Let’s wrestle at the…

Tomah Scramble

Participants: Baraboo, Cashton, DeForest, Lodi, Madison Edgewood, Mauston, Melrose-Mindoro/GET, Neillsville, New Lisbon, Richland Center, Riverdale, Royall, Tomah, Viroqua, Wausau East, Wautoma

Format: Individual Tournament
Date: Saturday, December 10, 2005
Location: Tomah High School

Who to Watch

Team-wise, D1 HM DeForest, D2 #7 Lodi, D2 #8 Viroqua, D2 HM Neillsville, D3 #2 Cashton, and D3 HM Riverdale will all bring their lineups, and individual-wise the tournament will showcase an additional handful of talented wrestlers.  To be exact, an impressive 32 of the wrestlers participating this weekend currently hold spots in the first edition of Wisconsin Wrestling Online’s individual rankings.  (This number may or may not hold true this weekend as some wrestlers may be out due to injury or other factors.)

In the three lightest weight classes alone there are nine ranked individuals.  DeForest brings #8 ranked Darren Langer at 103, #6 Tony Cleary at 112, and #8 Derek Rauls at 119.  Riverdale’s #6 Cody Sorge at 103 and #8 Spencer Moore at 112 should prove to be tough competitors, as well as Wausau East’s #8 Nick Stetzer at 112.  Sophomore Hayden Silvers of Baraboo, ranked #5 at 103, should be seen at either 103 or 112, and at 112 or 119 will be #5 Jed Domke of Viroqua.  Also at 112 will be Cashton’s #1 ranked Andrew Dahl, who pulled a win over D2 #1 Adam Theisen of Adams-Friendship this past weekend.

The middle weights also hold some heated competition.  #1 Alex Dahl of Cashton will be at 125, and #2 ranked Jake Madigan of Lodi should be seen at 130.  Other ranked wrestlers at 130 are #3 Cody Friemoth of Neillsville, #7 Drew Hendrickson of Viroqua, and HM Tyler Mlsna of Cashton.  Depending on whether or not some wrestlers will choose to cut down to 135 for this weekend, the weight class could hold #3 Brandon Arentz of Cashton, #6 Ben Oleson of New Lisbon, #7 Brandon Henry of Viroqua, and #8 Luke Friemoth of Neillsville.  Last week in the dual between Cashton and Royall, 140 #8 Justin Flock of Cashton faced 152 #3 Mike Seitz of Royall at 145.  Seitz ended up winning the match 4-2.  The two could possibly meet up again this weekend.  Although unranked, Lodi’s Jacob Lehr may surprise some people.  He lost to #1 ranked Kendall Vogel of Pioneer Westfield last week by a score of only 8-3 at 152.  Also around the middle weights are 140 #7 Trent McCormick of Riverdale, 145 D2 #5 Jon Ames of Viroqua, and 145 D3 #5 Travis Brueggen of Cashton.  If the two 145 seniors both end up at their predicted weights this weekend, look for a good match between those two.  Ranked at 152 are Baraboo’s #6 ranked Randy Young and Lodi’s #7 ranked Bryant Kearney.

Senior Ben Haines of Tomah ranked #5 at 160 will be wrestling in home territory this weekend.  Also ranked at 160 is #7 Myles Elsen of Cashton and #6 Jeff Handt of Neillsville.  Handt wrestled 160 #2 Jordon Wendlandt of Chetek-Prairie Farm last week and lost by only two points - a final score of 5-3.  At 171 Riverdale’s #4 Jason Campbell may be the only ranked wrestler at the weight - #5 Jeremiah Hatfield of Cashton has been out due to injury.  However, Neillsville’s Josh Schoen may be a notable contender in the 171-189 weight range.  He lost to Karl Damroth of Chetek-Prairie Farm, ranked #3 at 171, 4-2 last week.  Josh Puttkamer of Baraboo, ranked #8, will be at 215, and #2 Derek Laufenberg of Cashton will be at 275.  Another wrestler who is not ranked - Richland Center’s heavyweight Dan Machovec - defeated the D2 215 #3 ranked Tyler Manning 3-2 at the Westby Quad last week and should not be overlooked.

Interview with: Chris Persike, Lodi’s head coach

Coach Persike, I hear it is your 1^st year as head coach, although you have been coaching at Lodi for a number of years now, is that correct?

Yes.

Are there any new challenges for you with the change in position?

It is a big change.  There are a lot of things that need to take place; little things I wasn’t responsible for as an assistant.  Paperwork-type things and dealing with issues on the team are certainly new to me.  It’s been interesting but definitely a lot of fun.  They’re a good group of guys, and that certainly helps.

The first week of wrestling is through.  How did it go for you guys?

We did well.  We wrestled Westfield last week and won 60-15, although that score does not really reflect how the meet went.  There were some really good matches in there - we just ended up coming out on top.  We also just got done wrestling DeForest tonight which is a well-coached team with tough kids, and we won 55-24.  So… so far, so good.  We’ve got Poynette on Thursday night too.  I can’t complain - we’ve got work to do, but the kids are wrestling well and doing a good job.

Now looking towards the Tomah Scramble this weekend.  It looks like it will be a good tournament with some tough competition in more than a few weight classes.  Any thoughts or comments?

Cashton won it last year, and they seem to have started off pretty well this year.  It looks like they’re probably the team to beat again.  There are certainly some good teams there, and going to a tournament situation is a lot different from duals.