MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Dec. 26–Jan. 2)
PREP WRESTLING: 41st Bi-State Classic
Iowa–Grant/Highland finished third in D3, third overall at 72-team Bi-State Classic
By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal
LA CROSSE — Iowa–Grant/Highland senior Elliott Biba got off to a late start this season, but he is showing no signs of rust.
Biba (15–0) breezed through the opening three rounds and ultimately finished 6–0 to win the 138-pound title at the two-day, 72-team Bi-State Classic at the La Crosse Center.
Biba scored a team-high 46 points to lead the Panthers to a third-place finish in Division 3 and a third-place overall finish with 254.5 points.
Only Division 3 champion Chatfield (Minn.) (291.5) and D3 runner-up La Crosse Aquinas (270) scored more points in the entire tournament than coach Ryan Allen’s Panthers.
After back-to-back pins, and an 18–7 major decision in round 3, Biba gutted out a 6–5 decision over Jack Bainbridge of Hastings (Minn.) in the quarterfinals. He then scored a dominating 17–8 major decision over River Valley’s Noah Radtke (18–3) before winning the 138-pound title with an 8–3 victory over Holmen’s Preston Kratochvill (9–1).
Junior Tyson Imhoff (22–2) and sophomore Jaxon Busse (22–1) also reached the finals for the IG/Highland co-op with five straight wins, before each finished second at 150 and 157 pounds respectively.
Imhoff won his first five matches, the closest being a 5–2 quarterfinal victory over Beaver Dam’s Easton Warden, and advanced to the final with a injury default victory over Luxemburg–Casco’s Masx Ronsman.
Busse used a pair of pins, and victories of 6–0, 8–2 and 4–2 to reach the 157-pound championship match.
Sophomore Hunter Stevens (24–1) went 6–1 for the Panthers, and rebounded from a semifinal loss to finish third at 132 after a 3–2 win over Baraboo’s Peyton Oberg.
Freshman Brock Hinderman (24–2) wrestled his all the way to a fourth-place finish at 144 pounds despite entering as the seventh seed even with an undefeated record.
Hinderman battled back from a quarterfinal loss with three-straight consolation victories before a narrow 5–1 loss to Stoughton’s Cole Sarbacker (24–2) in the third-place match.
Emmerson Moen (22–3) went 5–2 and fought back from back-to-back losses in the quarters and consolation bracket, to finish ninth at 165 with a 3–1 decision and a second-period pin in the ninth-place match.
Prairie du Chien places third in Division 2 for a second straight year
Derick Kelly, Courier Press
LA CROSSE — The Prairie du Chien wrestling team traveled to La Crosse on Friday, Dec. 29 and Saturday, Dec. 30 to compete in the 41st annual Bi-State Classic at the La Crosse Center and came back with a third place finish in Division Two for a second consecutive year.
The Hawks scored 153.5 points to place third in Division Two (2.5 points ahead of fourth place Lodi) out of 28 teams in the division. The 153.5 points also placed the Hawks into a tie with Mequon Homestead for 11th place overall out of 72 teams.
Leading the way for the Hawks was junior Blake Thiry who placed second at 215 pounds. Thiry advanced to the championship match for the first time in his high school career thanks to wins over Holmen’s Mason Helgerson (Fall 1:17), Mauston/Necedah’s Jaren Hansen (Fall 0:46), G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro’s Braydon Lockington (Dec 4-0), Richland Center’s Teige Perkins (Dec 7-1), and La Crosse Aquinas’ Brady Lehnerr (Fall 1:06).
Awaiting Thiry in the finals was Port Washington’s Garett Kawczynski, a 20-0 sophomore who placed third at 220 pounds in Division One at the WIAA State Tournament last season and is currently ranked 30th nationally at 215 pounds by SBLive.com.
Kawczynski showed why he is worthy of that ranking by jumping out to a 5-0 lead on Thiry in the second period. Thiry managed to make the score 5-4 with 38 seconds left in the match before an escape by Kawczynski five seconds later made it 6-4. A stalling penalty against Kawczynski with one second left made the score 6-5 but there was unfortunately not enough time left for Thiry to go for a takedown for the win.
Thiry is the sixth Prairie du Chien wrestler to placed second at the tournament, joining Rhett Koenig (last year at 138 pounds), Traeton Saint (160 pounds in 2019), Casey Bode (145 pounds in 2005), Mike Lenzendorf (275 pounds in 2003), and Callistus (Kelly) Schissel (185 pounds in 1986).
Thiry placed third at 195 pounds in 2021 and tenth at 182 pounds last year. He joins Jon Nelson (1984-86), Mike Lenzendorf (2002-04), Zach Elliott (2004-06), Alex Stormoen (2004-06), Jon Quamme (2004-06), Taylor Elliott (2010-13), Clayton Beers (2012, 2014-15), Traeton Saint (2016-17, 2019), Rhett Koenig (2019, 2021-22), and Luke Kramer (2019, 2021-22) as the only wrestlers in program history to be a place winner three or more times at the Bi-State Classic with Taylor Elliott currently being the Hawks only four time placer though Truck Hannah did place each of the four years he competed at the tournament albeit at two different schools (three times for Viroqua, and once for PdC).
Also placing for the Hawks at this year’s meet were Jeremiah Avery (sixth at 165 pounds, Drake Ingham (ninth at 132 pounds), and Bryce Lenzendorf (ninth at 157 pounds).
