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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Marshfield High School wrestlers Torin Boernke and Brad Dolezal have been wrestling together since they were grade-schoolers. Traveling to state and national tournaments together, both have dreamed on when they could each win state championships at the high school level.
They both have WIAA state titles, but never in the same year, and this weekend they will have their final chance to accomplish that goal.
Boernke, Dolezal and teammate Justin Sternweis will descend on the Kohl Center in Madison on Thursday afternoon to begin their quest at the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament.
Boernke won a title as a sophomore and finished second last year, while Dolezal won titles as a freshman and junior, and was the runner-up as a sophomore.
The duo, the first four-time state tournament qualifiers in Marshfield wrestling history, are aiming at each grabbing a championship in their final trips to Madison.
“We’ve both been wrestling together for a long time and it’s cool,” said Dolezal (43-0), who takes a 91-match winning streak into his 160-pound first-round match against Antione Davis of Milwaukee Riverside (24-12). “We were the first two freshmen to go, other than Ross Needham. We were both pumped then and we are both pumped now going down together. Hopefully we can get two titles in the same year, that’s been what we’ve been going for every year. Hopefully we can get that this year.”
Boernke said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m really happy with how we both did. It makes it even more special since we both did it every year,” Boernke said. “It would feel different if one of us didn’t make it.”
Boernke (41-2) will take on Cory Heid of Kaukauna (24-13) in his first-round match, then could face a familiar foe in the Division 1 135-pound quarterfinals in Siven Furseth (41-0) of Janesville Craig. Boernke beat Furseth to win the 112-pound title in 2009, then Furseth turned the tables and defeated Boernke 4-0 in the 130-pound final last season.
“For those two guys to have to meet in the second round is unfortunate, but that’s how it goes,” Marshfield coach Don Lang said. “It’s the way the pairings ended up and he’s just going to have to go out there and wrestle his style of wrestling.
“It’s hard to say how much improvement Torin has made from last year to this year, looking in from the outside. Being his coach and watching him wrestle from last year to this year, he’s a completely different wrestler. He’s completely dominated his competition. It’s going to be different match than the last two years. I’m sure (Furseth) has improved, and I know Torin has really improved.”
For Sternweis (37-7), it’s a totally new experience. The 171-pounder will make his state tournament debut against Appleton North’s Sami Khatib (29-2).
“This will be my first time going down there to watch or wrestle,” said Sternweis, who is in his first full season on the varsity team. “Hopefully I can win my first two and get in the top six for sure. I’m just going to see what I can do.”
Lang said calming his early nerves will be key for Sternweis.
“I just tell him that you have to treat him like any other tournament,” Lang said. “I know that’s hard, especially with everything that’s going on. Everything’s so formal there. You just have to get in the frame of mind that this is just another tournament and the other guys are going to be just as nervous and jacked up as you. You’ve got to keep as level of a head as you can and go out and give it your best effort.
“We feel that if he can get by his first round, he’s looking really good. He has a style that he can beat anyone on any given day.”
Dolezal, the first two-time state champion and the winningest wrestler and Marshfield history, has been seeing the best in his competition all season as his opponents continuously give him their best shot. One such wrestler is his potential second-round opponent, Kegan Gennrich (40-2) of Hortonville, whom Dolezal beat earlier this season.
“He’s wrestled this kid before, Gennrich from Hortonville,” Lang said. “He wrestled him at the Freedom Invite and Brad controlled him most of the match and beat him 6-2, but it was a lot tighter than that until late. We feel that we have the advantage going into that match, but that’s going to be a key matchup in order for him to get into the final round.”
Notes: All six mats of the pre-finals matches and the three mats of the finals will be streamed live online at foxsportswisconsin.com … The championship finals for all divisions will be aired tape-delayed on Fox Sports Wisconsin. The Division 1 title bouts are scheduled to air Friday, March 25 at 9 p.m. The Division 2 championship match is scheduled to air Wednesday, March 30 at 9 p.m., and the Division 3 championship match will air Friday, April 1 at 7 p.m.