Rockets bring home six-pack of state medals

The Division 3 individual state wrestling tournament felt more like a team event for Cedar Grove-Belgium High School last weekend at the Kohl Center in Madison, and the Rockets’ podium finishes looked similar those from the rest of their dominant season.

Six of the 10 state qualifiers earned medals, one year after the team sent five wrestlers to the tournament and didn’t bring home any top-six finishes.

“The atmosphere was awesome. It’s a bigger tournament, but sometimes you get here with a couple of guys and you’re waiting a lot. This was just guy after guy. It’s awesome. You always had someone going,” coach Quinn Hoopman said.

Senior Seth Race (51-3) went all the way to the finals at 175 pounds, where he ran into a tough opponent and lost, 5-0, to Brock Hinderman (47-4) of Iowa Grant/Highland.

“My goal was definitely to be a state champ this year. I fell a little short. It was pretty upsetting. I worked really hard this year,” Race said.

“Those matches hurt, but from where they came from a year ago it’s very impressive,” Hoopman said. “They should be proud of that, and the whole community’s proud of them.”

Race went 0-2 at state last season.

“I put in a ton of work in the offseason, after practice and going late nights at Askren (Wrestling Academy),” he said.

Race first beat Maximo Xolo (33-10) of Darlington in a 15-5 major decision, then got by Brandon Wright of Turtle Lake/Clayton, 4-2, in the semifinal.

Race got support and guidance from his older brother and former wrestler Owen, now an assistant coach.

“He’s helped me through everything. He’s the best,” Race said.

Four Rockets finished fourth.

Carsen Voskuil, the second-winningest wrestler in school history, earned the medal at 138 pounds. He pinned Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Devin Wudtke (40-11) in 1 minute, 5 seconds, then won a 7-5 decision over Riverdale’s Brody Miess (49-4). He lost a 12-2 major decision to Braden Johnson (52-0) of Cumberland — he went on to win the title — and in the third-place match lost, 6-1, to Tyler Paulson (51-4) of Aquinas.

“I made the semis so that was my goal. I came up short in the third-place match but I’m happy with the outcome,” Voskuil said.

Senior Chase Heimerman (48-6) was fourth at 113 pounds. He lost the third-place match, 4-1, to Jaydon LeNoble (27-5) of Weyauwega-Fremont.

“I’m grateful for it all and happy with the end result,” Heimerman said. “That first day was really awesome winning those first two matches.”

He won an 8-3 decision over Jack Kaczrowski (41-15) of Mishicot and pinned Max Clark (40-6) of Laona/Wabeno/Three Lakes in 3:48. He lost a 4-2 decision to Marathon’s Taylor Underwood (41-2) in the semifinal.

Sophomore Landon Heimerman (37-13), Chase’s younger brother, was fourth at 113 pounds.

“I did not think I was going to get that far,” he said.

He won, 1-0, over Turtle Lake/Clayton’s Luke Moen (35-12), then won, 5-0, over Weyauwega-Fremont’s Josue Azuara (25-2). He was pinned in 49 seconds in the semifinal by Gavin Slark (52-4) of Markesan and lost, 1-0, in the third-place match to Wabeno/Laona/Three Lakes’ Ryker Schingeck (56-2).

“That’s some of the best wrestling I’ve seen out him so far,” Hoopman said.

Heimerman said he battled nerves in his first time at state.

“I had a lot of family here so that made it even worse. I just tried not to think about it when I got on the mat,” he said.

Junior Josh Anzia (42-11) was fourth at 215 pounds. He pinned Hustisford’s Ethan Bryant (33-12) in 3:38, then beat No. 2-seeded Jabin Lawson by injury default. Anzia was leading, 4-0, when Lawson injured his foot.

Anzia lost a 10-1 decision to Lancaster’s Toay Ragatz (41-5), who went on to win the title.

“That was a really tough one, going against a champion there. I knew he was really good. It was better than I expected. I’m very happy with my outcome in that one,” Anzia said.

In the third-place match, Anzia was pinned in 54 seconds by Svestapol’s Jack Steinmeyer (40-10).

“For his first time being here, he brought the intensity,” Hoopman said. “He was here mentally. Sometimes they get here right away, that’s a lot for them.”

Senior Syrus Anderson (31-14) at 190 pounds got on the podium by finishing sixth despite coming in seeded 13th of 14 wrestlers. His only losses were to rival Simon Schwabe (48-7) of Random Lake, who pinned him in 3:29 in the opening match and beat him, 7-0, for fifth.

In between, Anderson beat Howard Boyle (30-9) of Pardeeville, 11-5, won by pin in a sudden victory in 5:42 over Lucas Stahnke of Edgar and beat Phillips’ Ayron DeLeasky (37-10), 8-5.

“I came here with no expectations. I didn’t think I was going to place,” Anderson said. “It was the most fun tournament I’ve ever wrestled at.”

“He wrestled some phenomenal close matches, and he just dug deep and kept bringing it,” Hoopman said.

Seth Kessen at 126 pounds and Vadim Misiura at 285 each went 2-2. Vince Knowles at 144 and Nolan Anzia at 150 each went 0-2.

Just being at state with 10 wrestlers was a blast.

“They feed off each other quite a bit. It was really fun. Just with all the guys, they get to experience it. The experience is the coolest part of the whole thing,” Hoopman said.

Now, the Rockets turn their attention to the team state tournament in La Crosse. Cedar Grove-Belgium has a 2 seed of the eight qualifiers and faces No. 7 Mineral Point on Friday, March 6. The semifinals and finals are on Saturday, March 7.