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MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MADISON – The 2014 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament began Thursday with first-round matchups in Division 2 & 3 and first-round and quarterfinal matches in Division 1.
Division 2 & 3 quarterfinals are set for Friday morning and afternoon, with consolation brackets to follow.
The semifinals in all three divisions will be on Friday night, with consolation matches throughout the day Saturday and the championship matches on Saturday night.
Nine local wrestlers will battle in the Division 3 brackets, seven of which started with first-round matchups Thursday night.
Stratford senior Dondrick Tackes (32-1) received a first-round bye after winning a sectional title and will face Mitch Lien (34-7) of Clear Lake in a 195-pound D-3 quarterfinal Friday afternoon.
Auburndale freshman Dylan Altmann (22-10) also received a first-round bye at 106 pounds and will take on Austin Wolfe (44-3) of Boyceville on Friday morning.
Four Stratford wrestlers and another from Auburndale advanced to the quarterfinals after victories Thursday.
Stratford’s Sam Wenzel (34-10) defeated Alex Wilfong of Deerfield 8-6 in overtime and will take on Nick Burns (37-7) of La Crosse Aquinas in the quarters.
Anthony Gliniecki at 113 pounds and Alex Heiden at 126 pounds also won Thursday for Stratford.
Gliniecki (42-2) defeated Zach Elmer of Clear Lake with a pin in 1:25. He will take on Alec Potter (42-6) of Laconia on Friday.
Heiden (39-5) pinned Brett Cade of Westby in 1:37 and will face Tyler Berg (41-4) of Spring Valley/Elmwood on Friday in the quarterfinals.
Auburndale’s Wyatt Weiler also won his first-round match at 152 pounds. Weiler (34-5) will wrestle Cole Fritsch (34-3) of New Holstein on Friday.
Kamren Bornbach (40-6) also won for Stratford, defeating Blayze Wood of Glenwood City 7-0 in a 182-pound first-round match. Bornbach will take on Greg Wenzel (35-5) of Cedar Grove-Belgium on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
Spencer’s Trevor Ackman and Stratford’s Phil Sersch were eliminated Thursday after losing their first-round matches.
Ackman (32-7) lost to Ben Lincks of Waterloo 6-4 at 145 pounds in his third trip to the state tournament.
Sersch (37-8) was shut out by Luke Melhack of Winnebago Lutheran 3-0 at 120 pounds.
Check back at MarshfieldAreaSports.com throughout the weekend for updates on how the local wrestlers are doing in Madison.