Wausau Pilot & Review
The 79th annual WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament will be held Thursday through Saturday at the Kohl Center in Madison with a number of local athletes competing for state titles in three divisions.
A total of 23 former state champions are in this year’s state tournament field, with six in Division 1, eight in Division 2, and nine in Division 3.
Wausau West and D.C. Everest will have three wrestlers each competing in the Division 1 field, starting with preliminary matches Thursday afternoon.
All of West’s state wrestlers are seniors. Gabriel Ramos (37-4) will take on Aidan Ford (40-3) of Slinger at 145 pounds; Reed Napiwocki (33-10) will battle Benjamin Otto (37-2) of Brookfield Central at 170; and Joseph Berens (39-3) will take on Ryan Rambo (36-9) of Hudson in first-round matchups.
Freshman Deakin Trotzer (9-5) goes against undefeated Nicolar Rivera (49-0) of Stoughton at 126 pounds; junior Blake Heal (29-7) will battle Brandon Liddle (29-6) of Oregon at 138 pounds; and Mitchell Danielski (29-11) will take on Zeke Tiedt (36-6) of Burlington at 220 pounds in first-round matches for D.C. Everest.
The championship matches will be aired live on Bally Sports Wisconsin starting at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. All of the pre-finals matches will be streamed live on wiaa.tv with a subscription to the NFHS Network, whis is $10.99 per month.
2022 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament
Feb. 24-26, at Kohl Center, Madison
Thursday, Feb. 24
Session 1
Division 1 Preliminaries, 3 p.m.
Division 1 Quarterfinals, approximately 5:15 p.m.
Divisions 2 & 3 Preliminaries, approximately 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 25
Session 2
Division 1 Consolations, 10 a.m.
Divisions 2 & 3 Quarterfinals, approximately 11:15 a.m.
Division 1 Consolation Quarterfinals, approximately 1:45 p.m.
Divisions 2 & 3 Consolation Quarterfinals, approximately 2:45 p.m.
Session 3
Divisions 1, 2 & 3 Semifinals, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 26
Session 4
Divisions 1, 2 & 3 Consolation Semifinals, 10 a.m.
Divisions 1, 2 & 3 Fifth-place Matches*
Divisions 1, 2 & 3 Third-place Matches*
(*Third-place and fifth-place matches will run concurrently by weight class within divisions after all consolation matches are completed).
Session 5
Divisions 1, 2 and 3 Championship Matches, 5:30 p.m.
Local Wrestlers Matchups
Division 1
First Round starts Thursday at 3 p.m.
126: Deakin Trotzer (9-5), fr., D.C. Everest vs. Nicolar Rivera (49-0), sr., Stoughton.
138: Blake Heal (29-7), jr., D.C. Everest, vs. Brandon Liddle (29-6), Oregon.
145: Gabriel Ramos (37-4), sr., Wausau West, vs. Aidan Ford (40-3), sr., Slinger.
170: Reed Napiwocki (33-10), sr., Wausau West, vs. Benjamin Otto (37-2), jr., Brookfield Central.
195: Joseph Berens (39-3), sr., Wausau West, vs. Ryan Rambo (36-9), jr., Hudson.
220: Mitchell Danielski (29-11), sr., D.C. Everest, vs. Zeke Tiedt (36-6), sr., Burlington.
