The WIAA state individual wrestling tournament was held Feb. 24-26 at the Kohl Center in Madison, featuring five area wrestlers.
Jesse Huggins (135 pounds) and Exavier Dimick (140 pounds) represented Clintonville in Division Two, while Derek Kuettel (152 pounds), Kegan Gennrich (160 pounds), and Zach Tooley (215 pounds) represented Hortonville in Division One.
Huggins started things off on Thursday, winning his first match in overtime by a 10-8 score against Tyler Hudack of Ashland. In his next match, Huggins was defeated by Stetson McCulley of Valders in a close 2-4 decision. Huggins had an opportunity to wrestle back for third place, but lost a tough 2-3 decision to Gave Flandrick of Somerset.
Dimick had a first round bye, and wrestled his first match on Friday, beating Tyler Weyer of Baldwin-Woodville with a 6-5 decision in double-overtime. Dimick lost his semifinal match to Lucas Lambrecht of Sheboygan Falls in a 3-6 decision. Dimick had the opportunity to wrestle back for fifth place, and he was successful in earning a win over DJ Yarwood of Ellsworth.
“I felt the boys wrestled very well. I really wanted better results and I feel they both could have done so,” said Clintonville Coach Justin Mc Auly. “When you get to the state competition you must not make any mistakes. I feel we made a couple and this prevented us from placing higher.
“Considering 2010-11 being my first year as the head coach, I felt we did well as a team. We finished fourth of nine in conference and ended our dual record at 7-9,” Mc Auly said. “We are losing some very good wrestlers for next season. We will miss the seniors that are graduating.
“Every year you are going to face challenges. We had our fare share of challenges this year,” Mc Auly commented. “I am proud of the individuals that stepped up and filled the holes we had in our team. Next year I am hoping we can recruit talent before it is too late in their high school career.”
Kuettel wrestled his first match on Thursday, losing to Matthew Gray of Wilmot Union by a 3-11 major decision. Kuettle’s wrestle-back bid for third place was unsuccessful when he was pinned by Branden Capetillo of Sheboygan Falls in 4:17.
Gennrich won his first match on Thursday with a pin in 3:12, defeating Mitchell Anderson of Arrowhead. Gennrich lost a 3-6 decision to Brad Dolezal of Marshfield-the eventual state champion. Gennrich would eventually wrestle back for a third place finish by pinning Antione Davis of Milwaukee in 2:58, earning a 16-2 major decision over Kale Shirley of DeForest, beating Garrett Schilling of Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln by a 3-0 decision, and earning an 8-2 decision over Weston Klink of Hartford Union.
Tooley won his first match over Luke Belich of Mukwonago with a 9-0 major decision. He produced a come-from-behind win in his second match, pinning Ledell White of Milwaukee in 4:53. In his semifinal match, Tooley lost a 2-5 decision to Steve Sizer of West Bend West. He wrestled back to win fifth place by beating Tyler Lecher of Brookfield East in a 9-3 decision.