The road to state continues for 11 area high school wrestlers.
That group includes two each from Waupaca and Weyauwega-Fremont, as well as three from Hortonville, two from Clintonville and one from Wild Rose/Wautoma and Plainfield Tri-County/Almond-Bancroft.
Waupaca’s Connor Avery and Brandon Palmer advanced after placing third at 130 and 145 pounds, respectively, Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Division 2 Waupaca Sectional.
Meanwhile, Weyauwega-Fremont’s Casey Haase won the 189-pound title at the Division 3 Bonduel Sectional in Pulaski and teammate Dylan Hansen placed third at 119.
Hansen won his first match against Marathon before losing in the semifinals to Coleman’s Justin Grzybowski. He came back trhough thet wrestleback round to defeat wrestlers from Peshtigo and Edgar wrestlers.
Haase rolled through the tournament by pinning wrestlers from Edgar and Florence defeating Stratford’s Luke Radke 7-2 in the finals.
Seven other W-F wrestlers also advanced to sectional competition.
“Nick Stelzner placed fourth at 285 with a great effort that left him one spot away from state,” coach Tim Potratz said. “He defeated a Stratford wrestler to advance to the wrestleback match, where he lost to a Pittsville opponent.”
Trevor Potratz pinned a Coleman wrestler in his first match before dropping his next two bouts to finish fifth at 130, while five other wrestlers also finished their season: Issac Danke at 103, Jared Gruetzmacher at 125, Mike Nelson at 140, Casey Lenz at 145 and Jacob Chmielewski at 171.
Wild Rose/Wautoma’s Zach Sirny won the 103-pound championship in Waupaca and Plainfield Tri-County’s Brandon Clapper finished third at 215. Clintonville’s Exavier Dimick won the 140-pound title, while another Trucker, Jesse Huggins, placed second at 135.
Hortonville’s Keegan Gennrich and Zach Tooley won 160- and 215-pound titles, respectively, at the Division 1 Ashwaubenon Sectional, while the Polar Bears’ Derek Kuettel advanced at 152.
Other area wrestlers that competed at sectionals were Waupaca’s Levi Petroske; Amherst’s Jason Ligman and Logan Hermsen; Manawa’s Garret Griffin; Wild Rose/Wautoma’s Andrew Mancl, Logan Schuman, Bryce Bennot and Collan Thorn; Plainfield Tri-County/Almond-Bancroft’s Joe Woyak; Clintonville’s Dustin Zarnoth and Jake Reiter; New London’s Kevin Urban, Jake Close, Andrew Moser, Chad Anderson, Trevor Strong and Andrew Ritchie; and Hortonville’s Cam Martzahl, Nate Rynish, Collin Olk, Cole Parker, Nick Lecher and Dylan Schroth.