junior Teghan Moore (Division 1 106) and Logan/Central’s Jayden Delao (Division 1 190) join those Blugolds in the hunt for third place.
Moore (51-4) had the first takedown of his match against Reedsburg’s Braiden Hale-Toomey (46-4), but Hale-Toomey had one-point lead by the end of the first. Hale-Toomey’s lead after two periods was 9-8, and Moore was left to force a tying escape, but he couldn’t get it in what became a 13-8 loss.
Delao (35-5) dominated time with an underhook, but he couldn’t turn it into points against Watertown’s Owen Sjoberg (46-2). Delao had a one-point lead in the third period, but Sjoberg scored a takedown with 39 seconds on the clock and rode out the rest of a 4-2 victory.
MSHSL STATE TOURNAMENT: The Caledonia/Houston co-op had two qualifiers for Friday’s first day for individuals at the Xcel Center.
Junior Aiden Burns (29-10) won two of three matches tin the Class AA 114-pound bracket and is still alive for Saturday’s consolation rounds.
Burns beat Pierz’s Rylan Gruber (37-8) by a 9-0 score before losing a 5-3 quarterfinal bout to Simley’s Jacob Kranz (43-10). He came back to beat Bloomington Kennedy’s Mir Amiri (23-17) by pin in 2:32.
Senior teammate Braxton Lange (20-4) was defeated in the first round of the 133 bracket. Pierz’s Carter Young (44-3) handed him an 11-5 loss.
