Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair raises his arms after winning a 215-pound sectional championship match against Sun Prairie’s Jaxon Johnson during a Division 1 wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Sinclair, the top-ranked wrestler in the country at 190 pounds, is going for a third consecutive individual state championship.
Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair wraps up Sun Prairie’s Jaxon Johnson in the 215-pound sectional championship match in a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton Tyson Peach rolls up Janesville Craig’s Landon Colson in a 138-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Janesville Parker’s Cayden Brandenburg wrestles Mukwonago’s Hayden Chitwood in a 175-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Brandenburg beat Chitwood in a battle of ranked wrestlers to advance to the state meet, which begins Thursday in Madison.
Milton’s Madi Peach celebrates after a win against Janesville Craig’s Niah Holmes in a 126-pound girls sectional semifinal match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Peach won her championship match to qualify for the state tournament in Madison starting Thursday.
Janesville Craig’s Nadia Fuentes pins Oregon’s Raven Ringhand in a 107-pound sectional quarterfinal match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton’s David Bilhorn competes in a 106-pound sectional championship match with Mukwonago’s Gavin Meinecke during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Bilhorn lost to Meinecke but came back to win the second-place match and qualify for the state tournament in Madison.
Janesville Parker’s Brayden Garey, left, competes against Kettle Moraine’s Spencer Prado in a 113-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Prado beat Garey in the title match, but the Parker freshman won the second-place match to qualify for the state tournament.
Mukwonago's Brian Whipple sends Janesville Parker’s Dominic McGuire to the mat during the 120-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton Tyson Peach celebrates after defeating Janesville Craig’s Landon Colson in the 138-pound sectional title match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair make a heart with his hands after defeating Sun Prairie’s Jaxon Johnson in the 215-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Sun Prairie’s Corbin Smith and Janesville Parker’s Dean Harilal wrestle in a third-place match at 285 pounds during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair walks off the mat after a 215-pound sectional semifinal during Saturday's Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School.
Janesville Parker’s Cayden Brandenburg paces along the mats before wrestling in a 175-pound sectional semifinal match at Saturday's Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School.
Milton’s Madi Peach prepares for her 126-pound sectional semifinal match against Janesville Craig’s Niah Holmes during Saturday's Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School.
Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair raises his arms after winning a 215-pound sectional championship match against Sun Prairie’s Jaxon Johnson during a Division 1 wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Sinclair, the top-ranked wrestler in the country at 190 pounds, is going for a third consecutive individual state championship.
Milton Tyson Peach rolls up Janesville Craig’s Landon Colson in a 138-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton’s David Bilhorn competes in a 106-pound sectional championship match with Mukwonago’s Gavin Meinecke during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Bilhorn lost to Meinecke but came back to win the second-place match and qualify for the state tournament in Madison.
Mukwonago's Brian Whipple sends Janesville Parker’s Dominic McGuire to the mat during the 120-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton Tyson Peach celebrates after defeating Janesville Craig’s Landon Colson in the 138-pound sectional title match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair make a heart with his hands after defeating Sun Prairie’s Jaxon Johnson in the 215-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Sun Prairie’s Corbin Smith and Janesville Parker’s Dean Harilal wrestle in a third-place match at 285 pounds during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair walks off the mat after a 215-pound sectional semifinal during Saturday's Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School.
MILTON — Aeoden Sinclair secured his fourth trip to the individual state wrestling tournament Saturday and in so doing also took a trip down memory lane in his home gym for the last time.
“Before every match, I like to ground myself and make sure I’m present so I can wrestle my best,” he said. “In grounding myself, I like to think about my wrestling as a whole and how different people have impacted me. It makes me get a sense of gratefulness, which also helps me with staying present because you realize these moments don’t come along that often.”
They’ve come along more often for Sinclair than for many others because so often after he grounds himself, he quickly grounds his opponents, as well.
He pinned all three of his sectional foes in a combined time of 1 minute, 38 seconds.
He wasted no time in the first two, taking down Levi Maier of Mount Horeb/Barneveld in 18 seconds then Yanel Flores of Lake Geneva Badger in 34 seconds. In the championship match, he scored a few takedowns of Sun Prairie’s Jaxon Johnson in quick succession with an arm drag and then a duck under before finishing him off in 46 seconds.
Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair wraps up Sun Prairie’s Jaxon Johnson in the 215-pound sectional championship match in a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Milton’s Madi Peach prepares for her 126-pound sectional semifinal match against Janesville Craig’s Niah Holmes during Saturday's Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School.
Anthony Wahl
Five other Red Hawks will join Sinclair at the state tournament in Madison next week, including fellow senior and sectional champion Tyson Peach, who won the 138-pound bracket with three quick pins of his own.
Freshman David Bilhorn will compete at state, as well, after taking second place at 106 pounds, an earned reward for enduring a difficult schedule as a freshman, Milton coach Pat Jauch said.
The three other qualifiers from Milton wrestled through the girls brackets. Sophomore Clara Jauch, coach Jauch’s niece who was in her first year on the wrestling team, only had to wrestle one match to win the 100-pound bracket.
Junior Makenzie Usher and sophomore Madi Peach both stayed undefeated on the season by pinning their way to sectional championships at 114 and 126 pounds, respectively.
Pat Jauch said he and Usher have talked about her reaching the state tournament since she was in grade school.
“She has overcome a lot to get back on the mat and be what I always knew she could be,” he said.
Sinclair, the state’s top-ranked wrestler at 215 and the country’s top-ranked wrestler at 190, said it means a lot to have several teammates join him at state and to have the support of the city of Milton and coach Jauch.
“Having people that are loving like coach Jauch, who’s a really great human — just having good humans around is what makes all the difference for high-level wrestlers because it’s going to be hard to show me stuff, but if you’re there and you support me and you care about me, that’s all that really matters,” he said.
Janesville Parker sending senior, freshman to state
Vikings senior Cayden Brandenburg knows what the state tournament’s all about. He won the 175-pound bracket Saturday in Milton to qualify for the third straight season.
Janesville Parker’s Cayden Brandenburg wrestles Mukwonago’s Hayden Chitwood in a 175-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Brandenburg beat Chitwood in a battle of ranked wrestlers to advance to the state meet, which begins Thursday in Madison.
Janesville Parker’s Brayden Garey, left, competes against Kettle Moraine’s Spencer Prado in a 113-pound sectional championship match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Prado beat Garey in the title match, but the Parker freshman won the second-place match to qualify for the state tournament.
Anthony Wahl
And this time around, he’ll finally have a Parker teammate to share the experience with.
Freshman 113-pounder Brayden Garey also qualified for the state bracket despite falling to Kettle Moraine’s Spencer Prado in the championship match. Garey won the second-place wrestleback over Chance Nehls of Mukwonago with a 12-8 decision.
“It’s always hard when you lose in the finals and you have to wrestle back to win, but he did it,” Parker coach Shane Fleming said. “It’s nice to see Cayden get a roommate this year.”
Brandenburg, ranked No. 3 in the state at 175, pinned his quarterfinal opponent in 1:05 before scoring a 12-0 major decision over Sun Prairie’s Niko DeZiel. He took on another top-10 wrestler in the championship match, Hayden Chitwood of Mukwonago.
Despite Chitwood’s best efforts, he could not find a way to throw Brandenburg off balance. The Parker wrestler picked up a takedown late in the first period, side-stepping Chitwood and gaining control of his back.
He added two more points in the second period with the two of them on the ground trying to gain control. Brandenburg pulled Chitwood’s hand off one of his arms to gain leverage and again got to Chitwood’s back. Chitwood escaped twice, but it wasn’t enough as he lost the bout 5-2.
“He (Brandenburg) wrestled how he had to wrestle to win that match,” Fleming said. “It’s fun to watch — it’s stressful, but it’s fun.”
Parker had eight others reach the sectional meet, many of whom will return in 2024-25.
Ayden Godwin (106), Dominic McGuire (120), Nate Peters (126), Carter Wesley (190) and Dean Harilal (285) all won a match for Parker, and Peters is the only graduating senior from that group.
Brandenburg, Garey, Sinclair, Bilhorn, the Peaches, Jauch and Usher all will compete Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison on the first of the three-day state tournament. Wrestling begins Thursday at 3 p.m.; the full state tournament time schedule can be found online at .
No qualifiers for Janesville Craig
Two wrestlers from Janesville’s east-side high school came within one win of earning a state berth on Saturday, but both were beaten.
Landon Colson, the Cougars’ 138-pound wrestler, had two chances. The first was in the 138-pound title match against top-ranked Tyson Peach. In his wrestleback match, he faced Wendell Brausch of Mukwonago, who Colson pinned the prior weekend in regional action.
But Brausch turned the tables and got a third-period pinfall win to take second in the bracket.
Janesville Craig’s Nadia Fuentes pins Oregon’s Raven Ringhand in a 107-pound sectional quarterfinal match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday.
Anthony Wahl
“He stopped Landon’s shot, which put Landon in a bad position,” Craig coach Jason Vogt said.
Nadia Fuentes also reached the championship match at 107 pounds in girls competition but was pinned by Mukwonago’s Cailyn Whittier.
The good news for Craig: Colson, Fuentes and several others on both the boys and girls squads will be returning next year. He also expects a bigger girls team next season after the Cougars won the girls conference title and the student body learned there was a girls wrestling team.
“We need to step away from wrestling for a little bit and just hit the weight room and put our focus on lifting weights and getting stronger, then in the summer and fall, get back to wrestling,” Vogt said.
Janesville Parker’s Cayden Brandenburg paces along the mats before wrestling in a 175-pound sectional semifinal match at Saturday's Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School.
Milton’s Madi Peach celebrates after a win against Janesville Craig’s Niah Holmes in a 126-pound girls sectional semifinal match during a Division 1 sectional wrestling meet at Milton High School on Saturday. Peach won her championship match to qualify for the state tournament in Madison starting Thursday.
Anthony Wahl
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