Story originally printed in the Westby Times or online at www.westbytimes.com
Published - Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Local wrestlers excel at Bi-State Classic
De Soto wrestler Chad Johnson claimed the 215-pound championship at the 27th annual Bi-State Classic in the La Crosse Center held Monday and Tuesday.
In the finals, Johnson (14-0) edged Zane Petersen of Lakeville South, 6-4.
Westby’s Jason Raasch (19-1) advanced all the way to the 130-pound title match, but fell to Luke Wiegman (18-0) of Cuba City/Southwestern in a 9-0 major decision. Raasch pinned four of his five opponents at Bi-State, as well as getting a forfeit in the third round.
Westby’s Austin Nottestad (16-5) at 140 and Cody See (19-3) at 103 were both fourth.
Viroqua wrestlers Andrew Strachan at 130 pounds and Taylor Henry at 285 both made it on the medal stand in the meet. Henry won his fifth-place match, while Strachan earned sixth place.
After falling 6-3 to Andrew Hermann of Bloomington/Kennedy (Minn.) in the heavyweight quarterfinal match, Henry (14-4) won three out of his last four matches, including a 3-1 decision over Indy Spindler of Stratford for fifth place.
Strachan, too, fell in his quarterfinal match. Strachan (13-4) was edged, 3-2, by Brad Gartner of New Richmond, but won his next two wrestle back matches by margins of 3-2 and 2-1, respectively. He was defeated in the fifth-place match on a 10-7 decision to Tyler Biba of Riverdale.
Other wrestlers medaling at Bi-State were North Crawford/Seneca’s Dylan Kansier at 112 pounds. Kansier (17-1) pinned Tim Crockett of Bloomington/Kennedy for third place. Kansier was the 103-pound Bi-State champion in 2007.
De Soto’s Evan Miller (103) placed sixth and North Crawford/Seneca’s Zach Miller (14-4) at 119 pounds won his fifth-place match, a 2-0 decision, over Billy Lorenz of Logan.
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