Injuries bite Skrundz, Stevenson but five win sectional championships
By Mike Ramczyk
Correspondent
It was a Saturday of triumph and a little heartbreak for the Burlington Demons wrestling squad.
Battling at the Prairie School in the Racine St. Catherine’s Division 1 sectional, the positive spin is that seven Demons, Jaden Bird, Grant Koenen, Cody Welker, Max Ehlen, Ben Kumprey, Qwade Gehring and Zach Wallace all placed in the top two in their respective weight classes and will advance to the WIAA Individual State tournament, which starts Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison.
The heartbreak comes from two promising seniors, Ben Stevenson and Jake Skrundz, who were poised for state but experienced injuries last week.
Stevenson was in an accident Friday night, and Skrundz injured his shoulder in the semifinals.
Skrundz finished his senior season 24-3.
“Ben was the most mentally prepared for Saturday as I’ve seen this year, and Jake watched as two people that he had beat moved on to the state wresting tournament,” said Burlington head coach Jade Gribble.
Bird, Ehlen, Kumprey, Wallace and Gehring all won sectional titles, while Welker and Koenen took second.
Gribble said the highlights included the performances of Wallace and Kumprey, who both avenged losses earlier in the season.
“Kumprey beat a young man from Mukwonago that he had lost to twice earlier this year in close matches,” Gribble said. “He dominated the semifinals match against Mukwonago and was able to carry that into the finals match to win the tournament. Wallace avenged a loss from Tuesday to dominate a very good wrestler from Mukwonago. Zach stayed focused and in control the entire match for an outstanding win.”
“Overall I’m very excited how our kids are wrestling. Even young men that lost have very fixable situations to work on for this coming weekend.”
At 113 pounds, Bird (34-5) was efficient, and went on to defeat Franklin in a close 5-3 dual in the finals.
At 120, Koenen (31-7) lost in the first-place match, but wrestled back to pin Oak Creek’s Luca Paladino in the second-place match.
Ehlen (35-6) kept rolling at 145 pounds, where he won his title match, 6-1.
Welker pinned Union Grove’s Jon Sackman at 152 pounds in the first period to take second place.
For Kumprey (32-4), it was a 5-2 victory over Waterford’s Evan Danowski in the finals that propelled him to Madison.
At 182 pounds, Gehring (38-4), who has been dominant this postseason, continued his torrid pace with a pin in the championship.
Finally, Wallace (36-6) earned a major decision over his Mukwonago foe in the finals.
Bird and Skrundz placed third a year ago, and Welker took fourth.
“We wrestled well on Saturday, we’ve had this many qualifiers before,” Gribble added. “This was one of the toughest sectionals in the state. Several state medalists from last year were not able to finish in the top two and qualify.”
Zeke Tiedt placed fourth at 220 pounds.
For Gribble, Saturday will be about getting to the podium (top six) for the Demons.
The Kohl Center should be rocking, as the championship matches start at 7 p.m.
Can Burlington’s talented crop of seniors achieve the ultimate prize?
“Our goal with the seven moving on to state is to get on the podium,” Gribble said. “Some of them have goals to win a state title and others to earn a medal.”
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