A young DeForest wrestling team is growing up.
The Norskies took third at Saturday’s WIAA Division 1 regional at Waunakee, although they were hoping for better.
“I think it went pretty well,” said Norski head coach Tyler Rauls. “We filled 13 out of 14 weight classes. They wrestled hard, and we’ve showed improvement. We had two guys qualify for sectionals last year.”
It was a different story this season, as DeForest will send nine of the 13 wrestlers who competed at regionals to sectionals. The Norskies totaled 162.5 points to finish third. Rauls said they had designs on sneaking into second place, but Middleton was runner-up with 180.5 points. Waunakee took first with 234.5.
Teams that finished behind DeForest were Baraboo (156.5), Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (125), Madison East (100), Madison West (69) and Madison Memorial (54).
While the Norskies did not win at individual regional titles, a couple came close. At 138, Lucas Evans reached the finals, where he lost to Waunakee’s Dane Spencer 7-3. Evans defeated Spencer a week earlier at the Badger Conference meet. After a quarterfinals bye, Evans downed Middleton’s Pavil Jones 7-3 and then beat Jones again in the second-place match.
At 157, Tucker Schmidt placed third, going 2-2 on the day. Schmidt pinned Waunakee’s Harrison May in 5:26 in the third-place match, after losing to Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights’ Brason Ballweg.
The return of Owen Voeck has been a big story. Out for a long time after suffering an ankle injury early in the season, Voeck came back for the conference meet and took second at 175 at regionals. In the quarterfinals, Voeck edged Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights’ Bryan Breunig 9-8. Following a loss in the next round, Voeck pinned Memorial’s CJ Hill in 3:29 in the third-place match and then won by technical fall in the second-place match over Madison East’s Justin Russell (18-3, 5:09).
“He’s executing at a higher and higher level,” said Rauls.
Alex Busch turned in a strong performance at 113, taking 4:26 to pin Madison East’s Saidu Njie before losing to Waunakee’s Dane Spencer in the first-place match. Busch ended up taking the second-place match.
Going up a weight class, DeForest’s Cooper Feiner pinned Waunakee’s Connor Cutsinger in 5:30, but dropped an 11-4 decision to Middleton’s Grady Hargrove in the first-place match. Feiner was awarded second place.
At 132, Michael Pertzborn opened with a 9-2 decision over Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights’ Chase Urban, but he lost to Baraboo’s Peyton Oberg in the semifinals, which sent him to the third-place match. Pertzborn won a tight match for third 16-15 over Madison East’s Silas Hunter.
“He wrestled hard,” said Rauls. “He’s been wrestling heavier this year, but he was able to get down to 132. This was his first day wrestling at a lighter weight, and between wrestling better and being in a lighter weight class, he was able to beat a really good senior and have a solid day.”
DeForest’s Braylon Lee took fifth at 144, and Owen Kelm — a second-year wrestler — placed fourth at 150. Karsen Gear made it to the fifth-place match at 165, and at 190, Bryar Herring pinned Waunakee’s Loy May, lost to Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights’ Lane Albers in the semifinals and bounced back to earn an 8-3 decision over Hayden Perenich in the battle for third.
TJ Dutcher wrestled for DeForest at 215, with Dane Schmidtknecht competing at 285. Schmidtknecht pinned Curtis Hankins, of Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, in 3:30 and was defeated in a couple of matches before pinning Madison West’s Henry Miesbauer in 1:33 for third.
At 106, Tayden Ringstad lost in the quarterfinals but also received a bye. He moved to the fifth-place match, where Ringstad scored a 10-4 decision over Madison Memorial’s Mitchell Springer.
“We had a few matches we hoped would go the other way or that should have gone that way,” said Rauls. “It would have been nice if they’d gone the other way, and we weren’t able to capture any individual titles, but we had a good day.”
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