PANTHERS SEND 8 TO SECTIONALS!

This season has been anything but typical for the Ellsworth wrestling team, but it appeared to be back to business as usual Saturday, as the Panthers moved eight wrestlers on to the WIAA Division 2 Sectional Meet Saturday in Neillsville.

As a team, Ellsworth came in second in the tournament with 232.5 points at the WIAA Regional Meet in Arcadia Saturday, behind Gale-Ettrick- Trempealeau/ Melrose -Mindoro which had 255 points. Prescott was fourth with 102.5.

Wrestling was limited to two-team meets most of the season, so this was the first real tournament on the schedule.

“We really did well for wrestling in our first tournament. We had six wrestlers who had never wrestled in a varsity tournament before. Some of those were freshmen. They did a nice job,” said Coach Mark Matzek.

Qualifying for the WIAA Sectional Meet were: 106 – Landan Lampman, who took second overall.

113 – William Penn, who took second.

145 – Braden Matzek won the championship.

170 – Anthony Madsen was champion.

182 – Ryan Matzek took second.

195 – Louis Jahnke was champion.

220 – Ian Matzek took second.

285 – Kyle Anschutz took second.

“We advanced eight wrestlers to Sectionals, and it should have been nine. Zack Peterson broke his wrist in the semifinals, and he wrestled two more matches with it broken. We didn’t know it was broke until after the meet. He really pushed himself and showed a lot of guts,” said Matzek.

Matzek is looking forward to seeing how his team performs at the Sectional Meet, with trips to the State Championship on the line. The state competition will be held Feb. 13 at Adams-Friendship High School.

“Anything can happen now at Sectionals. Obviously those three champs statistically have a better shot of going to state. I’ve taken second at Regionals myself and made it to state. These guys have to have a good week of practice and stay focused,” said Matzek.

Photo by Nate Beier.

Photo by Nate Beier.

Photos by Nate Beier.

Ellsworth’s Braden Matzek settles into his cradle to pin GE- T/Melrose-Mindoro’s Ryder Lefler and claim the 145 pound regional title in Arcadia Saturday.

At left, Ellsworth’s Anthony Madsen fights off a lift by West Salem/Bangor’s Hayden Lyga during the 170 pound championship match at Saturday’s regional in Arcadia. At right, Ellsworth’s Ian Matzek ties up with Osseo-Fairchild/Augusta/Fall Creek’s Luke Fischer at the onset of the 220 pound regional championship match. Matzek lost by fall and finished second.