Marshfield, Stratford eye titles at 2023 WIAA State Team Wrestling Tournament

Marshfield wrestler Hoyt Blaskowski and his Tigers’ teammates will take part in the WIAA State Team Wrestling Tournament on Friday at the UW Field House in Madison. (Paul Lecker file photo)

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MADISON – The 32nd annual WIAA State Team Wrestling Tournament will be held Friday and Saturday, March 3-4, at the University of Wisconsin Field House.

Marshfield will be making its fifth appearance in the past six seasons in the Division 1 tournament, which begins with quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Semifinals will follow, with the championship match set for 3 p.m. Saturday.

In Division 3, Stratford is back at state for the first time since 2020, when it capped a string of five-straight tournament appearances.

Marshfield (16-4) is the No. 3 seed in the Division 1 field and will take on No. 6 Mukwonago (25-5) in a quarterfinal matchup. The winner will face the winner of No. 2 Bay Port (19-2) and No. 7 Reedsburg (16-3) in the semifinals.

Marshfield is making its seventh state appearance overall, having never reached the championship round. The Tigers won quarterfinal matches in 2002, 2003, 2019 and last year, before being bounced in the semifinals. Mukwonago was the Division 1 runner-up in both 2019 and 2020, the last time it made it to state.

Marshfield had a school-record six medalists at the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament, held last Thursday through Saturday at the Kohl Center. Ava Gardner was a third-place finisher in the girls tournament, while five boys won top-six medals.

Caleb Dennee (45-6) and Garrett Willuweit (49-6) each lost their respective 152- and 160-pound D-1 championship matches to finish second; while Brett Franklin (45-10) took fourth at 138, Jon Sternweis (42-14) was fifth at 106, and Hoyt Blaskowski (50-5) finished fifth at 145.

No. 1 seed Kaukauna (11-0), the two-time defending state team champion, will take on No. 8 Waukesha West (19-6), and No. 4 Muskego (18-6) will go up against No. 5 Germantown (19-1) in the other D-1 quarterfinals. Kaukauna is making its state-record 21st appearance, also earned four state titles in a row from 2014-17.

Stratford is heading back to state for the 10th time, having won Division 3 championships in 2017 and 2018, while finishing as the runner-up in 2011, 2022, 2003, 2016 and 2019.

Stratford had three medalists at last weekend’s WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament. Jackson Ormond (46-2) finished third at 182 pounds, Ryan Becker (42-15) was fourth at 145, and Carter Lueck (43-8) took fourth at 170.

Stratford (15-2) is the No. 4 seed in the Division 3 field and will take on No. 1 seed Fennimore (15-0) in a semifinal match at 10 a.m. Saturday. Fennimore is the defending D-3 champion and also has a history with the Tigers at the state tournament. The teams met in the championship match four-straight years from 2016-19, each winning twice.

No. 2 Shiocton (22-2) will take on No. 3 Cedar Grove-Belgium (14-0) in the other Division 3 semifinal.

Luxemburg-Casco, last year’s runner-up, highlights the Division 2 field, which will also hold semifinal matches at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Tickets for the tournament are $16 for the Friday session, and $11 for each Saturday session, and can be purchased online through GoFan on wiaawi.org. All matches will be live-streamed on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network on a subscription basis.

2023 WIAA State Team Wrestling Tournament
March 3-4, at UW Field House, Madison.
Friday, March 3
Division 1 Quarterfinals, 5:30 p.m.

No. 1 Kaukauna (11-0) vs. No. 8 Waukesha West (19-6)
No. 4 Muskego (18-6) vs. No. 5 Germantown (19-1)
No. 3 Marshfield (16-4) vs. No. 6 Mukwonago (25-5)
No. 2 Bay Port (19-2) vs. No. 7 Reedsburg (16-3)
Division 1 Semifinals, 7:30 p.m.
Kaukauna-Waukesha West winner vs. Muskego-Germantown winner
Marshfield-Mukwonago winner vs. Bay Port-Reedsburg winner
Saturday, March 4
Division 2 Semifinals, 10 a.m.

No. 1 Luxemburg-Casco (18-0) vs. No. 4 Evansville (16-5)
No. 2 Prairie du Chien (27-4) vs. No. 3 Baldwin-Woodville (14-3)
Division 3 Semifinals, 10 a.m.
No. 1 Fennimore (15-0) vs. No. 4 Stratford (15-2)
No. 2 Shiocton (22-2) vs. No. 3 Cedar Grove-Belgium (14-0)
Championship matches, 3 p.m.
All three divisions