By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

Marshfield’s Mitch Hertel, Josh Lang advance to semifinals

MADISON — Marshfield’s Mitch Hertel and Josh Lang each won a pair of matches Thursday to advance to the semifinals at the 2015 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center.

Hertel, a senior, improved to 28-1 with a pair of victories at 160 pounds in Division 1. Hertel defeated Austin Powell (43-2) of Sauk Prairie 2-1 in the preliminary round and then went on to win a major decision over Wisconsin Rapids’ Peyton Einerson (36-10) by a score of 15-3.

Hertel will take on Ben Hakes (27-1) of Oak Creek in a semifinal match Friday night.

Lang, a junior, won two matches at 195 pounds to qualify for the semifinals.

Lang won a major decision over Noah Martinez (35-8) of Kettle Moraine 9-0 in the preliminaries before defeating Dakin Coons (41-6) of Verona 12-10 in the quarterfinals.

Lang (31-5) will face Jason Toshner (43-2) of Fond du Lac in a semifinal match Friday night.

The two Marshfield wrestlers are guaranteed a medal with a top-six finish. The winners of the semifinals will advance to the finals on Saturday night. The losers move into the consolation semifinals, which begin at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Five of eight local wrestlers in Division 3 preliminaries advance

Five of the eight local Division 3 athletes advanced in preliminary matches Thursday at the 2015 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center.

Both of Auburndale’s state tournament qualifiers won their preliminary matches on Thursday night.

Paul Willfahrt (41-5) defeated Brian Dowling of Oshkosh Lourdes 11-4 at 145 pounds, and Wyatt Weiler (41-7) took care of Andrew Johnson of Clear Lake with a 10-1 major decision.

Willfahrt will take on Cole Martin (42-1) of Lancaster, and Weiler will wrestle Helton Vandenbush (38-11) of Random Lake in quarterfinals on Friday afternoon.

Two of Spencer’s state qualifiers lost in preliminary matches Thursday.

The Rockets’ lone winner was freshman Bryce Shaw, who defeated Riley Cade of Westby 8-3 in a 113-pound match. Shaw (26-18) moves on to the quarterfinals and will battle Lucas Graf (35-3) of Cumberland on Friday.

Tim Bauer (29-15) lost in a 132-pound preliminary to Frank Bauer of Mineral Point 10-6, and freshman Hunter Luepke (41-5) was pinned by Ian Ruble of Clear Lake in 1:02. Both were eliminated from the state tournament.

Three of Stratford’s eight state qualifiers wrestled in preliminaries on Thursday, with two of them winning.

Sam Wenzel defeated Bailey Slater of New Lisbon 14-10 at 132 pounds, and Tyson Kauffman (31-12) pinned Brandon Klimek of Cashton in 1:06 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Wenzel (30-11) will take on Cruze Hurlburt (37-3) of Spring Valley/Elmwood in a 132-pound quarterfinal, and Kauffman (32-12) will battle Jordan Brandt (41-1) of Reedsville in a 285-pound quarterfinal on Friday afternoon.

Stratford’s Anthony Gliniecki was eliminated at 120 pounds. Gliniecki (33-4) was pinned with one second remaining in his match by James Palmer (37-6) of Boyceville.

Division 3 quarterfinals will start at approximately 11:15 a.m. Friday. Winners move on to the semifinals Friday night, and losers will enter the consolation round, which will start at approximately 2:45 p.m.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

2015 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament

Kohl Center, Madison

Friday, Feb. 27

10 a.m. – Division 1 consolation matches
11:15 a.m. – Division 2 & 3 quarterfinals
1:45 p.m. – Division 1 consolation semifinals
2:45 p.m. – Division 2 & 3 consolation semifinals
7 p.m. – Semifinals, all divisions

Saturday, Feb. 28

11 a.m. – Consolation wrestlebacks, all divisions; followed by fifth-place and third-place matches in all divisions
6 p.m. – Championship matches, all divisions

Friday’s local matchups

Division 1 semifinals

160 pounds: Mitch Hertel (28-1), Marshfield, vs. Ben Hakes (27-1), Oak Creek.
195 pounds: Josh Lang (27-18), Marshfield, vs. Jason Toshner (43-2), Fond du Lac.

Division 3 quarterfinals

106 pounds: A.J. Schoenfuss (43-2), Stratford, vs. Andrew Webb (33-7), Spring Valley/Elmwood.
113 pounds: Bryce Shaw (27-18), Spencer, vs. Lucas Graf (35-3), Cumberland.
113 pounds: Jeremy Schoenherr (39-2), Stratford, vs. Andrew Gunderson (38-6), Cadott.
126 pounds: Mason Kauffman (46-0), Stratford, vs. Max Maylor (42-9), Iowa-Grant/Highland.
132 pounds: Sam Wenzel (31-11), Stratford, vs. Cruze Hurlburt (37-3), Spring Valley/Elmwood.
145 pounds: Paul Willfahrt (42-5), Auburndale, vs. Cole Martin (42-1), Lancaster.
160 pounds: Wyatt Weiler (42-7), Auburndale, vs. Helton Vandenbush (38-11), Random Lake.
182 pounds: Kamren Bornbach (38-3), Stratford, vs. Austin Stebane (35-10), Brillion.
220 pounds: Hunter Kauffman (39-1), Stratford, vs. Derek Medearis (27-8), New Lisbon.
285 pounds: Tyson Kauffman (32-12), Stratford, vs. Jordan Brandt (41-1), Reedsville.