MUSCODA - On Saturday, the Riverdale wrestling team hosted a Division Three regional and had four wrestlers punch tickets to Saturday’s sectional in Mineral Point.
Bradon Roen won his fourth regional championship while Brian Mathews, Caleb Johnson and Terry Hrubes each qualified as second place finishers. All four wrestlers move one step closer to qualifying for the state tournament on February 23-25 in Madison.
Bradon Roen won his fourth regional championship with a technical fall in the finals match. Bradon used a takedown and nearfalls to open up a big lead after one period before finishing the match off in the third with a 15-0 technical fall. This was a great performance by Bradon, as the opponent he wrestled in the finals was the Most Valuable Wrestler of last week’s conference tournament.
Brian Mathews wrestled a hard fought match yielding an escape late in the third period to lose 1-0. Brian wrestled a great match against a strong opponent and will continue to work this week to improve his offense moving into sectionals. This will be Brian’s third trip to the sectional tournament. Caleb Johnson qualified for his second sectional tournament with a second place finish at 195 pounds. Caleb took an early lead in his match but was pinned late into the second period. Caleb was able to bounce back and win his wrestleback 10-4 to qualify for sectionals.
Terry Hrubes will be making his first trip to the sectional tournament. Terry pinned a Mineral Point wrestler that had pinned him earlier in the season in the semifinals. He would lose by pin to a highly ranked wrestler in the finals to secure a 2nd place finish. Terry has shown great improvement throughout the season, wrestling a mixture of varsity and junior varsity competitions.
Three other Chieftain wrestlers finished one place short of qualifying. All three worked their way back from semifinal loses to 2nd place wrestlebacks. Shale Meyer went 2-2 on the day scoring a technical fall and 4-2 decision, but would lose 9-3 in his wrestleback to finish a solid junior season at 21-18. Bryndl Nalepinski won a close 11-8 decision in his third place match before being pinned in his wrestleback by a state placewinner from Mineral Point. Bryndl put together a nice season, finishing with a 22-13 record. Kenny Elliott saw his career come to a close with a third place finish at 182 pounds. Kenny won a triple overtime thriller in this first match and would win his third place match to set up a wrestleback. He was unable to score late in the match and lost 4-3 to end his senior season at 21-19.
Jayden Marabelli closed out his great season placing fourth at 106 pounds with a 24-10 record. Sean Deglow lost 1-0 in his third place match and settled for fourth at 285 pounds. Sean really came on in the second half of the season. Colt Pechan showed steady improvement the entire season, scoring a pin in his fifth place match against an opponent that pinned him earlier in the season. He topped off his season record at 21-20. Brian Bieri placed 5th at 145 pounds and Casanova Coy was 6th at 138.
A big thank you to the school administration, custodial crew, Riverdale Wrestling Club and tournament workers for putting on a first class event. Things ran very smoothly all day and it would not have been possible without the tremendous planning of these groups.
Sectionals Saturday
Riverdale will travel to Mineral Point Saturday to compete in a WIAA Division 3 sectional. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Riverdale’s first round pairings are listed.
126# - Brian Mathews (32-11, SR) vs Austin Mowery, Westby (26-15, FR)
160# - Bradon Roen (16-2, SR) vs Gavin Brown, Parkview (17-13, JR)
195# - Caleb Johnson (33-7, JR) vs Lucas Gilbertson, Pec/Argyle (17-13, SO)
220# - Terry Hrubes (13-15, SO) vs Hunter Groom, Westby (26-4, SR)
