In what could be termed a qualified success, six competitors from the talent-heavy Bonduel High School wrestling team advanced Saturday from the Coleman Regional into the WIAA sectional tournament that the Bears will host Saturday at Shawano Community High School.
Pushing through to wrestle another day for Bonduel were freshman Jordan Boldt, juniors Garrett Siolka and Bennett Gunderson, and seniors Travis Wollenberg, Dan Tauchen and Mitch Sokolski.
Boldt ran his record to 34-3 by knocking off Oconto’s Aiden Wusterbarth in the 106-pound title match 10-7, while Tauchen improved to 38-2 with a pin in the semifinal and a 3-2 win over Shiocton’s Garrett Gunderson for the 160-pound regional championship.
Bonduel’s Bennett Gunderson (30-11) also claimed a regional title in the 285-pound class with a pin at 2:59 of his match with Coleman’s Donovan Salewski.
Tauchen, the Central Wisconsin Conference-8 Wrestler of the Year, trailed Gunderson 2-1 late in the match before scoring the go-ahead points on a neat reversal.
“I beat him 10-0 last week, so he must’ve learned what was working for me then,” Tauchen said. “I didn’t feel great, not my best, but I wasn’t worried that I would lose. I felt like I could get two points when I needed them.”
Regional runnersup for the Bears were Siolka (37-5) in the 126-pound class, Wollenberg (30-11) at 138 and Sokolski (33-9) at 170 pounds.
“We were hoping we’d put seven of our guys through,” Bonduel coach Chris Rank said, “but we came up a little short.”
If you have a second, Rank would be glad to tell you how close the Bears came to advancing seven. The Bears’ Jacob Banker lost a controversial 6-4 decision to Alex Zeitler of Gillett/Suring in a semifinal of the 152-pound bracket, after apparently having scored a three-point near-fall late in the third period that would have given him the win.
The interpretation of the duration of one second, as opposed to two, was the determining factor in Banker’s not being awarded the near-fall.
“(The referee) said he had three one-counts, and you have to have a two-count for a near-fall,” Rank said. “But that’s how it goes. It was a bit of a controversial call, but sometimes there are calls you don’t agree with. That one just didn’t go our way. It’s too bad, that was a strong weight class here. There’s a good chance that the third-place guy at this regional would have been the third-place guy at state.”
Defending Division 3 state champ Coleman won the team title with 264.5 points, followed by second-place Shiocton’s 194 and then Bonduel with 178.5.
“For us, now it goes from a team sport to an individual sport,” Rank said. “I’m proud of all of our guys and the season we’ve had.”
Division 3
Coleman Regional
Team scores: 1. Coleman 264.5, 2. Shiocton 194, 3. Bonduel 178.5, 4. Oconto 163, 5. Gillett/Suring 158, 6. Menominee Indian 54.5, 7. Lena/St. Thomas Academy 23.
Bonduel
Regional Semifinalists
106 – 1. Jordan Boldt d. Aiden Wusterbarth, O, (title match) 10-7.
126 – 2. Garrett Siolka d. Levi Snortum, SHI, (semifinal) 12-3; Elton Kelsey, O, d. Siolka (title) 3-1.
138 – 2. Travis Wollenberg d. Brandon Champagne, C, (semifinal) fall 3:50; Grant Fischer, GS, d. Wollenberg (title) 6-1.
152 – Alex Zeitler, GS, d. Jacob Banker (semifinal) 6-4.
160 – 1. Dan Tauchen d. Abraham Nowak, C, (semifinal) fall 2:39; Tauchen d. Garrett Gunderson, SHI, (title) 3-2.
170 – 2. Mitch Sokolski d. Brett Milhans, GS, (semifinal) 13-7; Alex Stodola, C, d. Sokolski (title) 3-2.
182 – Henry Fielding, SHI, d. Isaiah Griesbach (semifinal) fall 1:25.
195 – Brodan Bennin, GS, d. Brandon Novitski (semifinal) fall 2:16.
220 – Ben Gunderson, SHI, d. Bryce Maule (semifinal) 9-2.
285 – 1. Bennett Gunderson d. Donovan Herbst, GS, (semifinal) fall 1:20; Gunderson d. Donovan Salewski, C, (title) fall 2:59.
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