By Troy Sparks
It was another tournament win for the Division 1 fourth-ranked Burlington wrestling team. The Demons participated in the Freedom Irish Invitational on Jan. 13 and returned home winners in a big way.
“The wrestling program had a good day at the Freedom Irish Invite,” Burlington coach Jade Gribble said. “All 14 wrestlers finished in the top eight and scoring team points. This year’s tournament had some of the state’s best competition with 11 of the 16 teams somewhere in the state rankings with 11 kids ranked No. 1 and 11 kids ranked No. 2 competing in this tournament.”
Burlington is undefeated in dual and tournament matches this season. The Demons are 10-0 in dual meets and 5-0 in tournaments.
The Demons won the 16-team tournament with 197 points, 18.5 better than second place Stratford, who’s the top-ranked team in Division 3.
The Demons pulled it off, despite producing only one champion.
“Senior Nate Crayton had a dominant day, pinning all three opponents,” Gribble said.”
Crayton (27-3) won the 182-pound weight class. He is ranked No. 12 in Division 1 in the latest wiwrestling.com rankings. The Demons got a runner-up finish from freshman Hayden Halter (29-1), who moved up in the rankings from fourth to second at 113.
“Hayden Halter actually lost to the No. 1-ranked kid at 120 (Eric Barnett of Hortonville),” Gribble said. “He just moved down to 113.”
A pair of sophomores also lost in championship matches. Cody Welker (25-6) lost to top-ranked Noah Leisgang of Division 1 Ashwaubenon.
Welker moved up from honorable mention to No. 10 at 120. Max Ehlen (25-5, No. 6) gave No. 1 Brytton Goymera (Appleton North) all he could handle in his first-place match at 138 before losing 8-6 in sudden death.
Freshman Jalen Bird (23-6, 106), who slipped from fifth to eighth in the rankings, finished third in the tournament and so did Qwade Gehring (24-6, 160). Senior Max Travis (22-9, No. 2 at 220) lost his third-place match to Stratford junior Dylan Schoenherr (No. 4 in Division 3) to finish fourth.
Jake Skrundz (18-4) was unable to wrestle in the third-place match due to injury default.
Sophomore Ben Stevenson (25-6, 126) and junior Zach Weiler (25-7, 132) won their fifth-place matches. Ben Kumprey (24-9) finished in sixth place at 152. Zach Wallace (23-9, 170), Nate Bousman (10-15, 195) and Taylan Hensley (9-11, 285) lost their seventh-place matches to finish eighth.
“This tournament was exactly what our kids needed,” Gribble said. “I was happy to see the kids respond to some losses and looking forward to making the proper adjustments moving forward.”
“It’s been a fun year so far. It’s a great time for Burlington wrestling.”
Burlington will wrestle SLC opponent Delavan-Darien on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a dual match that was rescheduled from last week because of inclement weather. They will also participate in the Homesteaed Tournament on Friday.
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