By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
MADISON - Four local wrestlers all ended their high school wrestling careers with trips to the medal stand at the WIAA State Tournament last weekend.
Seniors Rob King and Ty Pope of Stevens Point Area Senior High and Rosholt seniors Aaron Yenter and Jon Betker each finished amongst the top five in their weight classes in the three-day tournament which ended Saturday.
In Division 1, King advanced to the semifinals at 135-pounds and finished fourth. Pope, at 140 pounds, fell to eventual champion Joe Henning in the opening round and then won his final three matches to grab fifth place.
"Many years ago, we talked to those boys and the idea was to have both guys on the stand at Madison. And that's where they are," SPASH coach Gee Pope said. "They've done it and that's the great thing about it."
Yenter, wrestling in Division 3, was the highest finisher of the quartet, taking third at 160 pounds. Betker dropped his first match and then battled back for fifth place at 171 pounds.
King (29-12) won his first two matches Thursday night to move on to Friday's semifinals. The SPASH senior led Hartland Arrowhead's Jaren Dion 9-2 with one minute left in the match when Dion mounted a furious comeback. Dion hit three takedowns for six points, gave King three escape points and then received three near fall points to tie the match at 11-11. In overtime, Dion secured a takedown 10 seconds into the period for the 13-11 win.
"(Friday) night was a bit rough. I didn't capitalize on what was probably the biggest opportunity of my life," King said.
"I think he started coasting too soon," coach Pope said. "When you do that, it's hard to get it back. Give the other guy credit. He was getting beat up."
In the third place match, King faced two-time champion Tyler Laudon of Tomah, who had won 103 straight matches before losing in the semifinals, topped King 8-2.
"I think I gave him the best match I could've. I knew what I wanted to do but I just couldn't get it done," King said.
Said coach Pope: "Coming down here, if we said 'Fourth place' to Rob, we would've been happy. He had a great tournament. It was a great way to end up."
Ty Pope (35-4) suffered a close 5-3 loss to Henning Thursday night but rebounded with a 5-0 win over Justin Rice of Milwaukee Pulaski/Arts/G.A. Friday morning. Then on Saturday, Pope topped Westosha Central's Jon Watson 3-0 to advance to the fifth-place match.
Facing Jon Tyler of Sheboygan North for fifth, Pope used two second-period takedowns and a three-point near fall in the third and dominated Tyler 7-1.
"It was the best I could do. It was the last match of the season and I put everything into it," Pope said.
"I was disappointed at first when I lost. But when you think about it, I only had one loss down here. Fifth place is good enough."
Added coach Pope: "He had what you could call a tough draw. He had to come back and do it the hard way. Your dream is to win a state title and in one match, it's gone and you have to refocus."
Yenter (40-3) had an easy time in two out of his three matches, including a 14-2 rout over A.J. Nehls of Hustisford in the third-place match. He grabbed a 3-0 lead after one period, received three points for a near fall in the second and then recorded two takedowns, a reversal and a near fall in the third period.
"I figured it was the last match of my life and I had to give it all I had," Yenter said. "All it was is I wanted it more than him. It's too bad I lost (Friday). I didn't get to the finals, but third is the closest you can get to the finals. (Friday) I just didn't wrestle up to my caliber."
In Yenter's loss, an 8-5 decision in Friday's semifinal round, Pat McGowan of Darlington grabbed a 6-2 lead after the second period. Yenter came back in the third, getting an escape and a takedown to pull within 6-5 with 1:37 to go. But McGowan scored a reversal with 1:10 remaining and Yenter was unable to escape.
The senior had his way in his first match, pinning Oostburg's Tim Robinson in 1:18. Rosholt's co-head coach Kevin Cullen said Yenter's state meet experience as a junior helped a lot.
"When a lot of kids come here, they're not used to the wide-open area, the crowd. It did a lot for his confidence all year," Cullen said.
After a disappointing first-round loss, Betker (41-2) won two straight matches, including a tight 6-5 decision over Jason Lamers of Wrightstown in the fifth-place match. Betker led 4-3 entering the third period and quickly got an escape for a 5-3 advantage. With 37 seconds to go, Lamers recorded a takedown to tie the match at 5-5. Following a stoppage with 14 seconds left, Betker escaped for the 6-5 win.
"Where there were 14 seconds left, I thought, 'No problem.' I knew right there that I had it," Betker said.
In his consolation match, Betker pinned Nathan Hughes of Elmwood/Plum City in 2:22. He dropped an 11-7 decision to Justus Benson of North Crawford in the opening round. He said didn't come out fired up and he was just "out of it" in the first match.
"He showed us a lot of character in the consolation rounds when some wrestlers would lose motivation," co-coach Alan Carter said.