The Cheesehead Invitational.  Enough said.

Ready?  Let’s wrestle…

SCHEDULE
Friday
            Session 1
                        Rounds 1, 2 & 3 (103-140): 5:45 PM - 10:15 PM
Saturday
            Session 2
                        Round 3 (145-275): 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
                        Round 4: 10:00 AM - Noon
                        Round 5: Noon - 2:00 PM
            Session 3
                        Semifinals: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
                        7^th - 15^th Place Matches: 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
                        Finals: 5:45 PM - 8:30 PM      

The first thing I noticed when looking over the brackets was that a handful of teams were missing a few guys.  The two I had mentioned in my preview were both 171-pounders: #1 Ryan Woods of Bay Port and #2 Brett Arendt of Luxemburg-Casco.  Other wrestlers MIA included: #4 Tony Vandeloo of Kaukauna, #6 Adam Zehren of Luxemburg-Casco, #9 Lance Arendt of Luxemburg-Casco, #10 James Jordan of River Valley, #4 Travis Brueggen of Cashton, plus a handful of other wrestlers (I only listed those who are ranked).  Illinois-wise, I know Montini was missing their 125-pounder, 14-4 senior Vince Hannon.

SESSION 1

Round 1

103:  In one of the first matches of the tournament, Montini’s 22-6 #1-seeded Joey Norton decisioned Wrightstown’s #9-seeded, #7-ranked Stephen Schnurer 4-0.

112:  In a bout between two #6-ranked wrestlers, Merrill’s Brodie Altfillisch claimed a pin over Iowa-Grant’s Hunter Burghy in 3:54.

119:  Kaukauna’s #8 Glen Meyerhofer wrestled his first round match against #3 Arik Yde of Heartland Arrowhead.  In the first period Heartland went in for and got the first takedown but Kaukauna pulled a reversal before the period was over.  In the second period with Kaukauna down, Kaukauna managed another reversal.  After an escape by Heartland, Kaukauna got another two for a takedown.  The final ended up 7-2, Meyerhofer upsetting Yde.

130:  #6 Brad Larson of Stoughton pinned #7 Tony Cleary of DeForest with :06 left in the 1^st period.

145:  #12 seed Chris Limmex decisioned #4 seed Riley Schreurs of Wrightstown with a score of 3-2.

152:  NR Levi Lassa of Merrill pulled a surprising upset over #2 Ryan Zellner of Luxemburg-Casco with a decision of 5-4.

160:  In the match between #3 Travis Halverson of Iowa-Grant and #9 Vinnie Pedretti of Westby, Iowa-Grant got the first takedown and Westby remained on bottom for the rest of the first period.  For the 2^nd period, Westby deferred the choice, and Iowa-Grant chose down.  After scoring an escape, Iowa-Grant claimed another takedown to put the score at 5-0.  In the 3^rd period with Westby choosing down, Iowa-Grant couldn’t manage to tip Westby, and the final score remained 5-0, Iowa-Grant.

189:  The 4^th place finisher at last year’s Cheesehead, #3 seed Tyler Zeh of Seymour was pinned by freshman Drew Barman of DeForest in 4:51.

Rounds 2 & 3

Nearly all of the matches in these two rounds went according to the seeds.  A couple of exceptions:

103:  An unpredictable outcome in the round two bout between #3-seeded Dan Schiferl of Stoughton and #18-seeded Trevor McKeown of River Valley: McKeown claimed a pin in 5:27.

119:  #13 seed Javier Garcia of Belvidere upset the #4 seed, #3-ranked Garrett Kite of Iowa-Grant with a major decision of 17-4 in round three. 

TEAM STANDINGS

After Day One, Merrill was in first followed by Cashton, Montini, and Kaukauna.  I had neglected to write down the exact team scores after Day One, unfortunately, and no matter how hard I try to remember, I can’t bring up those Track Wrestling scores.  So I believe my memory is correct when I state the top four finishers of Day One.