For the Prescott and Spring Valley/Elmwood wrestling teams, their respective individual sectional tournaments served as the official end to the 2022-23 season, as none of the section qualifiers advanced to the state tournament in Madison.

Prescott’s two wrestlers who qualified through regionals and competed in the individual sectional tournament included senior Benny Olson at 106 pounds and junior Nolan Thomley, who battled in the 152-pound bracket.

Olson was one of the first matches on the docket at the Division 2 Sectional in Amery on Saturday, Feb. 18. He squared off against Tomahawk junior Presley Gutbrod, who entered the day with a 36-6 record for the season.

Gutbrod and Olson quickly got into a shootout, as both competitors scored points in droves during the first two periods of action. Gutbrod ultimately got the best of Olson and secured an 11-9 victory over the Prescott senior, which knocked him out of the sectional tournament.

“We had some good film from the weekend before on Gutbrod to build a game plan for Benny,” Prescott head coach Ross Wargula said. “Benny wrestled a good match overall, just had a couple of split-second moments that his guard was down. Benny battled hard to the very end and left it all on the mat.”

Olson, who was the No. 2-ranked wrestler in the state in his weight class for Division 2 earlier this season, had understandably high expectations for the 2022-23 postseason. Although his senior year ultimately ends short of a trip to Madison, Coach Wargula believes Olson still has so much to be proud of.

“I told Benny on Saturday that wrestling is something you do, it doesn’t define who you are as a person,” Wargula recalled. “His 39 wins this season are the second-highest single-season win total in Prescott wrestling history. Benny has had a profound impact on the wrestling program. I know things didn’t end the way he wanted them to on Saturday but he has a lot to be proud of, not only for this season but his career as well.”

After Olson was done competing, Thomley got his shot in the 152-pound bracket. The Prescott junior standout won his first match by a 9-2 decision over Saint Croix Falls freshman Alex Hoff.

Thomley suffered a pinfall defeat to Mondovi senior Cody Wagner in the ensuing match, which was the semifinal of the 152-pound bracket. It was a tough draw for Thomley, as Wagner entered the sectional tournament with a 35-2 record this season. Coach Wargula spoke about Thomley’s first two matches.

“Nolan had a solid start to his day, beating the Osceola regional champion,” Wargula said. “He had a tough battle with Wagner of Mondovi in the regional last week. He had another good battle with him on Saturday. Wagner might be the only kid Nolan has wrestled all year that is stronger than him.”

Thomley won his first match on the consolation side of the bracket and began working his way toward what he hoped was a state tournament berth in Madison. In his first match on the other side of the bracket, Thomley secured an 11-2 major decision victory over Medford junior Cory Lindahl.

That’s when Thomley advanced but caught another tough break, as he squared off with Saint Croix Central junior Noah Nusbaum, who entered the sectional with a 43-7 record this season. Thomley pushed Nusbaum to the brink of defeat and even had a 7-6 lead with under 15 seconds remaining in the third period to go to state.

That’s when Nusbaum scored a two-point reversal and took an 8-7 lead moments before the match ended. Coach Wargula spoke about Thomley’s match with one of Saint Croix Central’s best wrestlers.

“Nolan had a great third-place match against Nusbaum of SCC,” Wargula said. “It took him a period or so to get going, once he cradled him up, put him on his back and tied the match, it clicked with him that he could compete with him and have the belief he could win the match. He was about 10 seconds away from winning and getting to state.”

Spring Valley/Elmwood Prescott wasn’t the only program that had its season end on Saturday afternoon. Spring Valley/Elmwood’s three wrestlers who advanced through regionals and qualified for sectionals had their seasons end.

It began with Spring Valley/Elmwood senior Tylor LaCroix, who suffered a 7-0 defeat against Chequamegon senior Aiden Miesbauer in the first round of the 120-pound Division 3 bracket in Edgar on Saturday afternoon.

SV/E’s wrestler who came the closest to qualifying is senior 170-pounder Cole Steinmeyer, who won his first match by pinfall in less than 90 seconds. Steinmeyer got pinned in the second round and got moved to the consolation bracket.

That’s where he pinned Glenwood City senior Noah Brite to advance to the thirdplace match, where a win would have booked a trip to the Kohl Center in Madison. However, Steinmeyer ran into Clear Lake senior Luke Paulson. Late in the first period of that third-place match, Paulson got position on Steinmeyer and secured a pinfall victory over the SV/E senior.

SV/E’s final sectional competitor was senior Keegan Merth, who competed in the 182-pound bracket. Merth lost a 15-4 major decision to Shell Lake junior Maximus Elliott, which officially ended SV/E’s season.

Both SV/E and Prescott had at least two wrestlers advance out of regionals and qualify for the sectional tournament before ultimately coming up just short of booking a trip to Madison.

Junior Nolan Thomley of the Prescott wrestling team rolls up his opponent in an effort to secure near fall points during the 152-pound semifinal match at the sectional wrestling tournament in Amery on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Reagan Hoverman