With 25 Pierce County wrestlers qualifying for Sectionals, nearly half did what they needed to and earned a top three spot in their brackets, with 12 wrestlers making their way to State.

River Falls

Five River Falls boys and one girl are headed to State after competing in Sectionals at Eau Claire North over the weekend. Sophomore Waylon Deaton, 38-9 on the year, pinned his first opponent in the 113-pound bracket and followed it with a 9-5 win over New Richmond’s 41-10 Walker Waidelich in the semifinals and a 7-0 win over Sparta’s 40-8 Landon Connelly in the finals.

“Deaton, for the second week in a row, has just been on a tear,” Head Coach Cam Loomis said. “He’s just kind of steamrolled through everyone the last couple weeks.”

Senior Jonas Longsdorf was River Falls’ other Sectionals winner at 138. He got it done in dominant fashion with a pin, a tech fall and an 11-5 win in the finals over 29-8 Aaron Howard of Menomonie.

“He wrestled the best I’ve ever seen him wrestle,” Loomis said.

The team’s other three boys qualifiers were runners-up at Sectionals. Sophomore Oliver Larson took second at 120, senior Vinny Costabilo took second at 144 and sophomore Jacob Hutchins took second at 190.

Costabilo was another wrestler who stood out to Loomis, having one of his best individual days.

Of the girls, sophomore Olivia Luther was the lone State qualifier, placing second in the 100-pound bracket.

“Her doing it the way she did, it’s only her second year wrestling. She’s a sophomore, she only won like two matches last year, this year she’s like 30-7 or something,” Loomis said. “Just her showing that if you put the work in and do it, you can turn around results really quick.”

Loomis said he hopes other girls in River Falls can see the results of Luther and view it as an opportunity to join the team.

River Falls and Prescott sent a handful of girls to Sectionals, but without divisions like the boys side, qualifying has large hurdles to cross.

“I saw just a lot of grit and kind of what they’ve been working for all year, it just came to fruition at the right time,” Loomis said of the team as a whole. “That was just really fun to sit back and watch.”

Loomis said it is loud at State, almost overwhelming at times, but the wrestlers are responsible for blocking out that noise.

“When your shoes are tied, you’re there for a job,” Loomis said.

Spring Valley/Elmwood

Spring Valley/Elmwood had a pair of wrestlers make it to State. The first was sophomore Sam Schmitt with a third-place finish at 138 pounds in the D3 Ladysmith Sectional. Schmitt is now 42-11 on the season. He started the bracket with a pin over Cumberland’s 25-22 Nathan Swint. He was then pinned in the semifinals by 20-7 Levi Krautkramer of Marathon. Schmitt then needed two wins to qualify for State, and got them, winning 7-2 and 6-0 to secure third. He beat 39-12 Tanner Brandoli of Shell Lake and 37-16 Lucas Forrest of Stratford in those matchups.

At 42-9, 215-pounder Jack Steinmeyer made it through in a bit of a peculiar fashion. He swiftly pinned his first opponent but had to exit the second match due to injury. This put him in a tough situation, also needing two wins back-to-back to make it through. Steinmeyer did not let the noise get to him, earning pins in 17 and 20 seconds to place third.

“Sam Schmitt and Jack Steinmeyer are true students of the sport, they are constantly looking to improve their craft,” SVE Head Coach Gable Frandsen said. “Win or lose, the boys walk off the mat with a positive mindset and are very eager to study film to locate areas that need improvement. Sam and Jack are leaders who lead by example and are fantastic role models.”

Steinmeyer’s toughness did not go unnoticed by the teammates and the fans along the way.

“Jack Steinmeyer suffered an injury during his semifinal match and injury defaulted the match. Jack was able to bounce back and secure two more wins to qualify for State,” Frandsen said. “Being able to push through an injury like that demonstrated Jack's grit and toughness.”

Frandsen advised his wrestlers that making it to State is not and never has been the ultimate goal. They have to go out there and use every ounce in the tank to have success.

“Performing at State all comes down to your mindset and truly believing in your abilities,” Frandsen said. “You cannot be satisfied with only qualifying for State. From here on out, each match is a battle of wills and who wants the victory more. Each wrestler needs to maintain a ‘refuse to lose’ mentality.”

Ellsworth

In Division 2, Ellsworth had four wrestlers make it out of the Amery Sectional with second and third place finishes. Senior Austin Peterson placed second at 106, senior Noah Walker placed third at 120, sophomore Henry Penn placed third at 138 and senior Blake Nelson placed third at 175 to qualify for State.

Needing a third-place finish to move on, all of the Panthers found a way to bring their best in the final rounds despite tired legs. Ellsworth sent two wrestlers to Sectionals a year ago that have both now graduated. This year, they sent eight to Sectionals with four of those eight now moving on to State.

With 33 individual State championships won over the years, the Panthers will aim to add to the list over the weekend.