Vogel, Dedick finish in sixth place
By Dan Truttschel
Sports Correspondent
The East Troy High School wrestling team closed its season last weekend with a solid showing at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 State Tournament.
East Troy sent six wrestlers to the Kohl Center, Madison, and returned with one fourth-place effort and two sixths to show for its efforts.
Advancing to the tournament were Cody Vogel (113), Gabe Braam (126), Ryan Engel (132), Andy Strey (138), Zack Lamb (145) and Jeremy Dedick (160).
Strey, Vogel and Dedick each ended the tournament on the podium as place winners in their respective weight classes.
“Overall, I was really happy,” East Troy coach Mike Howard said. “It’s been a while since we had three place winners. We would have liked the places to be a little higher, but that’s the way everybody is except the champion. I thought the kids wrestled really well.”
Strey turned in the top overall effort, as he placed fourth overall to finish the season at 48-6.
In the quarterfinal, Strey pinned Wisconsin Dells’ Max Obois in 3:19, which sent him to the semifinal against Two Rivers’ Chris Yauch.
Yauch, the eventual state champion at 138 pounds, beat Strey 8-3, which sent him to the consolation bracket, where he defeated Little Chute’s Bryce Zdanovec 6-4.
Strey led his third-place match with Neillsville’s Mike Chadwick at the 3:36 mark when he was called for a slam that injured his opponent, who was unable to continue. According to the rules, that gave Chadwick the win.
“That was kind of unfortunate,” Howard said. “He was ahead at the time, but it was a slam. It was the right call. He lost control of the kid when he was up in the air and couldn’t bring him down softly.”
Vogel and Dedick each finished sixth for the Trojans.
In his quarterfinal match, Vogel (41-8) edged Nekoosa’s Clay Lieber 4-3, but fell 4-0 to Prairie du Chien’s Taylor Elliott 4-0 in the semifinal round.
Elliott eventually finished second overall, while Lieber was third.
The semifinal loss sent Vogel to the consolation semifinal, where he fell 4-3 to Lodi’s Jason Clapper. In a match for fifth, he lost 4-2 in overtime to Wrightstown’s Dillan Micke.
Dedick (34-17 overall) beat Alex Peplinski, Wittenberg-Birnamwood, 5-1 in the opening round, before he fell to eventual champion Gable Frandsen, Ellsworth, by pin in 3:58.
Dedick bounced back in the consolation round to beat Lodi’s Nathan DeGrott 7-2, before he fell in the consolation semifinal by pin in 4:03 to Waupaca’s Levi Petroske.
In the fifth-place match-up, Dedick fell 3-1 in overtime to New London’s Austin Wyngaard.
Lamb, the team’s only senior this year, fell by major decision 8-0 to Luxemberg-Casco’s Austin Worachek, followed by a pinfall loss in 1:58 to Luck’s Tristan Brewer to close out his season at 35-10.
“Zack had an unfortunate draw,” Howard said. “That happens up there. There’s tough kids there. Part of it is getting a good draw.”
Howard said he was proud of Lamb’s effort all season, especially since he battled a knee injury he suffered before the year began.
As the team’s only senior, he will be missed next year, his coach said.
“He’s helped out the other kids,” Howard said. “He had a real nice year getting back to state and winning the sectional. It’s hard to build those leaders.”
Both Braam and Engel lost in the first round and didn’t receive a wrestle back.
Braam (37-11) lost to eventual runner-up Sage Soppa, Abbotsford-Colby, by pin in 1:20, while Engel (36-11) lost by major decision 10-1 to Sparta’a Jaden Winchel, who was third at 132 pounds.
Now that this season is done, the thoughts are already turning toward the next one and what the five returning Trojans – and their teammates – can do in 2014-15, Howard said.
“Five of them are coming back next year, so that should be some incentive for them to work hard in the off-season and move up the ladder,” he said.
