Grimsled and Swiggum bring home a pair of first places as NC/S wrestling competes at Whitehall, Badger State Invites
By Derick Kelly
Editors note - due to space constraints this week, this article is online only.
North Crawford/Seneca junior Jaren Grimsled kept up his strong early season showing by placing first in the 106-pound weight class at the Whitehall Invitational on Friday, Dec. 15.
Grimsled earned wins via pinfall over Arcadia’s Zayden Sanchez (0:49) and Ony Zaragoza (1:17) and Whitehall’s Frank Juresh IV (1:17) to move his record to 13-0 on the young season and earn another individual tournament championship.
Placing second at Whitehall was Sawyer Swiggum at 215 pounds. Swiggum won both of his matches via pinfall over Mondovi’s Dave Nyre (1:08) and Independence/Gilmanton’s James Carrillo Taylor (0:42) to reach the first place match and a meeting with Blair-Taylor’s Jackson Shramek, the 2023 Division Three State Champion at 182 pounds. Shramek defeated Swiggum via fall in 3:54 to earn first place honors.
NC/S junior Thomas Sprosty earned third place honors in the 144-pound weight class with a 3-1 showing on the night. Sprosty pinned both Mondovi’s Mason Leirmo (0:40) and Whitehall’s Ashton Hansen (1:03) before falling to Flambeau’s Dakota Nelson by a score of 12-4. Sprosty then finished his night by earning a 8-6 decision victory over Blair-Taylor’s Billy Miller. NC/S placed eighth out of nine teams at the invite with 72 points with just four wrestlers competing. In fact, NC/S still managed to finish ahead of Flambeau who competed with seven wrestlers.
Next up for North Crawford/Seneca wrestling team was a trip to Madison on Saturday for the annual Badger State Invitational at the Alliant Energy Center. Coming back from the meet with a championship was Swiggum as he pinned each of his four opponents in the 215 pound weight class to place first. Following a first round bye, Swiggum pinned Hickman, Missouri’s Drew Wooden in 4:56 before pinning Oregon’s Sabastian Soumphonphakdy (3:35) and Sugar River’s Garrett Pauli (1:34) to reach the first-place match in which Swiggum pinned Lake Mills’ Thomas Cassady in just 1:18, his shortest match of the day.
Placing fifth at 106 pounds was Grimsled. Following a first-round bye, Grimsled defeated La Crosse Logan/Central’s Shen Yang via pin in 0:46 to advance to a quarterfinal matchup with Monroe’s Owen Voegeli. Unfortunately for Grimsled, Voegeli earned a 3-0 victory to give the junior his first loss of the season. Grimsled bounced back with wins in each of his final two matches of the dual, a 7-4 win over Waunakee’s Brett Farrell in a rematch from the previous Saturday in Waunakee, and a pinfall victory over Chilton’s Ayden Daul in 4:27 in the fifth place match.
Placing seventh at 144 pounds was Sprosty with a 3-2 record on the day. After a first round bye, Sprosty pinned Westfield’s Rueben Hall in 2:49 to reach a quarterfinal matchup with Stoughton’s Cole Sarbacker, a sixth place finisher in Division One at 145 pounds last year. Sarbacker pinned Sprosty in 2:20 to put Sprosty in a consolation match with Burlington’s Ben Guerra with Guerra earning a major decision victory by a score of 15-1. Sprosty finished his day strong against Sugar River’s Ashlin Mihlbauer as he came away with a hard fought 6-5 win in the seventh place match. Thanks to the hard work by Grimsled, Sprosty, and Swiggum, NC/S finished in 21st place out of 25 teams with 60 points with just three wrestlers competing at the meet.
Next up for North Crawford/Seneca is the Iowa vs. Wisconsin Holiday Border Brawl Dual Tournament at Postville High School on Thursday, Dec. 21 starting at 4:00 p.m.
