Trojans take second in Division 2
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
For seven East Troy High School wrestlers, there’s just one step left to get to the big dance.
But it’s a tough one, that’s for sure.
Behind two first-place finishes and five seconds, the Trojans placed second overall at last week’s Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 Big Foot Regional.
Wisconsin Lutheran won the team title going away with 314.5 points, followed by the Trojans with 176 and Catholic Memorial with 145.
Rounding out the team scores were Whitewater with 138, Greendale Martin Luther with 114, Jefferson with 100.5 and Big Foot with 29.
Leading the Trojans were regional champions Cody Vogel (120) and Jeremy Dedick (160).
They will be joined at this week’s Milwaukee Lutheran Sectional by second-place finishers Joe Moede (106), Charlie Ward (113), Gabe Braam (138), Chase Coleman (145) and Kyle Storandt (220).
“Having seven wrestlers qualifying for sectionals is a huge accomplishment,” East Troy assistant coach Joe Dedick Sr. said. “The boys were definitely focused. We could tell when they were warming up in the morning it was going to be a great day.”
Vogel (41-3) rolled through the competition at Big Foot.
After a first-round bye, he needed just 53 seconds to pin Martin Luther’s Tucker Hartlaub, followed by a 15-4 major decision over Big Foot’s Travis Berryman.
Dedick (39-5) posted a pair of pinfall wins to claim his regional title.
In the second round, he pinned Wisconsin Lutheran’s Jacob Dzeikan, followed by a hard-fought third period pin in 4:11 over Whitewater’s Thomas McManaway.
Moede (32-14) split his first two matches, but rallied to pin Whitewater’s Tyler Gamble in 3:03 in the second-place matchup.
Ward (22-24) advanced to the finals with a pin in 2:34 over Jefferson’s Logan Nguyen, but was pinned in 1:18 by Wisconsin Lutheran’s Lucas Roecker in the finals.
Braam (31-9) moved into the title contest with two early victories, including a 9-3 decision over Jefferson’s Jacob Arnold. In the finals, he fell 6-3 to Wisconsin Lutheran’s Brian Corbins to finish second.
East Troy’s two other qualifiers Coleman (30-16) and Storandt (37-5) each battled through wrestle back matches to advance.
Coleman lost 9-6 in the final to Lutheran’s Jacob Nygaard, but punched his sectional ticket with a pin n 1:32 over Catholic Memorial’s Harrison Dietsch.
Storandt advanced to the finals, where he lost 11-5 to Lutheran’s Bryce Roberts, but advanced to this weekend with a pinfall win in just 58 seconds over Catholic Memorial’s Jacob Schmidt.
All seven East Troy qualifiers will compete Saturday at 10 a.m. The top-three finishers in each weight class advance to next weekend’s state meet at UW-Madison.
“We now need to look forward to sectionals and keep grinding in the practice room,” Dedick said.
Others end seasons
Also competing for the Trojans were Jake Dessart (152) and Travis Cadman (170), who finished fourth, and John Veselka (132), who was sixth.
Dessart and Cadman each won their first match before the dropped the next two. Veselka was 0-2 on the day.
