“Our goal was to get seven through to State and we came up short but not from lack of effort.”
~Coach Shane Koehl
By Michael S. Hoey
CORRESPONDENT
The Lake Geneva Badger wrestlers will make a second consecutive trip to the Team State Meet on March 1-2 at the Kohl Center at UW-Madison. Last year’s trip was the first in school history. The Badgers defeated Mt. Horeb/Barneveld 29-23 on Feb. 12 at the Sectional at Milton to punch their return ticket.
Mt. Horeb, ranked fourth in the state, jumped out to a 20-3 lead before Badger stormed back for the win.
“That is a true testament to the balance and toughness of this team,” Coach Shane Koehl said. “They never gave up even when one of their leaders went down. It was a great team win.”
Koehl was referring to Randy Shine, who came into the match ranked #2 in the state at 138 pounds and was undefeated at 35-0. No one had even scored on Shine this season until he lost in overtime to Sam Kruse.
Koehl said Shine was nursing a knee injury and tried to fight his way through it. Later it was discovered the injury required surgery and Shine is done for the season.
“I feel terrible for the kid,” Koehl said.
Badger got the first win of the night when Bryan Nugent (132 pounds) defeated Cole Syvrud by decision. Shine then lost to Kruse starting a string of six straight losses for the Badgers.
T.J. Hildenbrandt (195) turned things around with a pin over Anthony Sutter. That began a series of six consecutive Badger wins. Robert Johnson (220) won an 11-3 major decision over Keller Kirch, Carlos Garcia (285) pinned Brandon Cushman, Michael Peter (106) won a 9-2 decision over Dalton Frakes, Alex Martinez (113) won a 10-2 major decision over Travis Syvrud, and Adan Ortiz (120) won a 13-6 decision over Bob Ties.
“I don’t think you can put into words what this means for the program,” Koehl said. The Badger wrestling program was not competitive just a few short years ago and now it has gained state recognition.
“We have gained a lot of respect around the state,” Koehl said. “The flip side is we are no longer going under the radar.”
Koehl said he hopes the program’s success will draw more kids into the sport and motivate them to always expect more than just being good.
“We want them to be the best they can be in everything they do, not just wrestling,” Koehl said.
Koehl said the team has gotten to where it has due to the hard work and commitment from the kids, coaches, the middle school program, and the youth programs.
Badger will face second-ranked Kaukahna on March 1. Koehl said Kaukahna is a very solid team and his team will have to be ready to battle. Kaukahna has two returning state individual champions and several ranked wrestlers.
“We learned last year we can compete with the best in the state,” Koehl said of the team’s close first round loss to Hartford. Hartford went on to lose in the finals.
Badgers send four to individual State meet
The Badgers qualified all 14 of its wrestlers for the Individual Sectional at Fort Atkinson last Saturday. Four Badger wrestlers earned trips to the Individual State Meet tonight through Saturday at UW-Madison.
Rory Shine (8-2) won the 152-pound title. Shine defeated Jeremy Johnson of Madison LaFollette by a 6-3 decision, Daylon Bowar of Mt. Horeb by a 6-4 decision, and Keegan Foerster of Fort Atkinson by a 4-1 decision.
Hildenbrandt (42-5) won the 195-pound title. Hildebrandt pinned Ryan Wiedenhoeft of Fort Atkinson and Dylan Linhart of Elkhorn before winning a 10-2 major decision over Nick Somers of Beloit Memorial.
Michael Peter qualified for State with a second place finish at 106 pounds. Peter pinned Dalton Frakes of Mt. Horeb and beat Airk Furseth by 6-4 decision before losing by pin to Nolan Shea of Milton. Peter came back to beat Furseth again for second place.
Robert Johnson also qualified for State with a second place finish at 220 pounds. Johnson beat Jordan Festge on a technical fall and pinned Isaac Schaefer of Madison LaFollette before losing a 3-0 decision to #1 ranked Dakota Johnson of Elkhorn. Johnson came back to beat Schaefer again for second place.
Badger got four other wrestlers into the top four, though they did not qualify for State. Alex Martinez took third at 113 pounds. Finishing fourth were Zack Leonard (126), Adan Ortiz (120), and Tyler Otero (182).
“Our goal was to get seven through to State and we came up short but not from lack of effort,” Koehl said.
Koehl said Badger faced a stacked sectional and still managed to get eight of 13 wrestlers into the top four.
“It is a testament to the kids and how much they have improved,” Koehl said.
