Te Stroete caps career with third at state

Cedar Grove-Belgium wrestler Josh Te Stroete walked off the mat of his final high school match a winner in Madison.

Te Stroete went 4-1 at 160 pounds in the Division 3 state wrestling meet last week, reaching a 42-6 record on the season.

He went 3-0 on Saturday to take third place, capping the day with a 6-0 decision over Devin Dennee (40-14) of Stratford.

“It’s been a couple of years since we’ve brought home a third,” coach Trevor Peterson said. “Obviously, he wrestled very well. I think the nerves got out after Thursday night.”

Te Stroete on Thursday won a 9-4 decision in a win-or-go-home match over Dylan Horstmeyer of (43-11) of Marshall.

In Friday’s quarterfinal, Te Stroete was pinned by Tyler Blanchard (41-9) of Coleman in 3 minutes, 2 seconds.

On Saturday, Te Stroete started with a 6-5 decision over Maguire Fitzgerald (37-8) of Fennimore. Te Stroete had a lead before giving up a point toward the end of the match, Peterson said.

“When you get down to big matches like this, you wrestle smart and do what you can do to win. He wrestled a controlled match,” he said.

Te Stroete followed with similarly controlled, and smart match to take third.

Te Stroete, Peterson said, wrestles throughout the year and has earned his accolades.

“I think he’s very happy. Josh put a ton of work in, hit the weights really hard,” Peterson said.

Te Stroete finished in the highest place of Rockets who qualified for state, a school record.

Freshman Cael Erickson at 120 pounds went 3-2 and came home with fourth place.

Erickson racked up a 43-5 record, which had Peterson doing some math.

“You’re looking at a guy who could be on pace to win 160 matches in his career,” he said.

The freshman didn’t let nerves get the better of him and won by a 17-1 technical fall on Thursday over Noah Krahenbuhl (26-5) of Pecatonica/Argyle.

He was pinned in the quarterfinal by eventual state champion Cian Fischer (47-0) of Weyauwega-Fremont. Peterson said he didn’t think Fischer has been scored upon all season.

Erickson bounced back with a 9-7 decision over Trent Vollendorf (41-4) of Ladysmith and a pin in 4:08 over Tristen Mascarette (39-8) of Florence/Niagara.

In the third-place match, Erickson faced Catholic Central’s Henry Amborn (10-3), who he beat twice this season.

But Erickson, who wrestles fast and keeps up the pace throughout entire matches, took a shot to the head right off the bat and got a bloody nose. That slowed the pace and worked to Amborn’s advantage, Peterson said. Erickson lost, 7-1.

“One of his big goals was being up on top of that podium this year. He gave it a pretty good run,” Peterson said.

At 132 pounds, Quinn Hoopman (36-13) finished his career by earning a medal for sixth place.

“That was awesome,” Peterson said.

Hoopman and Te Stroete have been the team leaders trying to get guys to wrestle every Sunday in Milwaukee to keep up their skills. The pair go religiously, he said.

“It’s good to see those guys get their rewards,” he said.

Hoopman went 2-3, winning the key match on Thursday to keep him in the tournament with an 8-2 decision over Benett Schramski (30-17) of Cumberland.

He then lost a 15-7 major decision to Fennimore’s Aiden Nutter (40-8), who eventually took third.

Hoopman won a 5-3 decision over Brant Cracraft (29-15) of Mishicot, beating him for the third time this season.

“It was a pretty controlled match,” Peterson said.

He was pinned by Justin Kempf (45-6) of Weyauwega-Fremont in 1:21 before losing the fifth-place match by a 5-0 decision to Caden Carey (37-8) of Mineral Point.

The other four Rocket qualifiers were eliminated by tough opponents in the first round.

Tyler Kowalkowski (16-7) at 138 pounds was winning before he was put to his back and pinned by Jacob Rodgers (26-9) of New Lisbon.

Ben Anzia (34-10) at 182 pounds was pinned in 1:27 by Cadott’s Ethan Tegels (41-7), who later took fourth place

Anzia had a “gorgeous take down” to start the match and was later put on his back in a scramble from neutral position, Peterson said.

Aaron Duenk at 195 was pinned by Aaron Ragels (38-12), who took fifth.

Brett Feind (32-13) lost a 12-6 decision to Athens’ Connor Westfall, who took fifth.

With a few tournament victories on the season, Te Stroete and Hoopman reaching 100 career victories and a record number qualifying for state, the year was a success.

“The guys really worked hard all season,” Peterson said.