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What a weekend it was for wrestling around the area. I made the trip to both Adams-Friendship to catch some of the Division 2 action of Dodgeville and River Valley and then just a few miles away to Necedah for the Division 3 competition that included Iowa-Grant/Highland, Mineral Point and Pecatonica-Argyle. From those two sectional tournaments there will be 12 wrestlers going to the state championships this week at the Kohl Center in Madison to try to earn a state title. Good luck to: Frank Baker, Ross Siegenthaler, Scotty Pittz, Nate Cody and Brenyn Schmit of Mineral Point; Luke Nowak, Brian Halverson and Cody Rider of Iowa-Grant/Highland in Division 3. And good luck to: Brady Wetter of Dodgeville; Dustin Hatfield, Joe Crook and Zach Koch of River Valley in Division 2. Division 2 and 3 action start at 7:15 p.m. Thursday evening and conclude on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. with the championship matches.
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I used a GPS to find the schools at both places Saturday, but at Adams-Friendship it took me to the wrong school. Probably I put in the elementary school address instead of the high school! Then, when going to Necedah, the GPS kept telling me there was no such address. So much for modern day technology. But, it probably was the operator and not the device!
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Congratulations to the Barneveld girls and boys basketball teams for winning the Six Rivers East conference championships. Also, to the Mineral Point boys for claiming the SWAL crown. And the Dodgeville girls for winning the school's first conference championship (SWC). That all speaks very well for the area. Hopefully there will be several teams going very deep into the tournaments, trying to gain a berth in their division at the state tournament. The boys began tournament action this week and the girls begin this coming Tuesday.
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Here's an update on brother Patrick and his knee replacement. He's been coming to the office pretty much every day and working for awhile. He's getting around OK and doing his rehab exercises religiously at Ryan's (where he's staying) and at Upland Hills. He probably will be back throwing batting practice this spring or summer!
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Be sure to check out our "Update" section in the paper each week for a lot of non-profit fundraisers and events going on in the area. There are a lot of things you can attend for no or little cost. Above, you can see a photo of the Dodgeville Lions Club's recent FREE pancake & sausage breakfast they held at the Dodger Bowl. It was a lot better attended this year as over the past years. They also did several eye testings of youngsters. It only takes a few seconds. They recently did testing at St. Joseph School and at the Dodgeville Elementary and found a few referrals.
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When I got to Adams-Friendship High School, I was greeted almost instantaneously by a familiar face. Ron Boettcher, a 1965 Dodgeville graduate, was helping out at the wrestling tournament. We had a good chat for a few minutes several times while I was there. He religiously comes back to Dodgeville for the DASFI Golf Fundraiser and for a lot of celebrations that include his class or ones near to it. His dad (Orris) was both Pat's and my high school principal. Ron followed in his footsteps and was at Seneca and Adams-Friendship as a principal!