BELMONT — The Braves crowned two champions and placed seven wrestlers in the top 3 to finish third out of eight teams at Saturday’s Belmont/Platteville Scramble.
    The Belmont co-op finished third with 178 team points, 10.5 back of runner-up Reedsburg (188.5). Dodgeville scored 216 points to win the team title. The Braves filled 12 of the 14 weight classes for the first time this year, but did lose freshman heavyweight Michael Douglas to an injury on Saturday.
    “Most of our guys are getting healthy again,” said Belmont/Platteville head coach Andrew Campbell. “We had a rough spot right before Christmas where we had a lot of injuries but most of us are healthy now.  We are waiting to see how serious Michael’s injury was.”
    Sophomore Tristen Gilbertson (106 pounds) and Will Schaefer (195) won individual titles Saturday to lead the Braves, while junior Christopher Gillen (120), senior Isaac Wiegel (126), sophomore Brady Johnston (132) and senior Joshua Taber (160) each finished second. Freshman Riley Christenson placed third at 182 pounds.
    “We had a lot of guys wrestle well Saturday,” said Campbell. “Tristen and Will both looked good and won there brackets.  Isaac, Chris, Brady and Josh all looked good during the day, but ran into tough kids in the finals. Riley took third, he lost a tough match on a questionable call in the semifinals. Michael looked good in his first match, beating the person who ended up taking second place, but ended up injury defaulting the rest of the tournament due to an injury that happened during the match.
    Had Douglas not gotten injured, he would have placed higher than seventh and the Braves would have finished second as a team.
    “I was happy with the way we wrestled this weekend,” added said Campbell. “I was happy with our third-place finish.  It was great seeing most of the guys on the team have success Saturday.
    Gilbertson (20-6) used a bye, three pins in less than a minute and a 7-4 decision over Fennimore’s Macoy Fitzgerald to win the five-man round robin at 106 pounds.
    Schaefer (20-5) pinned his way to the six-man 195-pound round robin weight class. His only match out of five that went into the second round was a 2:45 pin over Holmen’s Caleb Butler.
    Wiegel (23-3), a three-year state qualifier, jumped up to 126 pounds to challenge himself. He pinned four straight wrestlers before a 6-4 double overtime loss to Reedsburg’s Mason McMillen (30-2), who is ranked third at 126 in Division 1, for the title.
    Gillen (9-6) also pinned four straight wrestlers to set up a championship showdown, but was pinned by Holmen’s Carter Vetsch (14-9).
    Johnston (10-10) also went 4-1 on the day– with a major decision and three straight commanding decisions– to reach the finals at 132, where he lost to Reedsburg’s Caden Fey (26-6).
    Taber (11-6) won his first four matches at 160 to reach the championship, but was pinned by Dodgeville’s John Phelan (28-5) late in the second period.
    The Braves’ Southwest Wisconsin Conference dual meet against River Valley was postponed on Thursday, Jan. 11, due to the weather. It has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 23, at Belmont High School, starting at 7 p.m.
    Belmont/Platteville has a Southwest Wisconsin Conference dual meet at Richland Center on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m., and the Braves will participate in the Monroe Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 20, starting at 9:30 a.m.
   
BELMONT/PLATTEVILLE INVITATIONAL
Team Standings: Dodgeville 216, Reedsburg 188.5, Belmont/Platteville 178, Holmen Reserves 153, Sun Prairie 113.5, Fennimore Reserves 108, Lake Mills 60.5, Cambria-Friesland/Fall River/Pardeeville/Randolph/Rio 44.

Belmont/Platteville Individual Results: 106-pounds- 1- Tristen Gilbertson, 5-0; 120- 2- Chris Gillen, 4-1; 126- 2- Isaac Wiegel, 4-1; 132- 2- Brady Johnston, 4-1; Autumn Chapman, 0-5; 138- 6- Trevor Heim, 2-3; 145- Shannon Gill-Mast, 0-5; 152- 7- Geoffrey Erickson, 2-3; 160- 2- Joshua Taber, 4-1; 182- 3- Riley Christenson, 4-1; 195- 1- Will Schaefer, 5-0; 220- 4- Chris Spoor, 2-3; 285- 7- Michael Douglas, 2-3.
At Belmont, on Saturday, Jan. 13