Let’s wrestle at the…2006 "Bi-State"

It was a landmark year for the Bi-State Classic.  2006 marks the 25^th year of existence for the tournament, one that began in 1982 with a mere nine teams and has now multiplied into fifty-four.  The anniversary was celebrated with a portrait on the program cover of the tournament’s founder, Dave Rudrud, and was again recognized during the annual Parade of Champions which takes place before the championship round.  Although I have been attending Bi-State for probably twenty years now, I can recall only ten or so, but from what I’ve seen and experienced through the Bi-State tournament, it is second best only to the state tournament.  The caliber of wrestling, the venue, the organization, and the pure enormity of the event has established it as one of the best.  With that being said… let’s wrestle.

103:

In a weight class dominated by newcomers and underclassmen, junior Grant Sutter of Dodgeville enforced his dominance over the 103 pound bracket, making his way into the finals with little resistance.  His pin in 1:30 over D3 #2 Dylan Kansier of North Crawford/Seneca in the semifinals silenced any threats on his attempt at the championship. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, freshman Dylan Ness of Bloomington Kennedy was making some progress of his own.  Ness upset the #2 seed Cory Campbell of Shell Lake, who is ranked #3 at 112 in D3 with a major decision of 12-3.  He continued to shake up the veterans of the weight class by defeating Chace Kinneman of Ellsworth 8-3 in the semifinals, ushering him into a championship bout with Sutter.

Ness tried to set the pace early by clenching the first takedown within the first :20 of the match, but things went downhill as Sutter responded quickly with his own takedown and back points to finish out the period in dominance.  Sutter chose bottom for the second and again was able to get a reversal before the buzzer.  Ness chose neutral for the third in hopes of a new start, but Sutter secured the win with a trio of takedowns to set the final score at 15-5.

Notable Performance: NR Chace Kinneman of Ellsworth

Kinneman defeated D1 #3 Kevin Betthauser of Tomah and D2 #10 Brandon Sleeman of Adams Friendship to earn a spot in the third place match with D3 #2 Kansier, which just so happened to be a rematch of last year’s seventh place bout in which Kinneman won 10-0.  Things didn’t turn out much differently for Kansier, who lost 4-0, earning Kinneman the third place title.

112:

D1 #2 Andrew Zwirlein earned the #1 seed at this year’s tournament with a 2006 2^nd place state finish under his belt and a higher aim than his seventh place finish last year.  His semifinal match with D2 #9 Zach Elliot paved his way into the finals, but not without a fight.  He claimed victory with a close score of 6-4. 

D2 #1 Jase Langkamp waltzed into the finals after defeating D1 #7 Brandon Music of Tomah 11-0.  His streak would be put to the test by Zwirlein for the championship.

The first period saw no score, and Zwirlein began on bottom for the second.  Zwirlein claimed his one with a stand up escape and another two with a sweep single halfway into the period.  With a score of 3-0 going into the third, Langkamp chose bottom.  Zwirlein kept him down the entire period, working for back points which he finally clenched with mere seconds left on the clock.  Zwirlein earned his first Bi-State championship with a score of 5-0.

Notable Performance: Eric Hensel of Lakeville South

I had to mention this Minnesota newcomer who began the tournament with a mediocre 8-4 record.  After pinning D3 #9 Skyla Pauls of Ithaca and defeating 12-1 sophomore Scott Hogan of Eastview, Hensel went up against the #2 seed Jase Langkamp.  Although the score shows a mere one point for Hensel, he caught Langkamp off guard more than a few times and hung right with him.  He ended up with a 6^th place finish, but his three losses were to seniors.  An impressive finish for an eighth grader and one to look out for at next year’s tournament.

119:

The 119 pound weight class was predicted and proved to be one of the toughest of the tournament.  D2 #1 Bobby Wunnicke of Dodgeville showed up to repeat his 2005 Bi-State championship title, pinning his way into the finals to face D2 #3 Tim Baumel.  However, he was slowed down by the Adams Friendship senior, who had come to the finals with wins over D2 #5 Chad Schultz of Mauston and D3 #1 Andrew Dahl of Cashton.

Baumel faced Schultz in the quarterfinals and walked away with the victory at 6-3.  He went on to wrestle Dahl in the semifinals, who had placed second at last year’s Bi-State tournament to Bobby Wunnicke.  Baumel pulled an upset with a defeat over Dahl of 16-7 to throw him into a close championship match.

Baumel impressed the crowd with an immediate takedown by catching Wunnicke off guard and spinning around behind him for the two.  Wunnicke escaped, but Baumel pulled it two more times to set the score at 6-2.  Wunnicke regains momentum near the end of the period with a takedown and Baumel fighting the turn.  Baumel deferred the second period choice and Wunnicke chose bottom.  Wunnicke peeled the waist hand and got away for one and clenched a takedown before the period ended.  Baumel went down for the third and fought hard for the escape the whole period, but no more points were scored.  The final score of 8-6 crowned Wunnicke as champion once again.

Notable Performance: NR Bobby Fisher of Bloomington Kennedy

Bloomington Kennedy’s Fisher, who took 8^th last year at 112, first impressed me with his pin in 5:34 over D1 #3 Hayden Silvers early in the tournament.  In the quarterfinals he then beat D1 #2 Jared Bagniewski 5-3 to go on to the semis to face Bobby Wunnicke.  Although he was pinned by Wunnicke, Fisher went onto the consolation bracket to pin D2 #6 Mike Brunner of Ellsworth and upset D3 #1 Andrew Dahl of Cashton 9-7.  His bout for third place was a rematch against Bagniewski in which he came out on top once again, in overtime, 3-1.

125:

The 125 pound weight class was arguably also one of the toughest of the tournament.  Not only because it contained five wrestlers who placed sixth or above at state, but also because its headliner was D2 #1 T.J. Wunnicke of Dodgeville, vying for his fourth straight Bi-State championship, a feat only accomplished by three other wrestlers in Bi-State’s twenty-five-year history.  Wunnicke predictably pinned his way into the finals, but the other side of the bracket saw some close competition.

D2 #2 Jordan Foy of Ellsworth narrowly defeated NR Jason Thompson of Fon du Lac 3-0 and went on to face D1 #2 Justin Pollack of Tomah.  In another close bout, Pollack walked away with the win by a score of 5-2 and into the finals with Wunnicke.

Wunnicke scored two takedowns in the first to put the score at 4-1 going into the second.  Pollack chose neutral after Wunnicke deferred.  Pollack fought off Wunnicke’s advances for the first half of the second but gave up two with about a minute left.  Wunnicke tries for back points the rest of the period and clenches some with a Rasmussen as the buzzer sounds.  Wunnicke continues his second period work by choosing top for the third.  He slips in the legs, gains some more near fall points, and ends the match with an 11-1 victory, establishing himself as the fourth wrestler in the history of Bi-State to become a four time champion.

130:

It was known from the start.  The 130 pound championship match would be between fellow state champions Nick Hucke of Heartland Arrowhead and Alex Dahl of Cashton.  Predictions proved to be true after both wrestlers pinned their way into the finals to face one another.  Six minutes would tell which state champion would come out a 2006 Bi-State champion.

Hucke came out on the offensive, nailing a takedown in the first :30.  Dahl fought off crossfaces, ankle picks, and other advances to end the period 2-0.  Hucke deferred for the second period, and Dahl went down.  Dahl tried to get out and around back of Hucke for the reversal, but only got the escape.  Dahl went for the takedown on the edge of the mat but Hucke shucked through to clench it for himself.  Dahl got to his feet to face Hucke and get his one; the period ended with unsuccessful offensive attempts by both wrestlers.  Hucke started on bottom for the third and Dahl immediately hooked in the legs.  Hucke tried to shake him off but Dahl was secure.  With a minute left Hucke reversed to put the score to 6-3.  With :20 left Dahl got a reversal and cut him with :10 left.  Dahl desperately went for the takedown but time ran out and Hucke won the title with a score of 7-5.

Notable Matchup: D2 #3 Jed Domke of Viroqua v. D1 #7 Andres Caceres of Verona

The bout for a spot in the third place match between Domke and Caceres went into triple over time.  In the final overtime, Caceres escaped near the edge of the mat for the 4-3 upset and an attempt at third place.

135:

In possibly the largest weight jump of the tournament, last year’s 103 pound Bi-State champion D2 #2 Adam Theisen of Adams Friendship returns in search of a repeat, this time at 135.  Last year’s 135-pound runner-up D1 #2 Ben Thone of Fon du Lac proved to be an obstacle his quest, however.

Theisen cruised into the finals after majoring D3 #6 Tyler Freund of Auburndale and defeating the #2 seed, D2 #5 Alex Stormoen of Prairie du Chien.  Thone’s cruise into the championship bout was challenged by Bloomington Kennedy’s Timmy Fisher, ranked #5 in Minnesota’s division AAA.  The overtime bout ended in a close score of 6-4, allowing Thone into the 135 pound final match for the second year in a row. 

The first period saw no score; both wrestlers’ offensive moves were unsuccessful.  Theisen deferred the second period choice and Thone went down.  He escaped in :30 and went to get the first takedown.  Theisen got to his feet, turned to face Thone, but couldn’t get his one.  He went for the granby and got the reversal but no back points to tie the score at 3-3.  Thone nearly misses the reversal as the buzzer sounds.  For the third Theisen chose bottom and Thone lets him go off the whistle.  Thone goes for another takedown and lets Theisen go once again to tie the score up at 5-5.  Thone once again took Theisen down and ended the match with a score of 9-5 for the championship.

140:

Although the #1 and #2 seeds were accurate in the fact that both wrestlers made it to finals, their respective semifinal matchups were far from a breeze.  The #1 seed NR Joe Poehnelt of Loyal-Greenwood faced D2 #10 Scott Liegel of River Valley in his semifinal bout.  The 2005 Bi-State runner up at 130 defeated Liegel by a close score of 3-0.  The #2 seed Mike Munos of South Saint Paul, ranked #10 in Minnesota’s division AA, narrowly defeated New Lisbon’s D3 #7 Ben Oleson 13-10.

Poehnelt lead the match 4-2 going into the third where he scored an escape to seal the final at 5-2 in his favor. 

145:

The 145 pound weight class seemed to have Sparta’s D1 #4 Jared Rickert’s name all over it.  He had taken home the championship last year at 140 and was back for another.  He pinned and tech falled his way into the finals match to face D3 #7 Brent Hartley of North Crawford/Seneca.  Hartley’s road was a little more challenging, facing Tomah’s D1 HM Jacob McGinnis for the second year in a row.  Last year Hartley climbed ahead of McGinnis for the seventh place title with a score of 4-2.  This year they met in the semifinals and the score didn’t see much of a change, resulting in another win for Hartley of 3-2.

In the championship match, the first period saw no score.  Rickert got an escape from bottom in the second, and Hartley claimed his own escape in the third.  The match ended with a takedown in the final seconds for Rickert to claim the win and his second Bi-State championship.

152:

This bracket saw its share of upsets and surprises.  Unexpected wrestlers stepped up and seemingly obvious matches ended with unpredictable results.  D2 #2 Craig Meyers of West Salem/Bangor nearly fell victim to such a match when his semifinal with NR Andy Dement of DC Everest went into overtime with a 2-2 score.  Meyers came out on top however and clenched the takedown.

NR Brandon Henry of Viroqua did a little surprising of his own.  The 10-2 junior upset D1 #4 Jeff Dolan by a score of 9-8 in the quarterfinals and went on to upset the #2 seeded D2 #7 Kenny Konopacki of Monroe 3-2 in the semis.  This thrust Henry into the championship match with Meyers.

The first period ended scoreless with the first points being score in the second by an escape from Meyers.  The wrestlers exchanged reversals throughout the next two periods and Meyers won by a score of 8-3 for the title.

Notable Performance: NR Andy Dement of DC Everest

Dement, a junior, first upset D2 #7 Tom Donar in the quarterfinals with a score of 6-3.  He then went on to wrestle an incredibly close match with Meyers in the semis, eventually coming up short 4-2 in an overtime bout.  He upset D1 #4 Jeff Dolan in the consolation bracket to go on to the third place match where he lost a close match to Kenny Konopacki of Monroe 3-2.

160:

The 160 pound bracket saw three talented division two wrestlers vying for the title.  #3 Derek Foley of Ellsworth, #4 Grant Miller of Dodgeville, and #5 Jon Friar of Lancaster all combined for an intense road to finals.  Miller met his match in Friar in the semifinals.  His defeat over Friar saved him a spot in the championship bout.  On the other side of the bracket, the #2 seeded D3 #5 Nick Moore of Royall was halted in his quest to finals by NR sophomore Benjamin Brummel of Middleton.  Brummel took Moore by surprise with a victory of 5-1.  Brummel then faced Foley in the semifinals and lost by a close score of 3-2.

In the championship match Miller went in for the first takedown, got it, and brought in another before the period was through to put the score at 4-1 going into the second.  Miller started the second period on bottom, escaped, and countered with another takedown with a double leg.  Foley gets the escape but Miller scores another two before the period is up.  Foley goes down for the third, and gets his own escape-takedown combo.  Miller responds with an escape and takedown, which Foley ultimately breaks away from, to end the match 12-6 in Miller’s favor.

171:

171 was another challenging weight class, with returning state champion D1 #1 Ben Sarbacker of Verona and returning state runner-up D2 #2 Joe Hilby of Cuba City/Southwestern, not to mention the handful of other talented wrestlers.  Sarbacker’s journey into the finals was challenged in the quarterfinals by D2 #9 Vinnie Pedretti of Westby, who kept the score at a close 6-2.  Sarbacker went on to defeat D3 #2 Cody Knoop of Shell Lake 10-1 for a spot in the championship match.

Hilby’s first challenge came from NR Jeremy Nelson of Ellsworth whom he narrowly defeated 3-0.  Next he faced returning Bi-State runner-up D3 #2 Trevor Lyga of Aquinas in the semifinals.  The match ended up in triple overtime with Lyga edging out on top with a score of 7-4.

Both wrestlers no strangers to Bi-State finals, Sarbacker and Lyga met each other on the stage.  Sarbacker showed his dominance by scoring the first takedown with a throw in the first.  Lyga manages to escape but Sarbacker counters with another two before the period is through.  Sarbacker defers and Lyga goes down for the second.  Sarbacker rides Lyga out and is warned for stalling.  Lyga stands and clenches a reversal which Sarbacker escapes.  Third period and Sarbacker goes down.  He escapes and gets a takedown in a close call on the edge of the mat.  Sarbacker tries to hook up the double arm bar, but Lyga gets the stand up and escape.  In a desperate attempt Lyga tries a throw but slips through, Sarbacker ends out on top for the final takedown to end the match at 10-4.

189:

New Richmond’s D1 #6 Israel Neumann faced little opposition in his road to finals, a step better than what he accomplished last year at Bi-State when he took third at 189.  The other side of the bracket, however, was up for debate.  D3 #3 Justin Breuch of Auburndale, D2 #4 Matt Scott of Monroe, D2 #8 Tyler Landon of Lancaster, and NR Dan Getzke of Eastview, Minnesota, faced tough competition for the chance at a finals match.

Scott beat Breuch 7-2 in the quarterfinals, while Landon beat Getzke by a mere 1-0 score in their quarterfinal.  Scott and Landon faced in the semis, where Scott walked away with a decision of 4-2 to face Neumann in the championship.

Neumann went for the first takedown and rode Scott out the rest of the first.  Scott chooses bottom for the second and Neumann hooks in the legs, trying to turn him for the rest of the period.  Neumann goes down for the final period and pulls a reversal to put the final score at 4-0, Neumann’s win.

215:

D2 #10 Ryan Schmidt received the #1 seed after a 2^nd place finish at Bi-State in 2005.  Schmidt faced little competition until the semifinals where he decisioned Dave Labarge of Loyal-Greenwood 3-0 to put himself into the finals.  The #2 seed D2 #2 Tyler Manning, however, had to face D1 #3 Josh Anntoneau of Heartland Arrowhead.  The semifinal match between the wrestlers ended in a close decision of 4-3, sending Manning into the finals with Schmidt.

Schmidt tries for the two but his attempts are defended by Manning.  With no score going into the second, Westby chooses down and gets the escape to put him in the lead, 1-0.  Schmidt goes down for the third and struggles for the escape throughout the period.  Manning is warned for stalling, and Schmidt gets his one on the edge of the mat as the buzzer sounds, putting it into overtime.  Schmidt goes for the double leg with :20 left in the overtime period, but they go off the mat.  With seconds left, Manning goes for the two but is schucked through by Schmidt who ends up on top for the takedown, winning 3-1.

285:

The close scoring matches of the heavyweight bracket provided some good competition and an upset or two.  D2 #2 Joey Vogt of Cuba City/Southwestern was seeded #1, but when he reached semifinals, D2 #9 Sean Garrigan of Mauston upset the predictions.  Garrigan edged a victory over Vogt of 2-1, sending him into the finals.  On the other side of the bracket, D3 #5 Jesse Olson of Loyal-Greenwood narrowly defeated Bloomington Kennedy’s Matt Stark 3-1.

The championship bout at 285 saw no score in the first period.  Garrigan starts on bottom for the second, gets the escape, and shucks and spins behind Olson for the lone takedown of the match with :10 left in the period.  The final period saw an escape in the first :15 by Olson, who also tried for a hip throw, but no more points were scored.  Garrigan pulled the victory and championship with a score of 3-1.

Notable Performance: NR Pat Canales of Portage

The most impressive thing about Canales is that after his third round loss to Kody Zahrte of Black River Falls by pin, he went onto the consolation side of the bracket to wrestle six more matches, including wins over D1 #10 Jon Van Gundy of Tomah, Matt Stark of Bloomington Kennedy in overtime, and his final match against #1 seeded Vogt for third which he lost 10-4.

Team Results:

1. Ellsworth – 285.5
2. Tomah – 277.5
3. Dodgeville – 267
4. Bloomington Kennedy – 257
5. DC Everest – 211.5

Bi-State Classic