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The day of wrestling for River Valley Saturday at the Division 2 Sectiional at Richland Center may not have started the way theywould've liked, but it ended up pretty good for the Blackhawks.
At the start of the meet, it was found out that 138 lb. Caden Robson was unable to wrestle that day cutting their numbers from 10 to nine.
But, the Blackhawks quaified seven of those nine. They had five champions in Dustin Hatfield, 132 lb. Zach Licht, 160 lb. Shane Liegel and 170 lb. Elijah Alt.
Dustin Hatfield goes into the state meet unbeaten at 41-0 while Alt has lost just once in 45 matches.
Their other two qualifiers were 145 lb. Gavin Wipperfurth, who won his last two matches to place third, and 285. lb. Tennessee Hatfield, who dropped his final two matches of the day.
"We had a historic day," said River Valley coach Pat Mahoney. "Seven state qualifiers is the most ever in River Valley Wrestling History. We also have our third, 4-time state qualifier in program history, Dustin Hatfield. Kyle Mueller (2000-2003) was the first. Seth Liegel (2010-13) was the second. Even though it is not an "official" team score it was very gratifying to rack up the most team points of the tournament."
"We are wrestling well as a team the last few weeks and just need to keep our focus and continue," he added. "Guys have worked extremely hard to this point and will continue to do so."
He commented aboutr each wrestler:
"Caleb Radtke continues to wrestle well. He has great wrestling partners in the room and improves everyday.
"Dustin Hatfield wrestled solid all year and individual sectionals was no different. He was in one of the toughest weight classes throughout the tournament. He uses his mental toughness to his advantage in those situations.
"Zach Licht has a motor that just will not quit. He is constantly in motion when he wrestles and just simply wears guys out. He had two tech falls and a major decision at the tournament. He's full of energy and ready to wrestle.
"Cayden Robson, unfortunately, could not compete because of a skin condition that popped up that day.
"Gavin Wipperfurth had another tough bracket. He wrestled tough against Kicmol and pulled out the win to place third against Bivens. Gavin will definitely be ready to go on Thursday night.
"Shane Liegel wrestled solid all day. He, also, has a motor that never stops. He is very offensive on his feet and attacks all the time.
"Elijah Alt had a very tough draw in Lenz from Mauston. We wrestled him earlier in the year and it was a very close match. Elijah controlled the whole match this time winning by a major decision. He continued to wrestle solid after that. This is Elijah's third trip to state.
"Brock Mahoney gained some valuable experience at Individual Sectionals Even though the scores weren't in his favor, he now knows he can wrestle at that level. I look for big things from Brock the next two years.
"Tennessee Hatfield's goal all year has been to make it to state. He was one match away last year. He hit some great moves on Saturday and was OT away from placing second. The Cuba City wrestler won his third place match in OT or Tenny would have placed second. Tenny has new goals now and will be exciting to watch at state."
Dodgeville's lone sectional qualifier was 152 lb. John Phelan. He surived the day finishing third and advancing to state.
He dropped his semifinal match to eventual runner-up Mauston' s Matt Chambers on a quick fall, but then came back to edge Prairie du Chien/Wauzeka Steuben's Nick Rogge in overtime. That avenged a loss to him the previous week at regionals.
"We had a pretty exciting weekend for Dodger Wrestling with John Phelan qualifying for the WIAA state wrestling tournament by placing 3rd in the Richland Center Sectional tournament," said Dodgeville coach Ryan Lord. "John really had an outstanding day of wrestling with the exception of getting a little out of position in his semi-final match."
He talked about Phelan's matches saying, "John pinned his opening round opponent in the first period and looked extremely sharp on his feet and turning his opponent. In the semi-finals John had a nice shot, but in his attempt to earn a takedown, he got a little out of position and was thrown to his back for a pin. Winning that match would have guaranteed a trip to state, but to John's credit, he wrestled extremely well and focused in his wrestle-backs and earned a state berth. In his 3rd place match, John faced off against Nick Rogge who defeated John in the Regional finals hewrestled a smart match and was able to come away with a victory in a very hard fought match. John's opening round match on Thursday night will be against senior Logan Van Handel (29-11 record) from Little Chute."

WIAA D2 Sect. C @ Richland Center Results for River Valley
113-Rowen Wipperfurth (24-14) place is unknown and scored 0.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Garrett Moll (Lodi) 37-5 won by decision over Wipperfurth (Dec 5-2)
120-Caleb Radtke (33-9) placed 1st and scored 20.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Radtke won by fall over David Andrews (Monroe) 20-16 (Fall 2:52), Semifinal-Radtke won by decision over Colton Nicolay (Lodi) 31-13 (Dec 5-2), 1st Place Match-Radtke (River Valley) 33-9 won by decision over Trey Bivens (Turner) 39-9 (Dec 6-1)
126-Dustin Hatfield (38-0) placed 1st and scored 20.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Hatfield won by fall over Tim Hicks (Adams-Friendship) 27-18 (Fall 1:53), Semifinal-Hatfield won by decision over Chase Katzenmeyer (Evansville/Albany) 33-3 (Dec 1-0), 1st Place Match-Hatfield won by decision over Aidan Medora (St. John`s NW Military/Brookfield Acad.) 35-3 (Dec 3-1)
132-Zach Licht (40-3) placed 1st and scored 22.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Licht won by tech fall over Logan Nguyen (Jefferson) 11-12 (TF-1.5 2:10 (19-3)), Semifinal-Lich won by major decision over Max Dach (Viroqua) 35-11 (MD 10-1), 1st Place Match-Licht won by tech fall over Jackson Hauri (Brodhead/Juda) 38-4 (TF-1.5 4:07 (15-0))
145-Gavin Wipperfurth (31-4) placed 3rd and scored 14.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Wipperfurth won by fall over Joe Wopat (West Salem/Bangor) 24-19 (Fall 1:30), Semifinal-Nolan Kicmol (Evansville/Al-bany) 31-2 won by decision over Wipperfurth (Dec 4-3), Cons. Semi-Wipperfurth won by fall over Sean Roche (Columbus) 20-14 (Fall 0:42), 3rd Place Match-Wipperfurth won by decision over Anthony Bivens (Turner) 38-10 (Dec 1-0), 2nd Place Match-Nolan Kicmol (Evansville/Albany) 31-2 won by rule over Wipperfurth
160-Shane Liegel (39-4) placed 1st and scored 21.50 team points.
Quarterfinal-Liegel won by fall over Giovanni Haney (Turner) 30-13 (Fall 2:29), Semifinal-Liegel won by tech fall over Cody Leibsle (Westfield Area) 23-14 (TF-1.5 3:50 (16-0)), 1st Place Match-Liegel won by decision over Dalton Bernett (Viroqua) 40-10 (Dec 5-2)
170-Elijah Alt (41-1) placed 1st and scored 20.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Alt won by major decision over Jared Lenze (Mauston) 41-7 (MD 11-3)
Semifinal-Alt won by major decision over Dempzy Foley (Monroe) 31-10 (MD 8-0), 1st Place Match-Alt won by decision over Tyler Hannah (Viroqua) 42-7 (Dec 5-2)
195-Brock Mahoney (16-21) place is unknown and scored 0.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Lucius Rinehart (Evansville/Al-bany) 34-0 won by tech fall over Mahoney (TF-1.5 3:16 (16-0)), Cons. Semi-Travis Hudack (Wisconsin Dells) 36-4 won by fall over Mahoney (Fall 1:17)
285-Tennessee Hatfield (29-14) placed 3rd and scored 15.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Hatfield won by fall over Cris Perez (Jefferson) 2-3 (Fall 0:37), Semifinal-Hatfield won by fall over Kyle Walter (Monroe) 28-12 (Fall 1:42), 1st Place Match-Branden Lange (Evansville/Albany) 36-10 won by fall over Hatfield (Fall 2:35), 2nd Place Match - Aaron McCarthy (Cuba City/Benton/South-western) 34-4 won by fall over Hatfiel (Fall 5:06)

WIAA D2 Sect. C @ Richland Center Results for Dodgeville
152-John Phelan (35-8) placed 3rd and scored 14.00 team points.
Quarterfinal-Phelan won by fall over Jose Rios (Jefferson) 29-17 (Fall 1:35), Semifinal-Matt Chambers (Mauston) 34-14 won by fall over John Phelan (Dodgeville) 35-8 (Fall 0:18), Cons. Semi-Phelan won by fall over Tyler Schmidt (Evansville/Albany) 23-13 (Fall 1:14), 3rd Place Match-Phelan won in sudden victory - 1 over Nick Rogge (Prairie du Chien/Wauzeka-Steub) 39-9 (SV-1 8-6), 2nd Place Match-Matt Chambers (Mauston) 34-14 won by rule over Phelan