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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MADISON – Marshfield senior Justin Sternweis and freshman Mitch Hertel saw their seasons come to an end during consolation bracket matches Friday at the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center.
Sternweis won his first consolation match Friday morning with his 24th pin of the season, stopping Torren Peebles of Appleton North in 2:21 of his Division 1 182-pound consolation match.
Sternweis had a back-and-forth battle with defending 171-pound state champion Ian Johnson of Milton in a consolation semifinal Friday afternoon, but came up a point short, losing 10-9.
Sternweis (43-3) earned a takedown to even the match at 9-9 with 38 seconds left in the third period and decided to allow Johnson to escape and go for another takedown and the win.
The risky decision nearly paid off as Sternweis seemingly gained control of Johnson with just under 10 seconds to go, however the referee ruled that there was no control before the two tumbled out of bounds. Sternweis didn’t get another chance in the final seconds and saw his season end without a medal at the state tournament for the second year in a row.
“I am almost positive I had the two (takedown),” Sternweis said. “I was behind him, had control, both hands and feet were on the mat, we were all in – there’s no reason I shouldn’t have got the two. The ref must have saw something that I didn’t and didn’t give it to me.”
The loaded 182-pound bracket had two defending state champions, another undefeated wrestler – Neenah’s Ryan Bonikowske, who beat Sternweis in a quarterfinal on Thursday – and Sternweis, who had only one loss. That was just in the top half of the bracket.
Sternweis said he knew it would be a tough road and did all he could to try to get through to the medal stand.
“Whoever wins it all definitely deserves it,” Sternweis said. “All I really can do is compete with them. I thought everything I had I pretty much put it out there. It was pretty exciting being part of the hardest (weight) class in the state.”
Hertel, who won his opening round match before losing in the quarterfinals on Thursday, was eliminated from the tournament after dropping his first consolation match Friday morning 1-0 to Ryan Stalsberg of Holmen.
Hertel finishes the season with a 34-12 record.