Mission complete: Thiry wins state title
Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/06/2025 - 14:15
Prairie du Chien senior Blake Thiry has his hand raised after winning the D2 215-pound State Championship. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
The Hawks’ Jack Simmons clings to the ankle of Saint Croix Falls’ Logan Bockman during overtime of their semifinal match at 285 pounds. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
PdC's Aspen Gelo tries to turn Cadott's Tessa York during their consolation match at 120. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Prairie du Chien senior Bryce Lenzendorf works from the top to control Coleman's Isaac Nowak during their fifth-place match at D2 157 pounds. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
North Crawford/Seneca's Franky Groom celebrates after pinning New Berlin West/Eisenhower's Amelia Poplawski in the quarterfinals at 132. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Prairie du Chien senior Irelynd Cejka faces off with Auburndale's Jasmine Hebert in the consolation round at 138 pounds. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
North Crawford/Seneca senior Jaren Grimsled works to turn Oostburg's Landon Holschbach over for a pin in their championship round match at D3 113 pounds. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Boscobel/Wauzeka-Steuben's Lexie Lathrop works from her base against Ashland's Madison Burns during their championship round match at 235. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
The Hawks' Mason Hird goes in for a takedown on Amery's Antonio Sowell during their quarterfinal match at D2 138. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
The Hawks' Rosalie Kossman works to possibly turn River Falls' Olivia Luther during their consolation match at 100. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Sawyer Swiggum (left) of North Crawford/Seneca gets ready to take a shot on Deerfield's Sam Haines during their fifth place match at D2 215-pounds. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
By Derick Kelly
After four years of close calls and near misses in three different sports, Prairie du Chien senior Blake Thiry (52-3) reached the mountaintop this past Saturday night at the Kohl Center in Madison.
He defeated Seymour junior Cael Leisgang 12-0 in the D2 215 pound state championship match to earn his first career state championship. In the process, he became the seventh state champion in Prairie du Chien Wrestling history.
Thiry began his fourth and final state wrestling weekend on Thursday night with a pin of Osceola freshman Elliot Havlish in 1:22. The victory moved Thiry into a semifinal bout against Lake Country Lutheran’s Nathaniel Grooms. Thiry would reach his first career championship match, pinning Grooms in 3:21.
A busy weekend for the Hawks included junior Jack Simmons (48-10) reaching the D2 state finals at 285 pounds. Simmons’ championship match opponent was Freedom’s Hunter Vander Heiden, who is currently ranked 11th nationally and is committed to D1 California Baptist.
Vander Heiden won by technical fall 21-5. Simmons became the seventh state runner-up in program history. Simmons reached the finals thanks to a 10-0 major decision victory over Campbellsport’s Brock Bentz and a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over Saint Croix Falls’ Logan Bockman in the semifinal round. Simmons’ win over Bockman avenged a 1-0 loss to the SCF senior during last year’s team state semifinal dual between SCF and PdC.
Senior Bryce Lenzendorf (47-12) concluded his wrestling career for Prairie du Chien by defeating Coleman’s Isaiah Nowak 4-1 in the fifth place match. Lenzendorf began his tournament run Thursday afternoon with a pin of Northwestern’s Bryer Burkhart in 4:44 before losing 11-2 to Shoreland Lutheran’s Adam Haas in the night session. Lenzendorf responded to the loss with a 10-2 major decision victory over Two Rivers’ Derek Klinkner and a 7-3 victory over Osceola’s Wyatt Hastings to reach the fifth-place match at 157 pounds.
Just missing a spot in the top six was PdC junior Mason Hird (50-11) who was defeated by Dodgeville’s Nathan Johnson in the consolation semifinal round at 138 pounds. Hird began his run with 15-0 technical fall win over Ellsworth’s Henry Penn before dropping his quarterfinal match 7-2 to Amery’s Antonio Sowell. Hird answered the loss with a 19-2 technical fall win over Delavan-Darien’s Joe Ketterhagen to advance to the consolation semifinal round.
The Prairie du Chien Girls Wrestling team sent their first three qualifiers to this year’s state tournament as Rosalie Kossman (100), Aspen Gelo (120) and Irelynd Cejka (138) each went 0-2 at the meet. Kossman was defeated by Green Bay Preble’s Jackie Zuniga by fall in 4:00 and River Falls’ Olivia Luther by fall in 5:29. Gelo fell to Hudson’s Mary Prescott via pinfall in 5:45 and Cadott’s Tessa York via pinfall in 4:16. Cejka dropped matches to Pulaski’s Leah Kapla via fall in 3:17 and Auburndale’s Jasmine Hebert by fall in 3:44 to conclude her career.
North Crawford/Seneca wrestling had three state qualifiers, led by a third-place finish in the girls tournament at 132 pounds by sophomore Franky Groom. First up was Milton’s Jessie Demarasse, who Groom would defeat via pinfall in 1:39 before advancing to the semifinals thanks to a pin in 2:18 over New Berlin West/Eisenhower’s Amelia Poplawski. Waiting for Groom in the semifinals at 132 was Menasha’s Lillie Banks, the defending state champion at 132 pounds. Banks would earn a 6-0 decision to send Groom to the third-place match against Adams-Friendship junior Lydia Hutter. Groom would clinch third-place with a pin in 2:56, her third of the tournament. She ended her sophomore season with a final record of 39-6.
Also qualifying for NC/S in D3 was senior Jaren Grimsled at 113 pounds and Sawyer Swiggum at 215 pounds. Grimsled pinned Oostburg’s Landon Holschbach in 1:19 to advance to the quarterfinal round where he was defeated 7-6 by Markesan’s Gavin Slark.
Grimsled responded with a pinfall victory in 4:19 over Westby’s Klayten Geier to advance to the consolation semifinal round where he was defeated 11-0 by Auburndale’s Carson Weiler. The loss ended Grimsled’s season at 49-10 and one round short of wrestling for fifth place. Grimsled concludes his wrestling career for NC/S as a two-time state qualifier with 148 career wins.
Joining Groom on the podium for NC/S was junior Sawyer Swiggum in fifth place at 215 pounds in D3. Swiggum opened up the tournament with a pinfall loss in 4:22 to Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Jack Steinmeyer before responding with wins over Cornell/Gilman/Lake Holcombe’s Taydyn Angell (fall in 4:08) and Crandon’s Trent Palubicki (6-4 decision) to reach the fifth-place match against Deerfield’s Sam Haines in which Swiggum would go on to defeat Haines via pinfall in 3:51 to finish the season 35-7 and a fifth-place finish in his first trip to the state tournament.
Boscobel/Wauzeka-Steuben senior Lexie Lathrop began her tournament run with a pinfall loss in 0:27 to Ashland’s Madison Burns in the 235-pound weight class during Thursday’s opening round before falling to Watertown’s Aliviah Walsh in 2:15 in the consolation round. Lathrop ended her season with a record of 15-18 and was the first girls state qualifier in Boscobel/Wauzeka-Steuben program history.
Editor's note - due to space constraints, only the first two photos appear in this week's physical paper. Will attempt to run the rest in next week's physical issue if space allows.
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