This story is sponsored by Norm E Lane Farm
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
STRATFORD – Four years ago, Andrew Murdaugh was pretty sure he would never wrestle again. On Friday, he’ll be wrestling on the state’s biggest stage.
The Stratford senior said he decided to give up the sport in eighth grade but with encouragement from co-coach Joe Schwabe and some wrestlers, including former Tigers heavyweight Indy Spindler, gave it another try and now wrestling is his passion.
Following a sectional title, Murdaugh (39-3) earned a bye into the Division 3 quarterfinals and will take on either Ben DenBoer (38-4) of Oostburg or Ben McFall (31-12) of Iowa-Grant at 285 pounds on Friday afternoon at the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison.
“Schwabe asked me to get back into it and since my freshman year I have been crazy for wrestling,” Murdaugh said. “When I quit I noticed that everyone else was having so much fun with it. Indy Spindler really encouraged me to come back and it really has changed my whole life.”
Making the state tournament caps a “metamorphosis” in not only Murdaugh’s wrestling career, but in his life, Schwabe said.
“It’s truly a passion for him,” Schwabe said. “In practice, he does everything the little guys do and that’s hard when you are 280. He comes in the morning and runs during the season. For him to get to state is great. He could work his way up in the finals. He’s pretty confident and he’s been wrestling pretty well lately.”
Joining Murdaugh at the state tournament from Stratford is sophomore Alex Heiden.
Heiden (32-9) began the season wrestling at 132 pounds, about 10 pounds above his actual weight, and the experience helped provide confidence and improve his ability.
Dropping back to his natural weight class of 120, Heiden flourished and finished second at last week’s Osceola sectional. He will take on Mark Meyer (38-8) of Random Lake in a first-round match Thursday night.
“I got to Bi-State (in late December) and I thought, ‘I could take these guys, I had been at 132 all year and I can beat these guys at 120,’” Heiden said. “I ended up getting fifth at Bi-State and that’s when I realized that state was a good possibility.”
Schwabe said Heiden put in a lot of work during the offseason to improve.
“Team-wise, we kind of needed him up at 132 and he said ‘I’ll take it coach.’ We didn’t even need to ask him,” Schwabe said. “He wrestled bigger guys the first half of the year and he had some losses, but he didn’t mind. It gave him an opportunity to work against tough competition. At Christmas he dropped down to 120, he was in good shape and he never looked back.”
Heiden is eyeing a top-six finish and a spot on the medal stand, but knows it will be a tough road.
“Everyone’s going to be good,” Heiden said. “It’s going to be tough … wrestle hard and see what happens. My goal was to make it to state, anything else is a bonus.”
Check back with MarshfieldAreaSports.com for coverage from the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament in Madison from the first matches on Thursday through the championship matches Saturday evening.