LA CROSSE — The Holmen High School boys wrestling team advanced five qualifiers to lead area teams to Monday night’s quarterfinal round of the Bi-State Classic at the La Crosse Center.
Teams in the couleesports.com coverage area had 17 emerge from the first session of the event unscathed, and the Vikings have five and Aquinas and G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro four each competing tonight for a spot in Tuesday morning’s semifinal round.
One all-local quarterfinal was set up when G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro junior Aaron Dunigan and West Salem/Bangor senior Caden Anderson both advanced at 190 pounds. Dunigan (14-1), seeded fifth, won twice by technical fall, and fourth-seeded Anderson (18-2) had one tech fall and two pins. They will battle each other for a spot in that semifinal round.
Holmen junior Brock Needham (16-2) spoiled one potential all-local final and set up another when he knocked off top-seeded Teghan Moore (18-3) 7-6 in their third-round match in the 126 bracket.
Needham, seeded 16th, set up that match with pins in his first two matches and meets ninth-seeded Christian Zibrowski (18-1) of Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson tonight.
The Vikings are also represented in the quarterfinals by freshman Brendan Henderson (17-0, 113 pounds), sophomore Rex Lancaster (15-2, 120), sophomore Nathan Henderson (17-0, 138) and senior Noah Henderson (11-5, 150).
Brendan Henderson, seeded seventh and owner of two wins by pin, squares off with second-seeded Owen Parish (17-1) of Cannon Falls/Randolph at 113, and Nathan Henderson meets Evansville’s sixth-seeded Spencer Lee (17-2) at 138.
Lancaster won twice by tech fall to earn a quarterfinal match against 19th-seeded Walker Waidelich (13-3) of New Richmond after he eliminated the third seed at 120. Noah Henderson is set up to wrestle second-seeded Westin Ingham (14-0) of Amherst tonight at 150.
Top-seeded Colton Koss (14-1) of G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro won by pin, tech fall and decision at 132 and puts his No. 1 spot on the line against ninth-seeded Kaison Johnson (10-3) of Chatfield to lead the hopes of the Titans.
G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro will also be represented by junior Brody Banse (13-2, 144) and senior Jayce Stetzer (13-2, 157). Banse, seeded 12th, matches up with Dodgeville’s fourth-seeded Nathan Johnson (20-2) at 144, and Stetzer lines up across from second-seeded Carson Kempf (13-1) of D.C. Everest at 157.
The Blugolds have quarterfinalists in senior Tyson Martin (16-1, 285), senior Waylon Hargrove (16-2, 165), senior Roger Flege (11-2, 144) and sophomore Martez Sheard (15-1, 126).
Sheard is the second seed in his bracket and advanced with a pin and two technical falls. He meets seventh-seeded Miles Alters (18-0) of Hudson in his quarterfinal.
Flege, Hargrove and Martin are all seeded third, and Flege and Hargrove each had one pin and one tech fall. Flege will see 11th-seeded Hunter Polikowski (13-2) of Chatfield in his quarterfinal, and Hargrove draws sixth-seeded JD Minder-Broeckae (18-0) of Hudson tonight.
Martin won all three of his matches by pin, and his longest bout lasted 1 minutes, 38 seconds. Martin matches up with Verona’s sixth-seeded Ethan McIntosh (21-1) in the quarterfinals.
Logan/Central junior Calvin Arentz (19-2, 175), West Salem/Bangor senior Mason Chambers (18-2, 157) and Caledonia/Houston senior Aiden Burns (11-1, 120) also qualified by winning all of their matches in the first session.
Arentz wrestles Mount Horeb/Barneveld’s Eli Maier (17-0) — the top seed and a champion her last year — at 175. Chambers is seeded fourth and matches up with fifth-seeded Emmett Collins (18-1) of Mineral Point after pinning two of his three opponents at 157.
Burns, seeded seventh, pinned all three of his opponents and will square off with second-seeded Beckett Edstrom (11-1) of Hastings at 120.
