LA CROSSE — Holmen High School boys wrestling coach Justin Lancaster was thrilled to be busy with matches Tuesday night at the La Crosse Center.
Would he have preferred to have a match or two on the big stage with a Bi-State Classic championship on the line?
Of course. That’s where all of his wrestlers want to be at the end of the second night.
But the fact that Holmen didn’t have anyone competing for a boys championship, didn’t stop the program from becoming a champion.
The Vikings had five wrestlers place fifth or better and three more in the top 10 on their way to 273 team points. That was more than any other Division 1 school and gave them their second division title in as many years.
“They did a great job,” Lancaster said. “It is a tough tournament, but (the second day) is always my favorite day because every match is such a fight.
“You have to claw and scrape your way through and find ways to win.”
Sophomore Rex Lancaster (18-3), who was seeded sixth at 120 pounds, led the way with a third-place finish. After a 2-1 loss in the semifinals Tuesday morning, Lancaster came back to beat Zumbrota-Mazeppa’s fifth-seeded Carl Murray 5-4 in the placement match.
Freshman Brendan Henderson (20-2) may have had his run in the championship bracket cut short in the 113 quarterfinals, but the seventh seed came back to finish fourth.
Junior Brock Needham (18-4) also finished fourth after a huge first day in the 126 bracket. Two close losses on Tuesday placed him fourth, but those points went a long way for the team after be awarded the 16th seed.
Sophomore Nathan Henderson and senior Noah Henderson won fifth-place matches for the Vikings.
Nathan Henderson (20-2) won three of his final four matches and beat Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson’s Owen Lange (16-7) by a score of 9-3 for fifth at 138.
Noah Henderson (14-7) was fifth at 150 and also won three of his last four bouts. He beat Aquinas freshman Jacob Penzkover (19-7) by pin at 2 minutes, 14 seconds for big points as a 10th seed.
Senior AJ Alesch (17-6, 157 pounds) was also ninth, freshman Brady Needham (15-8, 106) and senior Jagger Jepson (16-7, 285) 10th and sophomore Olie Strasser (13-7, 132) 16th to help Holmen’s point total.
Aquinas placed second in Division 3 (205.5 points) with a pair of champions in Martez Sheard and Tyson Martin and a third-place performance from senior Roger Flege (14-3, 144), the sixth place from Penzkover, eight from senior Waylon Hargrove (17-5, 165) and ninth from sophomore Tyler Paulson (21-3, 138).
G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro was also among the top 15 teams overall — boys and girls — and checked in 14th with 181.5 points. West Salem/Bangor was three spots back at 163.
INDIVIDUAL
Stories on all of the local champions — Holmen’s Aini Anderson and Aquinas’ Martez Sheard and Tyson Martin — were posted on couleesports.com on Tuesday night.
But here is a look at other place-winners from around the coverage area:
THIRD PLACE
In addition to Lancaster and Flege, West Salem/Bangor senior Mason Chambers and Caledonia/Houston senior Will Allen completed third-place performances on Tuesday.
Chambers (21-3) won six of his seven matches at 157 and completed his tournament with a 17-11 placement victory over G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro senior Jayce Stetzer (15-4). Stetzer, like Chambers, was knocked out of the championship bracket in the semifinal round. Stetzer finished the tournament with a 5-2 record.
Allen (17-2) had to work himself back from deep in the consolation bracket after a third-round loss at 165. Allen won his final six matches and grabbed third place with a 4-1 sudden victory over second-seeded Jacob Dannenberg (18-5) of Mineral Point.
West Salem/Bangor freshman Sophia Anderson (20-2) was third in the girls 107 bracket.
Anderson won her first four matches before a semifinal loss to the eventual runner-up. She then beat fourth-seeded Rylan Oleson (12-4) of Nekoosa/Port Edwards 10-3 in the placement match.
FOURTH PLACE
Holmen’s Brendan Henderson and Needham were joined by Stetzer here.
Holmen senior Sophia Walter (16-3, 235) also placed fourth after being knocked out of the championship bracket in the quarterfinal round.
Walter won five of her seven matches and lost her placement match 4-3.
FIFTH PLACE
Nathan Henderson and Noah Henderson were joined by G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro junior Brody Banse (14-5, 144) and Caledonia/Houston sophomore Cooper Allen (13-5, 215). Banse won four of six matches after a run to the semifinal round, and Allen won six of eight.
Holmen junior Avalee Euler (11-3, 165) was another local fifth-place finisher when she was awarded her placement match due to a medical forfeit. But Euler had advanced to the semifinals before the eventual champion beat her and finished the tournament with a 4-2 record.
