Cougar Wrestlers Qualify Eight to State

Last weekend, the Cougar wrestlers qualified seven boys and one girl for the State Wrestling Tournament in Madison, to be held February 27, 28, and March 1.
On Friday, all five girls qualified for the Menasha Sectional, where the top two individuals would move on to State. Sophomore Irelyn Woolhether did just that by finishing in second place at 107 pounds. In the quarterfinals, she pinned her first opponent, and that put her against 2024 state qualifier Nora LeFever of Southern Door (41-11). Woolhether was down 3-0 in the second period when the two wrestlers got in a scramble and Woolhether caught her opponent on her back and pinned her in 3:11. In the finals, it was a rematch of the regional final against Ashlynn Scheidermeyer of Neenah. In a much closer match than the week before, Woolhether lost 2-0.
Sophomore Emma Batzler just missed qualifying. After pinning her first opponent, she ran into Taya Johnson of Menasha, who is ranked sixth in the state. Batzler was down 5-3 in the third period, got reversed and put to her back, and ended up losing 10-3. She earned a pin in her wrestle back however, Johnson blew a four-point lead in the final 10 seconds of the championship match to lose by one, which meant Batzler would not get a chance for a wrestle back. Batzler finishes the season with a 39-8 record, ranked 13th in the state.
Freshman Mya Schraufnagel also beat her first opponent by fall. In the semifinals, she went up against defending state champion Lily Banks of Menasha (41-1). Mya battled tough but ended up losing by fall in the second period. In her wrestle back, Mya was down 11-1 going into the third period and had a furious comeback that would fall just short, losing 13-12. Mya finished her season 40-15.
Sophomore Abigail Ksioszk and junior Emersen Wissink each qualified. Ksioszk lost to Debra Kuss of Mishicot by fall. Kuss is ranked 11th in the state. Wissink lost to Bryn Miller of Brillion by fall, who is ranked sixth in the state. The Menasha sectional had 27 state-ranked girls, including four defending state champions.

On Saturday, the Cougars sent nine wrestlers to the Waupun Sectional and came away with four champions: Logan Knoeck, Jacob Allickson, Porter Klotz, and Brock Bentz. Erich Cappozzo was a runner-up. There were also two third-place finishers: Gavin Pickering and Conner Sitzberger.
Sophomore Logan Knoeck (106 pounds) pinned his first two opponents, which set him up for a re-match with Nick Lara of Jefferson. Lara, ranked 12th in the state, beat Knoeck 8-6 at the Team Sectional earlier in the week. Knoeck left no doubt that was a fluke by dominating Lara 13-2, putting him to his back twice.
At 113 pounds, junior Jacob Allickson dominated his weight class, winning his first match by fall, and then earning a 9-2 decision in the semifinals. In the finals, he matched up with Kevin Vaughn of Delavan-Darian (31-19), and Allickson won by technical fall in 2:22 to earn his title.
Junior Porter Klotz kept his hot streak going by winning the 175-pound title. Klotz pinned his first opponent and met Brody Nichols (37-14) of East Troy. Klotz built up a 13-5 lead before pinning Nichols in the second period. In the finals, he wrestled James Bratz of Shoreland Lutheran (41-10). Klotz found himself down 9-2 before storming back and cutting the lead to 11-9 before putting Bratz to his back and pinning him in 5:46.
The Cougars’ last champ was Brock Bentz at 285. Brock pinned his first opponent in 2:57 and in 40 seconds in the semifinals. In the finals, he wrestled Danny Ellifson of Jefferson (21-6) and needed just 50 seconds to pin him to earn his championship.
At 150 pounds, Erich Cappozzo pinned his first opponent and then wrestled a great match against Traysen Thomasen (36-11) using a great tight waste to wear his opponent down and earn a hard-fought 7-4 decision to earn a trip to the finals where he would lose to defending state champion Bryston Scoles of Kewaskum.
At 165 pounds, senior Conner Sitzberger pinned his first opponent before losing in the semis 13-11. In his wrestle back, Sitzberger pulled out a tight 8-6 win over Moses Metzger of WLA. This was the fourth time he beat Metzger, with two other wins coming by one point. Then in the match to go to State, Conner majored his opponent 13-0.
At 144 pounds, Gavin Pickering earned his trip the hard way. After losing his first match, he had to come through the backside. His next match was against Travis Pucker of North Fond du Lac. Pickering hadn’t beaten Pucker the past two years. Down 7-0, Pickering took Pucker down, caught him on his back, and pinned him in 2:47. Then in the match to earn a trip to State, his opponent had an apparent knee injury and injury defaulted to Pickering giving him his ticket to State.
All wrestlers will wrestle on Thursday. New this year is the tournament will be double elimination, so all wrestlers will get a minimum of two matches.
Match ups for Thursday (seed in parenthesis):
107 – (13) Irleyn Woolhether (35-10) vs (4) Kyle Klum Westby (36-5)
106 – (6) Logan Knoeck (37-9) vs (11) Levi Schwartz Winnebago Lutheran (33-7)
113 – (10) Jacob Allickson (33-13) vs (7) Easton Felchlin Wrightstown (4-11)
144 – (12) Gavin Pickering (18-15) vs (5) Louis Hock Wrightstown (38-10)
150 – (10) Erich Cappozzo (29-14) vs (7) Trey Zemke Winneconne (19-3)
165 – (9) Conner Sitzberger (34-6) vs (8) Hunter Burr Martin Luther (31-10)
175 – (4) Porter Klotz (21-11) vs winner of Landon Heitmeier Portage (36-6)/James Bratz Shorland Lutheran (41-10)
285 – (6) Brock Bentz (37-8) vs (11) Dalton Wolf Fennimore (36-14)
In the Team Sectional on Tuesday, February 18, the Cougars defeated Jefferson 41-40 and then lost to Kewaskum 38-36, just missing out on going to Team State.