BELOIT — Matt Ries said it’s natural for people to expect his son Zack and junior Sydney Andrews to be more at ease as “veterans” returning to the WIAA State Wrestling Championships at the Kohl Center in Madison.
“Hopefully it will help them be a little more relaxed, but you’re never going to be completely (relaxed),” the Beloit Turner head coach said. “The lights are always big there, but sometimes they’re just not as big if you’ve been there before.”
Zack Ries advanced to state in Division 2 after winning the Campbellsport Sectional title at 144 pounds. Andrews won the girls title at 145 and teammate Mady Lucero won the 120-pound title. Brody Berg advanced by finishing third in the sectional at 150 pounds.
All four Trojans will start wrestling at state on Thursday.
Ries (23-6) is seeded No. 5 and squares off in his opening match against a familiar foe, 12th-seeded Jacob Huff from Delavan-Darien (35-9). Ries has defeated the Comet sophomore in the finals at regionals and sectionals in close matches.
“The good news is that Zack won both,” Coach Ries said. “The scary thing is that old adage about how difficult it is to beat a guy three times in a season. Both times they faced off they were good matches. Zack won 5-2 and 4-0. Fortunately, he wrestled smart and came out on top. He doesn’t make many mistakes.”
Ries, 35-13 a year ago at 132, also has a high pain threshold. He has had to overcome injuries to both knees to return to state. He missed time on the mat at the start of the season after a left knee injury and then injured his right knee, but was given the OK to wrestle because he couldn’t injure it any worse.
“Zack has struggled so much with his knees, but his goal has always been to get back (to state),” Coach Ries said. “After that we’d worry about what happens next.”
If Ries does defeat Huff again, he’ll face No. 4 Isaac Jerabeck, a senior from Luxemburg-Casco (35-8) in the next round.
Berg (32-18), a junior, is seeded No. 12 against No. 5 Joe Lohmar of Brodhead/Juda, who was a state qualifier at 138 a year ago. Lohmar is 38-5.
Andrews (29-2) is seeded No. 3 at 145 against No. 14 Michalee Skyerly (14-8) of Barron. There are 16 wrestlers in her weight division.
Turner’s Lucero (29-8), a junior, is seeded No. 12 and drew an opening round match against No. 5 Amelia Adams of La Crosse Logan/Central (28-3).
“Mady got a real tough draw,” Ries said. “(Adams) is really tough. Mady hasn’t wrestled her, but we’ve seen her at a couple of tournaments. We’re hoping Mady wins, but if she loses we hope that (Adams) wins in the quarters so she has an opportunity to wrestle back.”
Ries said Lucero’s progress has been impressive.
“Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves because we forget this is only her second-year wrestling ever,” the coach said. “She didn’t wrestle as a freshman. She has a lot of real natural talent and a really good work ethic. She’ll continue to improve.”
The girls will start the state wrestling at 3 p.m. After the second round of girls matches, the boys will begin.
“By the end of Thursday, all our kids will wrestle at least once,” Ries said. “Honestly, we have one senior wrestling (Zack) and I’d like to see him get on the podium and place. I think Sydney can, too. The others are juniors and they’ll do their best and no matter how they finish they’re going to work hard to do even better in the future.”
• OTHER QUALIFIERS: Brodhead/Juda’s Marcus McIntyre is seeded No. 6 in the Division 2 138-pound class. He will face No. 11 Joey Williams of Ripon.
In Boys Division 3, Parkview/Albany has three wrestlers competing at state.
At 126, the Vikings’ Danny Finley is seeded No. 6 against No. 11 Aaron Knetter of Stratford.
At 190, Sam Schwengels of Parkview/Albany is seeded No. 6 and will face Tellyer Alix of Weyauwega-Fremont.
At 215, Parkview/Albany’s Wesley Egan is seeded No. 9 and faces No. 8 Devin Otto of Coleman.
Parkview/Albany’s Sydney Coyne is seeded No. 8 at 235 in the girls meet and will face No. 9 Allison Abel of Menasha.
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