Area boys wrestlers began their 2026 postseason journey this past Saturday at the D3 sectional meet at Brookwood High School.

Four wrestlers from Prairie du Chien and one from Boscobel-Wauzeka-Steuben qualified for next week’s WIAA State Individual Meet at the Kohl Center in Madison by placing in the top two of their weight class at the sectional meet in Brookwood. Qualifying for the Hawks is junior Hunter Reid (first place at 120 pounds), senior Mason Hird (second place at 150 pounds), sophomore Jake Kramer (second place at 175 pounds) and senior Jack Simmons (second place at 215 pounds). Qualifying for Boscobel-Wauzeka-Steuben was junior Ashton Udelhoven (second place at 126 pounds).

Just missing qualifying with third place finishes was North Crawford-Seneca sophomore Gavyn Wilkins (126 pounds) and senior Sawyer Swiggum (215) and Boscobel-Wauzeka-Steuben senior Job Wetter (157 pounds) and freshman Ruger Groom (285 pounds).

Lancaster sophomore Toay Ragatz defeated Simmons 8-5 in the championship match at 215 pounds to force the wrestle back match for second place between Swiggum and Simmons after Swiggum pinned Iowa-Grant/Highland junior Tanner Degenhardt in 2:48 in the third-place match at 215 pounds (Ragatz defeated Swiggum 7-2 in the semifinal round).

Swiggum and Simmons faced off against each other in a battle between two state placewinners from last year (Swiggum was third at 215 pounds in D3 while Simmons was runner-up in D2 at 285 pounds). Simmons jumped out to a 8-1 lead before Swiggum made it 8-3 heading into the third period. An escape by Swiggum shortly into the third period made the score 8-4 before Simmons earned a takedown with 1:21 left in the match to extend his lead to 11-4. 

A stalling penalty with :02 left on Simmons made the final score 11-5 as Simmons earned his third career trip to the individual state tournament (as well as picking up his 150th career win during the meet).

Swiggum finished his senior season with a final record of 39-8 while Simmons improved to 47-8 on the season. A very strong argument can be made that the three best wrestlers in D3 at 215 pounds were at Brookwood High School this past Saturday.

Individual state tournament wrestling at the Kohl Center in Madison will begin on Thursday, Feb. 26 and run through Saturday, Feb. 28.

Earning the number one seed at 215 pounds in D3 and a first-round bye was Simmons. 

First round matcups for the other four wrestlers include: 120 pounds - Reid (fifth seed, 43-9) vs. Cadott freshman Wyatt Anderson (12th seed, 35-12); 126 pounds - Udelhoven (14th seed, 29-10) vs. Mineral Point sophomore Liam Carey (third seed, 40-6); 150 pounds - Hird (eighth seed, 41-8) vs. Clear Lake sophomore Magnum Moggo (ninth seed, 38-9); 175 pounds - Kramer (12th seed, 36-17) vs. Brillion junior Weston Schmidt (fifth seed, 41-10).

Simmons will wrestle  the winner between Cedar Grove-Belgium junior Josh Anzia (eighth seed, 38-9) and Boyceville junior Isaiah Romer (ninth seed, 46-6) in Thursday night’s quarterfinal round.

The new WIAA postseason format for boys wrestling in Wisconsin this season also meant a new way to determine team sectional qualifiers. Earning trips to next Saturday’s team sectional meet at Cashton High School was Prairie du Chien (fifth place with 144.5 points) and Boscobel-Wauzeka-Steuben (sixth place with 118.0 points).

Also qualifying was La Crosse Aquinas (first place with 271.0 points), Iowa-Grant/Highland (second place with 209.0 points), Lancaster (third place with 197.0 points) and Riverdale (fifth place with 159.5 points).

The Hawks earned the fouth seed in the bracket and will wrestle fifth seed Riverdale in the first round, while sixth seed Boscobel-Wauzeka-Steuben will face off against third seed Iowa-Grant/Highland. 

The winner of the PdC/Riverdale dual will take on top seed La Crosse Aquinas while the winner of the B-W-S dual vs. I-G/H will advance to meet second seed Lancaster in the semifinals. The losers of the semifinal matches will then wrestle each other with the winner potentially earning a wrestle back match against the losing team of the sectional championship dual.

The team that places second could potentially qualify for the team state meet at the La Crosse Center on March 6 and 7 if chosen as a wild card selection.