By NATE BEIER | For the County Line
On the path toward putting together one of the better records in Brookwood wrestling history, Ben DeWitt won the 160-pound title and improved to 13–1 at the annual Mid-States Wrestling Classic, which was at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater from Dec. 28–29.
DeWitt opened the tournament with a bye, and then knocked off his first opponent 13–0. In the 160 quarterfinal, DeWitt pinned Edgerton’s Garrett Ison at the end of the first period. It was a third-period pin that launched the senior from the semifinal round into the finals.
The championship match pitted DeWitt against Reedsville’s Brandon Stelzer. The two jockeyed for position all three periods, but DeWitt finished with a 3–2 decision and Brookwood’s lone wall chart of the tournament.
Gjefle, Kaiser fight back for top-10 finishes
James Gjefle and Trey Kaiser found a way to battle back through the consolation rounds to come up with top-10 finishes at last week’s Mid-States Tournament at Whitewater.
Gjefle (11–2) was dealt a fall in the opening round of thetournament by Appleton North’s Brytton Goymerac in the second period. From there, Gjefle went on a tear, pinning his way back into relevancy. After three straight pins, the 138-pound wrestler suffered a second loss; this time, it was a 5–3 decision that went the way of Waukesha North’s Lorenzo Lazcano. After that, Gjefle picked up a 10–3 decision and won his last match by injury default and took ninth overall.
Trey Kaiser made it to the second round of action before taking a loss. Kaiser was pinned by Janesville Craig’s KeeanuBenton in a minute. The loss didn’t keep Kaiser down for long. The 285-pound wrestler won four straight matches, all by pin, to keep him in the hunt for a top-five finish. However, Kaiser lost his final two matches: the first was a 9–4 decision, and the fifth-place match was 1–0, leaving him in sixth place overall.
At 106, Jacob Green went 2–2 at last week’s tournament. Jadin Atha suffered two losses in his two matches at 113. Avery Arndt picked up his third win of the year, but it was bookended by a pair of losses by fall. Cameron Zimmerman earned a 13–5 decision in his first consolation-round match, but exited the tournament the next round. Garrett Atteln won his first and third matches, but lost by fall and via decision in his other two. Dylan DeWitt was disqualified in his first match and lost his second by fall.
Brookwood finished with 113 points, taking 19th place among the 43 participating schools. Warren Township of Illinois won the meet with 239.5 points. Appleton North was second with 218.5 points.