“Rock the Gym” night was a rousing success for the Lodi wrestling team.
Fueled by a frenzied crowd, the Blue Devils crushed Sun Prairie East/West 57-11, as Lodi enjoyed some home cooking.
“Our boys were excited to wrestle at home in front of such a large crowd, and they came out aggressively and wrestled well,” said Cody Endres, head coach for Lodi. “When we look to score points and dominate it usually turns out pretty well for us.”
Forfeits at 106 and 120 padded the Blue Devils’ score, while Drew Lochner (113), Owen Breunig (138), Evan Stevenson (145), Zane Licht (152), Kylar Clemens (160) and Mason Lane (182) all won by pin, with Stevenson and Clemens taking less than a minute to stick their opponents.
“Evan Clary (126) had a hard-fought 5-2 win in which he was down 2-0 going into the second period,” said Endres. “Evan was able to dominate the last four minutes of the match and scored the last five points. Mason Breunig (170) also had a 5-2 win in which he wrestled like the true veteran he is. He showed some great technique in finishing his single leg dumps. Easton Hensen (220) has been filling in for us at the varsity level as of late and has continued to do a great job. He won a very exciting 3-2 match in the second-to-last match to really get the crowd into it.”
Endres noted how much help from many people to put on the event, with Athletic Director Sue Meffert leading the effort and the Lodi Booster Club doing its part.
“Since the ‘Rock The Gym’ originated it had just been girls’ and boys’ basketball, so wrestling was really excited to finally be invited,” said Endres. “It was a packed house and an incredible atmosphere for high school athletics. The band and the dance team came to perform during the wrestling dual, and they did an incredible job. We hope to have them at more home duals in the future as they really enhance the environment.”
JV State
Zander Kellogg pinned his way through the tournament to become Lodi’s first JV state champion, while teammate Noah Johnson ended up in second place.
“On Saturday morning seven Lodi wrestlers headed to Wausau West to compete at JV State,” said Endres. “We took Zander Kellogg, Alex Breunig, Tony Omosebi, Tyler Ripp, Noah Johnson, Nate Lichucki, and Easton Hensen to JV State. These guys performed exceptionally well, and we had our best JV State tournament ever. Both Zander Kellogg and Noah Johnson became Lodi's first JV State finalists … Alex Breunig and Easton Hensen both placed fourth and allowed us to have four placers at JV State which was a record for us.”
