What an incredibly exciting weekend! On Saturday, our Kewaskum Indians Varsity Wrestling team wrestled in Kiel, WI for the Eastern Wisconsin Conference title. They had already secured the Division Two Championship title and were going after a FIRST TIME Eastern Wisconsin Championship.
Kewaskum has NEVER won this title in it's history. For the last six years, two of our biggest rivals have held the title. Sheboygan Falls has had it for the past three years, and the three years prior to that, Campbellsport has held the title. Our boys really wrestled hard and it was a nail biting day. After each round they would announce which teams were in what place with their points total. We were in second place most of the day, however we pulled it off and for the first time in Kewaskum Wrestling history, the boys brought home the Championship!!!
There were a few amazing things that happened also. First of all, Lance is a freshman so it's amazing that he is even wrestling varsity. But, he came into this tournament seeded SECOND in the conference! The only higher seed was held by James Hawley of Campbellsport. What this meant is that Lance received a bye for the first round (an automatic win). His second match was against David Mueller of Kiel. Lance lost 7-4. It was such a close match up between these two. Lance was ahead most of the match, then David tied it at 4-4. There were only about 30 seconds left and Lance got out of position allowing David to get 3 more points winning the match. Unfortunately, Lance pulled a groin muscle during this match and we thought he was done for the day. He iced it and refused to sit out. He said he was not going to just forfeit and settle for fourth place. We weren't so sure this was a good decision since he had MORE tournaments coming for individual and team competitions that could get him to state if he does well enough.
Well, he still wanted to wrestle and the coach let him give it a try.
Lance's next match was againsy Lukas Ohman of Plymouth. Into the second period, we could all tell he was in a LOT of pain. Coach Dennis Aupperle told the ref he needs to check on his guy. Dennis told Lance he wanted to stop the match and Lance would not let him despite the tears rolling down his cheek from the pain. Lance finished it off in over time! He managed to get a pin in 6:18 (6 minutes, 18 seconds)! So, as a freshman, he took THIRD in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference tournament!
He has a week of no competition before he and the rest of the team head to Port Washington this Saturday for WIAA Regionals. I think this may be individuals and not team, but I am not 100% sure.
Now, on top of Lance's accomplishments, our team had a few WONDERFUL things take place at this tournament! Our very own Cody Seibel took MVP of the tournament. This is voted on by all the coaches! Cody is an amazing young man! He is definitely a leader and helps to keep the team motivated. Cody and his younger brother Bo both managed to be Champions in this tournament! Cody at 189 weight class and Bo at 140 weight class. This makes Cody a THREE TIME EWC Champion! Jerry & Tammy Seibel are SO proud of their boys, I'm sure!
But, what can you expect when your head coach is Dennis Aupperle (2 time EWC Champ) and Joel Dziedzic (4 time EWC Champ)! These young men have SO much talent heading them up, but they could not accomplish what they have without a TON of hard work and dedication!
Way to go Kewaskum Indians!!!
Ian Auraudi (103) 6th Place
Jared Koffke (112) 3rd Place
Derik Muckerheide (119) 6th Place
Rob Maertz (125) 3rd Place
Brad Bentz (130) 1st Place CHAMP
Caleb Olla (135) 3rd Place
Bo Seibel (140) 1st Place CHAMP
Nathan Seitz (145) 6th Place
Ray Wollner (152) 3rd Place
Lance Pinchard (160) 3rd Place
Eric Turowski (171) 2nd Place
Cody Seibel (189) 1st Place CHAMP
PJ Krueger (215) 1st Place CHAMP
Matt Buker (289) 2nd Place
Wow, what can I say! This group of boys and coaches lead us through an amazingly exciting Valentine's Day this past Saturday!
