The thrill of victory, the agony of delete

Ryder Sigler heard the crowd ignite. His father was as hysterical as anyone.

He had done it.

Sigler, a 2016 Cedarburg High School graduate from Fredonia who is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, beat two-time defending NCAA champion Lucas Jeske in the semifinals of the Upper Midwest Regional Championship at 165 pounds.

It was the highlight of his career, and it  guaranteed him a spot in the NCAA Championship.

The match, held Feb. 29 at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, was a home contest for Jeske, who attends the school.

That turned out not to matter.

“Going into it, I knew who he was but it didn’t really matter to me. I knew I had to wrestle my style to win,” Sigler said.

Sigler threw Jeske quickly and took a six-point lead. He could feel the crowd’s excitement building.

“I saw everyone’s eyes on me. That was crazy,” he said.

Then Sigler threw Jeske again.

“I basically shut down all of his offense, all of his shots. He tried throwing me and I caught him on his back again,” he said.

“I was definitely wrestling very well that match, staying composed.”

The match went all three periods but it was never in doubt. Sigler won, 15-6.

“The crowd was going crazy. After the match is over I saw my dad on the side of the mat with his arms up screaming and yelling,” he said.

Sigler had pinned two opponents before wrestling Jeske in the semifinal. In the title match, he had a little bit of a letdown. He lost, 3-1, to Mitchell Hertel of UW-La Crosse.

“I knew I qualified for the national tournament which is huge for me. That was the first time I qualified for that,” he said. “Mentally, I wasn’t in that match. I was on such a high from the semifinals match.”

Two weeks later, Sigler’s season was over through no fault of his own.

Sigler and three Warhawk teammates traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the NCAA Championship. They practiced on Wednesday and Thursday and later Thursday night found out the tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was a cool experience leading up to it,” Sigler said. “When we found out the news we weren’t allowed to wrestle, it was pretty heartbreaking. All that work I put into the sport got shut out.

“That was my last year.”

The national competition would have been interesting. Jeske took third to qualify, and Sigler said the two may have faced off again.

Sigler finished with a 23-13 record for the season.

“I turned it around when I needed to, I guess,” he said.

One element Sigler will remember from the season is the support of his mother. She sent him an email every day for about a month with the subject “Believe” that included a short message to keep him motivated.

“I have to thank her a lot for that. I know that she believed in me,” he said. “The rest of my family, my girlfriend — I just had to believe in myself.”

While the wrestling season ended early, school is continuing. UW-Whitewater started online classes this week.

Sigler was named a National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Scholar All-American. He has one year of school left to earn his physical education degree and would like to get into coaching wrestling and football.

At Cedarburg High, Sigler qualified for the state wrestling meet twice and was an all-conference running back.