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Wisconsin Top 10 “Seniors”
As we approach the 2006-07 wrestling season, we plan on adding a
few more features/stories to the website. Our first new feature is
to rank the top ten wrestlers in each grade. We will start by
ranking the seniors. After a few weeks we will then release the top
ten juniors, followed by the sophomores and freshman. Rankings are
based on not only the previous high school seasons, but also on
their off-season success in Freestyle and Greco. If you would like
to make sure your junior, sophomore, or freshman gets consideration,
please email us at
wiwresrankingstaff@wiwrestling.com with their credentials.
1. T.J. Wunnicke, Dodgeville
A lot of wrestlers would be quite happy just to have placed at
state. But to have placed sixth after winning it the year before
could be considered a disappointment. Wunnicke enters his senior
season with two state titles on top of that sixth place finish his
sophomore year. If you attended the 2005 state championships, you
probably remember him getting his hand raised in the quarterfinals;
only to find out he actually lost on a scorer’s error. That was one
of his three losses that season, his only losses ever as he has
compiled a 129-3 career record. He won his first state championship
his freshman year at 103 pounds in division three while wrestling
for Ithaca and won his second last year at 119 pounds in division
two. On top of all his high school success, he has also been very
successful in freestyle wrestling. This summer he placed 6th in
Fargo at the Junior National Championships and went 6-2 while
wrestling for Team Wisconsin in the Junior National Duals.
2. A.J. Kissel, Oostburg
Winning state, let alone making the state finals is always an
impressive feat. But to do it three straight years is simply
amazing. And not to take anything away from the lighter weights, to
make the finals as a freshman at 145 pounds is phenomenal. Kissel
has not lost a match since that 145 pound state finals match and
enters this season with a 125-2 career record. He won state
sophomore and junior years at 152 and 171 pounds respectively.
3. Andrew Lukasko, Edgar
This kid made it very difficult to rank the top senior this year.
It’s hard not to rank someone who only has one career loss as the
states best senior. That says a lot about the two above him. While
compiling an astounding 118-1 record, Lukasko has won state
championships the last two seasons at 145 and 152 pounds
respectively. His only career loss came in the state semi-finals his
freshman year at 135 pounds. The winner of that weight was Turtle
Lake’s Gabe Stoppelmoor, who Lukasko dominated 12-3 in one of last
years most anticipated state match-ups.
4. Rory Edge, Iowa-Grant
Picture wrestling 171 pounds as a freshman, going up against juniors
and seniors 95% of your matches. Now picture going 40-3 including
qualifying for state as that same freshman and you painted yourself
a pretty impressive picture. Although Edge did not place his
freshman year, he came back the next two seasons to prove he was the
real deal by placing second as a sophomore and first as a junior,
both at 189 pounds. Edge has a career record of 129-5.
5. Kendall Vogel, Pioneer Westfield
Although he has yet to win a state championship, everyone that has
seen this kid wrestle knows he is a stud. He is a three time state
qualifier and has finished runner-up the past two seasons at 135 and
145 pounds. He also qualified as a freshman at 125 pounds. He has
compiled a career record of 118-15. Vogel has also found a lot of
success in freestyle and greco-roman wrestling. After winning a
freestyle state championship last spring, Vogel competed in the
northern plains regional tournament where he placed 6th in freestyle
and 1st in Greco where he was named the tournaments most outstanding
wrestler. Vogel followed up that honor with being named themat.com’s
junior wrestler of the month last may. Vogel fell just shy of
earning all-American honors this summer while going 5-2 at the
junior national tournament. His chances looked pretty good heading
into the tournament seeing as he went 9-1 for Team Wisconsin in the
National Dual tournament. Like many of the wrestlers on this list,
Vogel also excels in the classroom. He currently has a 4.0 GPA.
6. Cade Sarbacker, Iowa-Grant
Everyone knew that Sarbacker was one of the best wrestlers in the
state last season; however, he showed everyone that he could compete
with some of the nations best at last years Cheesehead tournament
when he defeated a nationally ranked wrestler from Montini,
Illinois. After going 40-2 and finishing third his freshman season
at 112 pounds, the Iowa-Grant program decided to toughen up their
schedule a little bit to give their young guns like he and edge some
tougher competition. This contributed to a 34-6 season his sophomore
year at 125 pounds. He wound up placing 4th in the state that
season. After getting so close his first two years, Cade finally
brought home a state championship last season. His career record is
124-9.
7. Ben Sarbacker, Verona
Let’s get this out of the way right away, yes they are cousins and
Ben too won a state championship last season. In arguably the
toughest bracket at last years state championships, Ben won a very
exciting finals match over Menominee’s Evan Peissig to cap a perfect
54-0 season. After not qualifying his freshman year, he took second
as a sophomore at 145 pounds.
8. Alex Dahl, Cashton
Alex had a very impressive junior season last year and was very
rarely challenged. One of those rare occasions came in the state
finals where he had to go into overtime to defeat Darlington’s Josh
Malott 12-10. After a couple more victories the following week at
team state, Alex finished the season 52-0. He also placed at state
his freshman and sophomore years. His freshman year he took 4th
place at 119 pounds and his sophomore year he took 5th at 125
pounds. His career record is 133-13.
9. Josh Chappa, Wisconsin Rapids
Its easy to say so and so would have done this and that if that
wouldn’t have happen, however most would agree that Chappa would be
a three time state place winner had his sophomore season not had
ended early due to a shoulder injury. After finishing sixth as a
freshman at 103 pounds, Chappa entered his sophomore season as one
of the states best 103 pounders; however after sustaining an injury
in the finals of the Cheesehead he had to sit out the rest of the
season. Chappa came back strong last season and won his first state
championship. He has a career record of 105-21
10. Cody Dean, Manawa
After placing second as a sophomore at 152 pounds, many people
thought Dean was a lock to win a state championship last season.
However, that didn’t happen when he lost 6-4 to Mishicot’s Luke Haag
in last year’s 160 pound semifinals. Although no state title, he
still has some pretty good credentials to finish off our top ten
seniors. Cody would go on to take third last year on top of a sixth
place finish his freshman year. His career record is 129-14.
Close considerations
Chad Leviner, Mukwonago- 2006 State Champ, 2005 3rd
Greg Sonnentag, Cadott-2006 2nd, 2005 State Champ, 2004 2nd
Jake Madigan, Lodi-2006 3rd, 2005 6th, 2004 3rd
Tim Baumel, Adams-Friendship-2006 3rd, 2005 4th, 2004 dnp
Brad Welter, Merril-2006 2nd, 2005 3rd
Brandon Marcis, Wausau West- 2006 5th, 2005 6th, 2004 dnp
Jake Radkey Pechacek, River Falls-2006 5th, 2005 6th, 2004
dnp
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