Three wrestlers bring home conference titles
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Every dual meet and weekend tournament for the East Troy High School wrestling squad the last several weeks has led to this point.
The post-season has arrived.
East Troy put the finishing touches on its regular season last weekend with a fourth-place finish at the Rock Valley Conference Tournament at Edgerton.
The Trojans finished with 266.5 points, behind Evansville-Albany’s 329, Beloit Turner’s 309 and Whitewater’s 276. Brodhead-Juda was fifth with 242.
Rounding out the top 10 were Parkview with 203.5 points, Jefferson with 193.5, Edgerton with 135, Clinton with 93, Big Foot-Williams Bay with 86 and Palmyra-Eagle with 55.
With that part of the schedule in the rear-view mirror, now it’s time to get down to real business, East Troy assistant coach Joe Dedick Sr. said.
“We as a team have been working on a final push,” he said. “We are at the point in the season where it is win or your season is over.”
East Troy crowned three RVC champions Saturday, led by Cody Vogel at 120 pounds, as he claimed his fourth straight.
Also winning titles were Jeremy Dedick at 160 and Kyle Storandt at 220.
Vogel (38-3 overall), posted two pinfall wins to open his day, first in just 23 seconds over Turner’s Gavin Campbell, followed by a pin in 4:32 over Brodhead’s Blake Burns.
In the first-place contest, he posted a major decision 11-2 win over Big Foot’s Travis Berryman.
“(Winning four titles) is a huge accomplishment,” Dedick said. “He wrestled extremely well. He was very dominant with his takedowns. He is definitely a man on a mission.”
Dedick (36-5) followed a similar path, as he rolled through his weight class.
After a first-round bye, Dedick needed just 48 seconds to beat Big Foot’s Rodney Flom, followed by a pinfall win in 34 seconds over Parkview’s Gavon Brown.
In the finals, he handled Brodhead’s Tyler Hoesly by technical fall 18-3.
“He has been putting a ton of time in the practice room,” Dedick Sr. said. “He knows this is his final run at a state title.”
Storandt (34-4) earned his spot in the finals with a pinfall win in 45 seconds over Clinton’s Jenson Herrera, followed by a pin in 1:30 over Brodhead’s Trent Davis.
In a hard-fought championship match, Storandt edged Turner’s Tyler Burt 3-1 to avenge a loss earlier this season.
“He had a great day as well,” Dedick said. “It is always a big confidence builder to (avenge) a loss.”
Two seconds, two thirds
East Troy also had a pair of second-place finishes and two thirds Saturday.
Advancing to the finals were Joe Moede (106) and Gabe Braam (132).
Moede posted a pinfall in in 57 seconds over Evansville’s Jared Miller, followed by a 2-1 win over Jefferson’s Weston Wright to move into the finals.
In that matchup with Parkview’s Jackson Hauri 36-3), Moede (29-13) fell by technical fall 20-4.
Braam (29-8) earned his spot in the title matchup with a pinfall win in 3:16 over Edgerton’s Cedric Sanders, followed by a 12-10 win over Turner’s Cole Walker.
In the finals, he fell by technical fall 19-1 to Jefferson’s Nathan Roth.
Placing third were Charlie Ward (113), 3-1 overall, and Chase Coleman (145), 3-1. Other East Troy finishes were turned in by Jake Dessart (152), fifth; Travis Cadman (170), seventh; and John Veselka (138), eighth.
Next up for the Trojans is the WIAA Division 2 Big Foot Regional Saturday at 10:30 a.m. The top-three wrestlers in each weight class advance to next weekend’s Milwaukee Lutheran Sectional Saturday, Feb. 20, at 10 a.m., with a berth in the state meet at stake.
