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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MADISON – For two Spencer/Columbus Catholic and two Stratford wrestlers, the first day of their first career WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament couldn’t have went any better.
Spencer/Columbus’ Nick Vaughan won a Division 3 215-pound preliminary by major decision and teammate Kyle Andreae, along with Stratford’s Mark Marquardt and Luke Radke, each pinned their opponents Thursday night to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals at the Kohl Center.
Spencer/Columbus’ Trevor Ackman was the only one of the five local wrestlers to drop his first match at the state meet. The freshman was pinned in 2:49 of his 119-pound preliminary by Bruce Krejcarek of Mishicot, ending his season with a 36-9 record.
Among the winners, Radke was the most dominant, but the others weren’t far behind.
Radke (34-6), a senior for Stratford, pinned Joe Sygulla of Whitehall in just 45 seconds to move on to a 189-pound quarterfinal match Friday afternoon against Mark Lemminger (45-2) of Johnson Creek.
“I’ve been dreaming about this since I was knee-high to a grasshopper,” Radke said. “I’ve been coming to this since junior high and thinking, wow, I really hope someday I get to do this, and here I am doing it. It’s awesome.”
Earlier, Marquardt wasted little time as well. The Stratford senior improved to 31-7 with a pin of Mitch Wanner of Turtle Lake/Clayton in 1:20 of his 152-pound preliminary. Marquardt (31-7) will take on Vince Cardarelle (39-11) of Ozaukee in a Division 3 quarterfinal Friday at approximately 1:15 p.m.
“You just go out there and do what you can, use what coach gives you and take it,” Marquardt said. “It was chest-crusher, been doing it since freshman year. It pretty much ties his hands up and once the guy’s locked up, there’s not much he can do.”
The Spencer/Columbus duo of Vaughan and Andreae had to fight a little harder, but were able to take care of business and advance.
Vaughan used an eight-point first period to take control of the match, then had to hold off a flurry late in the second period by Tyler Reynolds of Riverdale.
Reynolds has Vaughan (33-12) on his back and gained a nearfall to score four points in the final 5 seconds of the second period. The buzzer may have saved him, but Vaughan left little doubt in the third period, scoring a three-point nearfall as he controlled Reynolds the entire 2 minutes.
Vaughan will take on Ben Tauchen (44-1) of Bonduel in a 215-pound Division 3 quarterfinal at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
“I caught him with a cradle two times, which got me the lead and then he put me on my back,” Vaughan said. “It was off to the side of the mat so I had to make sure I got off right away. From there, I basically wrestled smart.”
Andreae, a sophomore, trailed 2-0 in the second period, but gained an escape late in the period and added a reversal early in the third to take a 3-2 lead over Matt Mueller of Cedar Grove-Belgium in his 285-pound Division 3 preliminary.
As he has done numerous times this season, Andreae took advantage of his opponent in the third period and eventually pinned Mueller with 57 seconds to go in the match.
Andreae will face Cole Johnson (34-7) of De Soto in a quarterfinal match at approximately 1:45 p.m. Friday.
“I try to get them into the third period,” Andreae, a sophomore, said. “We condition a lot in practice and I’m not extremely tired when it comes to the third period.”
The winners of the quarterfinal matches move on to the semifinals, which will start at 7 p.m. Friday night. The losers move into the consolation bracket, where they will have to win once to guarantee a spot in the top six and a state medal.
Check out MarshfieldAreaSports.com throughout the day Friday for more coverage from the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament in Madison.
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