EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.
By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal / Fennimore Times / Boscobel Dial
Dylan Weigel, Sr., 144 pounds, and Briggs Weigel, So., 132 pounds, Belmont/Platteville wrestling
LA CROSSE — Belmont/Platteville’s Super Weigel Brothers flexed their might at last week’s 43rd annual Bi-State Classic.
Sophomore Briggs Weigel (20–5) won the 132-pound title last Tuesday night at the two-day, 68-team tournament with a 6–3 decision over Chatfield (Minn.) senior Kaisen Johnson (12–4).
Less than a half hour later, senior Dylan Weigel (24–0) kept his undefeated season going with a 4–1 victory over Riverdale senior Brody Meiss (20–2) in the 144-pound championship match.
The Weigel brothers became BP’s first two Bi-State champions in Emeric Williams’ eight year’s as head coach.
Together the Weigels scored 93.5 team points to lead the BP co-op to a sixth place finish (out of 29 teams) in Division 2 and 10th out of 68 teams overall with 174.5 points.
“As far as I know that was our best Bi-State Classic finish overall,” said coach Williams. “We scored 21 more points than last year, and finished 10th overall. There were highs and lows, just as you would expect at a tournament like this. But I was very pleased with how everyone competed and stayed focused throughout the tournament.”
Dylan Weigel became Belmont/Platteville’s all-time leader in career wins Monday with three technical falls and a 10–2 major decision over Hastings (Minn.) sophomore Rocco Iallanardo (9–5) in the quarterfinals. His third round 18–3 tech fall over junior Carter Bonk of Lewiston–Altura–Rushford–Peterson (Minn.) gave Weigel the new career record with 168 wins.
He then advanced to the finals with a 7–5 victory over La Crosse Aquians senior Roger Flege (14–3) in Tuesday’s semifinals.
“Dylan doing what he is doing only seven-and-a-half months post ACL surgery is also incredible,” said Williams. “If I am going to be honest, I was ready for him to take a loss at this tournament, but he proved coach wrong this time. Dylan has worked his tail off to get to this point and again, this is just a stepping stone to his ultimate goal of winning a state title.”
Weigel, who now has a career record of 171–25, surpassed Dusty Jentz’s previous record total of 167 wins. Jentz, a four-year state qualifier, and 2012 WIAA Division 2 state champion at 182 pounds, finished his career with a 167–19 mark after going 40–1 as a senior and 45–2 as a senior, when he placed 3rd at 171 pounds.
“Dylan passing Dusty’s program record is a testament to who Dylan is,” said Williams. “Being able to watch him grow into a true wrestler, along with the young man he has become has been amazing over the last four years. With that being said though, I know Dylan would agree with me in saying that becoming the program’s all time win leader is just a stepping stone towards the ultimate goal.”
Briggs Weigel used three straight pins and a 3–2 victory over Keil junior Logan Schad (20–5) in Monday night’s quarterfinals to advance to Day 2.
The then pinned Cannon Falls/Randolph (Minn.) junior Adam Parish (19–3) in the semifinals.
With his four pins, the younger Weigel scored a team-high 49.5 points.
“Briggs winning a Bi-State title was super impressive in my opinion,” added Williams. “He had five losses coming into the tournament. I know there were definitely people starting to doubt if he is as good as we know he is, so for him to go out there and perform the way he did was great to see and prove that he still belongs with the best of the best.”
Senior Tyler Kisamore at 157 pounds, and sophomore Oliver Harcus at 165 also advanced to Day 2.
Kisamore (25–4) battled back from a third-round loss Monday with four-straight consolation bracket victories to reach the podium. Kisamore finsihed 7–2 to place fifth at 157 after a medical forfeit victory over DC Everest senior Carson Kempf (15–4) in the fifth place match.
Harcus (19–6) won his first three matches Monday and went 4–3 over the two-day tournament to place 10th at 165 pounds.
Belmont/Platteville was represented by two wrestlers in the girls’ division.
Sophomore Kaycie Davis (9–2) went 4–2 and placed fourth at 152 pounds, while freshman Kylee Wharton went 0–2 at 114.
Davis advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals with three-sraight second period pins to open the tournament before a narrow 6–5 loss to Fennimore junior Cadence Freymiller (10–3), who went on to place second.
Davis then beat Bay Port’s Renezmae Rhoades, 7–1 before a 6–0 loss to Monroe freshman Addi Treuthardt (22–3) in the third-place match.
