LANCASTER – With a 48-25 win over visiting Dodgeville last Tuesday night, the Lancaster varsity wrestling team clinched a share of this year’s Southwest Wisconsin Conference dual-meet title.
Two nights later though, the Flying Arrows were unable to take sole possession of the conference title with a 46-30 loss to visiting Prairie du Chien, and were forced to share the league crown with River Valley.
Coach Brad Sturmer’s young squad concluded the year with an SWC dual-meet record of 4-1, as did the Blackhawks of River Valley. Prairie du Chien and Richland Center each went 3-2, while Dodgeville was 1-4 and Belmont/Platteville 0-5.
“The strength of our team shows in dual meets more so than in tournaments,” said coach Sturmer. “That’s because we have 14 guys, and we also have some kids that can back up at different places. So it’s the numbers that make us a better dual-meet team.”
“We’ve got a very balanced team,” Sturmer added. “We don’t have the Cole Martins or the David Chadds, but we don’t have kids that we’re throwing out there that are terrible either. We have a full squad with kids that back them up here or there, and some pretty descent talent throughout, and that really helps out.”
Lancaster used its entire roster to pick up a 48-25 victory over Dodgeville last Tuesday night, where the Flying Arrows got five pins and three forfeits to win comfortably.
“That victory was just a good team victory,” said Sturmer. “We moved guys around and the guys understood the team picture. It was just a good team victory.”
Four of Lancaster’s pins came in the first round of their respective match and went to 106-pound sophomore Caleb Lucey, 145-pound sophomore Owen Wolf, as well as to sophomore Troy Klein at 195 pounds and to freshman Caden Straka at 220 pounds. Both Klein and Straka moved up a weight after coach Sturmer elected to give up a forfeit at 182.
“From our perspective as a coaching staff, on paper we very well could have won all three of those matches, but we very well could have also lost all three of those matches,” explained coach Sturmer.
“When we move up with those two (Klein & Straka), we feel very good about winning two of the three. We just felt like that was going to be the nail in the coffin for the dual by making that move.”
The Arrows didn’t have long to celebrate, as they geared up for Thursday night’s home dual against a very strong and talented Prairie du Chien team.
In the eyes of coach Sturmer, the Blackhawks won every one of the key match-ups, which he knew Lancaster would need in order to win, and in the end led to a 46-30 loss.
“I looked at the key matches being 113, 145 and 182 pounds,” Sturmer explained. “When we sat down as a coaching staff we were thinking we needed to win these to win this dual.”
As it turned out Prairie won two of three key matches by pin and the other by decision, as they finished with six pins, one major decision and one regular decision.
Lancaster picked up pins from 138-pound sophomore Collin Lull, 160-pound junior Gabe Hudson and 285-pound junior Tyler Hale, while receiving forfeits at 106 and 170 pounds.
“There really were no surprises, but we needed some in order to win that dual meet,” said Sturmer.
While Lancaster suffered the loss on Thursday night, it was Friday that coach Sturmer received word of another loss for the team.
One of the brightest spots on the team, freshman Caden Straka, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, which will sideline him for the rest of the season.
“I just admired his toughness, because he had been dealing with knee issues for the last week and a half,” Sturmer explained “A lot of kids probably would have sat out, but he just proved to me how tough of a kid he is.”
“He wanted to wrestle this past week because he knew what it meant for the team as far as having a chance to win conference. He just deserves a little credit for being as tough as he was for his team,” Sturmer added.
The Flying Arrows move on to compete at the SWC/SWAL Clash this Saturday at Richland Center. From there they will compete in a loaded Riverdale Regional next Saturday that features the state’s third-ranked Fennimore Eagles, the fourth-ranked Pointers of Mineral Point, and the seventh ranked Iowa-Grant Panthers.
Lancaster 48, Dodgeville 25
(from Tuesday, Jan. 24, at Lancaster)
106 - Caleb Lucey (L) pinned Dylan Roen, 1:12. 113 - Matthew Crosby (L) received a forfeit. 120 - Andrew McCarville (L) received a forfeit. 126 - Dylan Tydrich (L) received a forfeit. *132 - Logan Schneider (L) pinned Riley Crook 5:46. 138 - Isaac Grunow (D) defeated Collin Lull, 5-1. 145 - Owen Wolf (L) pinned Munkhjin Navabaatar, :31. 152 - Tyler Bell (D) defeated Morgan Seippel, 4-3. 160 - John Phelan (D) won by major decision over Gabe Hudson, 17-5. 170 - Joey Recob (D) pinned Joey Recker, :27. 182 - Zackery Weber (D) received a forfeit. 195 - Troy Klein (L) pinned Jonathon Geisking, 1:46. 220 - Caden Straka (L) pinned Jarek Hlavac, 1:10. 285 - Shelby Jones (D) defeated Tyler Hale, 3-1.
Prairie du Chien 46, Lancaster 30
(from Thursday, Jan. 26, at Lancaster)
106 - Jeremiah Ihm (L) received a forfeit. 113 - Chase Watson (PdC) pinned Caleb Lucey, 5:01. 120 - Reid Koenig (PdC) pinned Matthew Crosby, :43. 126 - Blake Garcia (PdC) pinned Andrew McCarville, 1:30. 132 - Traeton Saint (PdC) won by major decision over Logan Schneider, 8-0. 138 - Collin Lull (L) pinned Matt Chase, 3:08 145 - Tyler Smock (PdC) defeated Owen Wolf, 10-6. 152 - Nick Rogge (PdC) pinned Morgan Seippel, 2:37. 160 - Gabe Hudson (L) pinned Magnus Goltermann, 1:47. 170 - Joey Recker (L) received a forfeit. 182 - Ethan Swiggum (PdC) pinned Troy Klein, 4:57. 195 - Stephen Ronnfeldt (PdC) pinned Cole Zenz, 1:59. 220 - Colten Wall (PdC) defeated Caden Straka, 5-1. *285 - Tyler Hale (L) pinned Jerrod Osterkamp, 1:22.
