Rocket ship to state tourney seats four

It was a little harder to get through this year’s sectional thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, but four Cedar Grove-Belgium High School wrestlers did enough last Saturday to qualify for the state meet.

Cael Erickson, Diego Morales, Dylan Teunissen and Markus Ramirez all punched their tickets to the Division 3 state meet at Wausau East. The venue was moved due to Covid-19, and qualifiers were limited to the top two places instead of the usual top three.

Erickson, who took fourth and third at state the last two years, won the 145-pound bracket at the Division 3 Dodgeland sectional and continues his mission to win a state title.

Erickson (14-0) pinned Horicon’s Alex Krumholz (8-6) in 45 seconds and won via medical forfeit over Kade Pinter (14-3) of Kenosha Christian Life.

In the title match, Erickson, ranked No. 2 in Division 3, won a 15-7 major decision over No. 3-ranked Gunnar Hamre (13-1) of Poynette.

“My finals match was pretty tough,” Erickson said. “I’m definitely ready for the weekend.”

“That was kind of our first good test of the season,” coach Trevor Peterson said. “Cael went at him right away. It was good to see.”

Morales (12-2) at 285 pounds pinned all three of his opponents. First, it was Sean Bollinger (7-9) of Princeton/Green Lake in 1:23. In the semifinal, he beat Gavan Stark (8-3) of Hustisford in 5:06, and in the finals beat Jordan Arendt (7-4) of Random Lake in 3:32.

“Considering I squeezed in at third last year, it was a little more pressure,” Morales said of having to place in the top two to advance.

“After I won against Stark, it was looking pretty good.”

Stark, Peterson said, pinned Morales last year.

“He’s a good, tough wrestler. It was a tight match,” he said.

Matches with Arendt are always tight when the two face off in the Big East Conference. Morales pinned Arendt in 4:33 on Jan. 7 and again Saturday.

“Diego was strong enough to muscle through, put Jordan on his back,” Peterson said.

Morales, a sophomore, hopes to make qualifying for state a regularity.

“It was pretty cool to do. I plan on doing it in the next two years,” he said.

Teunissen (13-2), a senior, snuck in by taking second at 160 pounds. In the second-place match, he beat Jaden Walker (15-4) of Markesan, 7-5.

“It was a close match. I wrestled the kid last year. I knew it was going to be a tight match, I knew he was pretty good,” Teunissen said.

“I think we kind of controlled it a little bit more than the score showed,” Peterson said.

Teunissen was trying to ride out Walker to end the match and nearly got a reversal pulled on him that would have sent the match to overtime.

Teunissen beat Walker in last year’s sectional in a 13-2 major decision, but said neither match was easy.

“It felt good knowing that I was able to go to state again even in a year like this,” he said.

Ramirez (11-3) at 195 pounds pinned Marco Matteucci (8-6) of Kenosha St. Joseph Catholic Academy in 1:26, then won a 7-2 decision over Francisco Moreno (14-1) of Waterloo.

In the title match, Random Lake’s Brock Upson (15-3) beat Ramirez in a 7-3 decision, but Ramirez had secured second place.

“I knew that was going to be a tough match,” Ramirez said. “It’s still good to get in even though this year is weird.”

Ramirez, a senior who had lost to Upson earlier this season, may see him again at state.

Of the Rockets’ other four sectional qualifiers, Jesse Burg (14-1) finished the highest, taking third at 106 pounds.

He beat Fernando Carillo (12-6) of Waterloo in a 17-2 technical fall in 4:48, was pinned by Drew Dolphin (12-2) of Kenosha Christian Life in 5:06, pinned Ozaukee’s Tayten Platner (8-6) in 4:36 and in the third-place match beat Tucker Cobb (12-2) of Marshall, 4-2.

“In a normal year, he would have made it,” Peterson said. “He had a tough semifinal match against Dolphin. We knew it was the deciding factor if he made it or not.”

At 138 pounds, Jackson DeRuyter (10-4) took fourth, going 2-1 on the day. He pinned Hayden Hockerman (5-9) of Westfield Area in 58 seconds and beat Jonathan Aguero (14-5) of Waterloo, 7-5.

Mason Hoopman (13-2) at 126 pounds took fifth, going 2-2. He won by a 17-2 technical fall over Brock Boelk (3-5) of Oakfield in 5:52 and in the fifth-place match pinned David San Felippo (9-5) of Random Lake in 4:28.

Deven Soerens at 182 pounds was sixth. He went 1-3, beating Reynol Limon (9-5) of Waterloo, 6-3, in a tiebreaker.

Large returns to state for Ozaukee

Junior Cael Large, who finished fourth in state last season, qualified again, this time as a sectional champion.

Large took second in last year’s sectional but this time beat all three opponents at 132 pounds at Dodgeland.

Large (13-1) won by an 18-2 technical fall over Tai Glassmaker (15-4) of Princeton/Green Lake in 4:59, then pinned Waterloo’s Jacob Soter (9-11) in 46 seconds. In the first-place match, Large won a 16-8 major decision over Stone Pomeroy (13-5) of Random Lake.

“Cael is peaking at the right time,” coach Kevin Koepke said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what happens this Saturday.”

The Warriors’ other five sectional qualifiers came up short. Mya Delleree (10-4) at 113 pounds went 1-2 and took fifth. She beat Kyle Henning (4-2) of Markesan in an 8-1 decision.

Efrain Altamirano (8-5) at 120 pounds took sixth, going 1-3. He won a 13-3 major decision over Isaiah Wagner (7-7) of Princeton/Green Lake.

Skyer Mills (6-6) at 220 pounds went 1-3 and took sixth. He won by injury default over Gunnar Sperle (4-6) of Cambridge in 2:04.

Platner at 106 took sixth, going 0-3.

“Other kids didn’t finish where they wanted to, but they are young and the sectional tournament was a great experience for them,” Koepke said.