STRATFORD, AUBURNDALE, ATHENS COMBINE FOR 13 STATE BERTHS AT DIVISION 3 WRESTLING SECTIONAL
Zaleski Sports
SHAWANO – Stratford had seven wrestlers qualify for next week’s state tournament and Auburndale has five moving on after competition at the WIAA Division 3 individual wrestling sectional on Saturday at Shawano High School.
The top three finishers in each weight class qualify for the 2022 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison on Feb. 24-26.
Stratford had five sectional champions, a runner-up and a third-place finish.
Winning sectional titles for the Tigers were Trenton Cournoyer (34-8) at 106 pounds, two-time state champion Gavin Drexler (35-1) at 138, Elijah Lucio (34-2) at 152, Jackson Ormond (38-8) at 182, and Raife Smart (30-3) at 195.
Cole Marten (30-6) placed second at 220 pounds and Dillon Kirsch (32-12) was third at 145 to also earn spots at state.
Auburndale’s Colton Weiler (42-5) won the 113-pound championship match with a 7-0 shutout of Dylan Dodson of Marathon and will be joined at the state tournament by four teammates.
Solan Welch (40-6) was second at 182, losing to Ormond 6-5. Brice Thiel (27-12) finished third at 195 as he lost to Smart 8-3 in the championship match and dropped a second-place wrestleback. Derek Godard (31-9) at 106 and Noah Altmann (40-8) at 132 also placed third for Auburndale.
Athens will also have one wrestling moving on to state as Brooks Kraus (36-8) finished second at 132 pounds. He was pinned in the finals by Blake Carton of Shiocton in 1:01.
Edgar and Pittsville did not have any wrestlers qualify for state.
Click here for complete results, courtesy of trackwrestling.com.