Stratford’s Marten, Tyson Kauffman, Marquardt, Hoffman finish fourth

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MADISON — All six local wrestlers competing in the consolation round Saturday won their first matches at the 2017 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center.

Two ended up winning their third-place matches, and the other four had to settle for fourth-place medals.

In Division 2, Spencer/Columbus sophomore Logan Zschernitz beat Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal’s Nick Rueth in the 285-pound consolation semifinals, holding on for a 3-2 victory. Zschernitz went on to defeat Josh Frerk of Denmark by major decision, 14-5, in the third-place match.

Zschernitz beat Rueth for the fourth-straight weekend after having beat him at the Cloverbelt Conference Tournament as well as at the Division 2 regional and sectional competitions. Zschernitz had defeated Frerk in the quarterfinals on Friday and ends his season with a 39-4 record.

“For Logan, last night was tough. It was a tough night in the hotel,” Spencer/Columbus coach Jake Zschernitz said. “We talked, we got his emotions in check, and we had to reassess our goals. Our goal was a state championship for him. We didn’t get it, ‘OK, now our (goal) is third place.’ He came into today, took care of business, and got that done.”

Stratford’s Derek Marten (126 pounds), Jake Drexler (132), David Marquardt (160), Aiden Hoffman (195), and Tyson Kauffman (285) each won their Division 3 consolation semifinals with Drexler winning his third-place match as well.

Drexler (42-3) pinned Kolbe Ubersox of Darlington/Black Hawk in 1:59 in the semifinals and needed overtime to defeat Seth Schlegel of Spring Valley/Elmwood 3-1 in the third-place match. Drexler had lost to Schlegel 8-5 in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Marten (38-5) beat Dylan Bune of Spring Valley/Elmwood 5-0 in the semifinals and lost his third-place match to Andrew Gunderson of Cadott 4-2.

Marquardt (37-5) pinned James LaPointe of Bayfield/Washburn in 1:58 before dropping the third-place match to Michael Bertrand of Southern Door 4-1.

Hoffman (37-11) took care of Noah Friedl of Royall 7-3 in the semifinals and lost the third-place match to Bryce Holderman of Amherst 10-3.

At 285 pounds, defending D-3 state champion Tyson Kauffman (15-6) settled for fourth. Kauffman blanked Noah Novotney of Boyceville 3-0 in the semifinals before forfeiting the third-place match to Takoda Lee of Cornell/Gilman/Lake Holcombe because of ongoing shoulder and arm injuries.

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