EHS sends six wrestlers to championship matches at 58th Annual Ellsworth Invitational

By Reagan Hoverman

As the host of the 58th Annual Ellsworth Invitational, the Panthers didn’t disappoint.

Of the 14 total championship matches or round-robin series, Ellsworth had six wrestlers compete in the title match of their respective weight class. Only Minnesota’s Dover-Eyota and Mora, two teams ranked top-ten in the state, had more wrestlers in championship matches on Saturday, Dec. 3.

In total, 11 teams from around Wisconsin and Minnesota traveled to Ellsworth to compete in the annual invitational. Dover-Eyota, ranked fifth in Minnesota in Class A, earned a first-place finish with 242.5 points. Mora, ranked eighth in Minnesota in Class AA, finished second with 211.5 points. Ellsworth took third place with 210 points.

For Ellsworth head coach Mark Matzek, Saturday’s success was expected. The Panthers’ 2022-23 wrestling roster has droves of juniors and seniors that bring longtime experience to the mat. Coach Matzek spoke about having six wrestlers compete for championships on Saturday afternoon.

“Having six wrestlers in the finals was surely the expectation,” Matzek said. “Five of those six wrestlers have a lot of varsity experience being juniors and seniors in our program. We had 12 place winners overall and many of the remaining six entries had this tournament be their first varsity tournament. They all battled through tough matches and the coaching staff was proud of their perseverance on Saturday. Our team performed very well for our first tournament of the year in a very strong tournament.”

Ellsworth’s third-place finish could have been even better, considering the Panthers didn’t have a wrestler in two of the 14 total weight brackets. Ellsworth had an injury at 195 and a schedule conflict at 220 that prevented two EHS wrestlers from competing.

Of the six Panthers that made title matches, two left with victories. The first was Ellsworth freshman J.D. Minder-Broeckaert, who worked through the 126-pound bracket and finished it off with an 8-5 win via decision in the championship match over Finn Bloomquist of Prior Lake, Minn.

Although Minder-Broeckaert had a tough opponent in the championship match, his biggest obstacle was in the semifinal round when he defeated Luke Kamish of New Richmond, who qualified for state wrestling last season as an individual. Matzek spoke about the first high school tournament of Minder-Broeckaert’s career.

“J.D. had a great opening tournament for his high school career,” Matzek said. “He battled through a scrappy Prior Lake opponent in the finals but his impressive win was against a 2022 state qualifier and number one seeded wrestler from New Richmond in the semifinals. J.D. showed great poise under duress and methodically worked his plan to win in both of these matches. He has high aspirations for this season and I also share those goals with him.”

See ELLSWORTHWRESTLING, Page B-3

Prescott’s Liz Rohl earns Middle Border Conference Co-Player of the Year Ellsworth’s second winner of the tournament was William Penn, who earned a first-place finish in the round-robin series in the 132-pound bracket. Penn bested Ben Brennan of Prior Lake and Cooper Sjodin of Mora, who finished second and third respectively.

The Panthers had four other wrestlers compete for titles including Carson Wright, who got pinned in the 113-pound championship, Logan Mueller got pinned in the second period of the 120-pound title match, Louis Jahnke lost a 6-2 decision in the 170-pound match and Anthony Madsen lost a 7-2 decision in the 182-pound bracket.

Getting to the championship match is a significant accomplishment just based on the top-tier talent that is always at the Ellsworth Invitational. Coach Matzek spoke about the history of great wrestling at the annual tournament.

“This tournament was full of ranked wrestlers from Minnesota and Wisconsin,” Matzek said. “There were past state place winners and state champions colliding in the finals. All of these teams are coached well, which makes for exciting matches during the entire day of the tournament.”

The strong showing at the 58th Annual Ellsworth Invitational wasn’t the Panthers’ only great performance of the week. On Thursday, Dec. 1, Ellsworth competed in its first tri-meet of the year in Somerset. The Panthers battled the Somerset Spartans and the two-time defending state champion Amery Warriors.

The Warriors have established themselves as a perennial powerhouse in Division 2 wrestling, and Ellsworth wrestled them down to the wire at the tri-meet on Thursday night. Matzek spoke about going toe-to-toe with Amery.

“It was a competitive and exciting dual on Thursday against the reigning two-time team state champions,” Matzek said. “We ended up losing 38-33 and in the process leaving points on the table. For those not familiar with the scoring of wrestling dual meets, this basically is the equivalent of losing by one point in basketball.”

While losing the dual against Amery ultimately wasn’t the goal, it showed Matzek and the Ellsworth wrestling roster that they are close to competing for a state championship. He provided final thoughts on the successful dual and overall week of wrestling.

“Although it was disappointing to lose that dual, our team will use it as motivation to continue the process of climbing that metaphorical mountain at the end of the season,” Matzek said. “The state tournament series is our mountain. To get there we need to continue putting one foot in front of the other in small increment steps and help their teammates along the way when they stumble. Successful teams understand this and learn to enjoy the process.”

The Ellsworth Panthers are back in action on Thursday, Dec. 8, in a home dual against Faribault. That match is slated to begin at 5 p.m.

Ellsworth’s Anthony Madsen grapples with Cadott’s Dawson Webster in the 182-pound championship match at the Ellsworth Invitational. Webster defeated Madsen via a 7-2 decision. Photo by Reagan Hoverman