Congratulations to Grant Englebert for finishing second at todays individual wrestling tournament and qualifying for state. Grant joins an elite group as only the third Southern Door wrestler to earn his third trip to state. The other two being Kevin Guilette and Michael Bertrand.
Grant was in a very familiar bracket today. Kolton Tesarik of Mishicot ranked #6, Ryan Roy of Wabeno ranked #3 and Mason Haas of Amherst ranked #4 joined Grant who is currently ranked #5. Grant beat Tesarik in the regional final last week, lost to Roy in the sectional semi final last year and has beaten Haas in very close matches each of he past three seasons. The bracket also included two honorable mention wrestlers and the 8th ranked wrestler from Coleman making this a very strong bracket.
Grant started the day with an 8-1 win over honorable mention Colten Schuh of Shiocton to advance to the semi finals. Grant was able to score two takedowns early to set the pace but couldn't turn Schuh. Overall a very good controlled match for Grant. Schuh never mounted any offense and wrestled very defensively.
In the semi final Grant faced Haas. Haas was the sectional champion last year and advanced to the state semi finals before losing in overtime. Grant started slow and gave up an early takedown but from there scored a reversal and never looked back earning a 6-3 win and a spot in the finals. All season long Grant has been very hard to hold down and is very good with the switch. Another very good match that wasn't as close as the score looked. Haas is a very good wrestler with a style that Grant likes to wrestle.
In the finals Grant faced Roy. Unfortunately Roy seemed to be a step ahead of Grant on his feet today and got two takedowns in the first period to go ahead 4-1. Roy quickly let Grant go every time Grant was close to getting away to avoid Grant's switch and stay off the bottom. Grant changed his attack in the third period but it was too little too late. We'll look to make corrections for a possible rematch next week.
Ironically Roy was coached by SD Alum Tyler Wagner last year and is now coached by SD Alum Colin Schubert.
With only two wrestlers advancing to state from each sectional this year, Grant will join Roy in representing the 160 lb weight class from our section next week Saturday. Due to the pandemic the state tournament finals are not being held in Madison this year. Each division is being hosted in a different location with Division 3 being held at Wausau East. This years brackets were also cut from 12 wrestlers to 8 so the tournament can be run in a single day. The first round will start at 9:00 AM with the finals starting at 5:00.
Also competing today were Spencer Slezewski, Trevor Englebert and Brodie Overbeck. Spencer and Trevor both placed 6th which is a very positive step toward next season. They have both improved each week and continue to develop their knowledge. Brodie went 2-2 on the day. Brodie takes a step closer each year and will be ready for state next season.
