“Nothing has been the same in the Covid-19 affected Sports world” and that includes the WIAA State High School Wrestling Tournament.
Instead of returning to the Kohl Center, the meet is spread out to three different sites: Kaukauna, Adams-Friendship, and Wausau East. Veteran central Wisconsin sports broadcaster Terry Stake, who now resides at Lake Tomahawk, has covered the State meet since 1973.
He and his wife, Terri, will rely on computers, television, and kindle all set up to the different sites to gather information about the matches Saturday.
The lakeshore region will have a total of 19 state competitors at Adams-Friendship and Wausau, East High School’s Saturday, Including Two Rivers senior Matty Bianchi who is on the doorstep to history. Stake explains that Bianchi could join some exclusive company in becoming a 4-time state champion, “He would be the 19th if he accomplishes the 4-peat.”
There’s another returning state champion in Kewaunee’s Jack Severin while Bailey Thelen from Two Rivers returns after finishing runner-up a year ago. Also, two third-place winners return in hopes of a higher finish: Cole Ebert of Reedsville and Ethan Schwartz from Denmark, and Andrew Schad of Kiel was 4th on the medal stand at state.
Stake also told us just 8-wrestlers are competing in each weight class in this year’s format, saying, “6 out of the 8 will be place-winners under the revised WIAA State format this year.”
Terry Stake will do wrestling reports for WOMT Sports and Seehafer News both Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
