2 Hamilton Wrestlers win Homestead Regional Titles

Nick Knoebel won the 135-pound championship and Dan Noelck won at 145 pounds to lead Hamilton in the WIAA Division 1 regional wrestling tournament Saturday at Homestead High School.

The two wrestlers will compete in the sectional tournament next Saturday at West Allis Central. Other sectional qualifiers for Hamilton included Brett Neverman (112), Phil Flegner  (119),  Loren Hesselgrave (125),  Bobby Holzem (140), Ben Hollnagel  (152) and Mike Konvalinka (189).

“We wrestled really well today,” Hamilton coach Doug Pulvermacher said. “We have had some significant injuries. But our team has regrouped and is really doing well.”

The Chargers finished third in the tournament, which was won by Arrowhead.

Knoebel, a sophomore, defeated Arrowhead’s Luke Berenz, 7-6, in the first round, pinned Larry Williams of Milwaukee Vincent-Brown Deer in 2 minutes 31 seconds and topped Germantown’s Brian Kuhlenbeck, 3-0, in the title match. Knoebel improved his record to 21-9.

Knoebel gained a measure of revenge by beating Kuhlenback. He lost to the Germantown senior in the regional tournament last season and suffered a concussion during the match. Knoebel said he has improved a great deal in the past year.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, I’ve gone from about a five to an eight,” Knoebel said. “My takedowns are a lot better. I didn’t shoot a lot at the beginning of the year and that’s something I’ve really worked on.”

Knoebel said he is looking forward to a rematch with West Allis Central’s Dylan Diebitz, who defeated him in the Greater Metro Conference tournament last weekend. Diebitz, who has a 38-5 record, won the 135-pound regional title Saturday at West Allis Hale. Knoebel said the he has wrestled Diebitz four times and has a 2-2 record.

Noelck, a senior, pinned Germantown’s Hunter Valenta in 56 seconds in the opening match and pinned Matt Schroeder of Homestead in 3:34. He capped off the day by besting Jake Nelson of Arrowhead, 5-3, in the finals. Noelck improved  his record to 23-5.

For Noelck, the trip to the sectional caps a comeback of sorts. He qualified for the sectional as a freshman, failed to make it as a sophomore and suffered a knee injury that kept him out of action his junior year.

Noelck said he is considering attending either the University of Wisconsin or the University of Minnesota and college wrestling is not in his plans. So the senior is savoring the moment.

“It was exciting, I’m the champion, which makes for an awesome day,” Noelck said. “It feels great.”

Germantown senior Jesse Thielke began his quest for a fourth state championship by winning two matches at 130 pounds. Thielke, who has his sights set on making the U.S. Olympic wrestling team in  2012,  beat Mitchell Berenz by a technical fall (18-0 score) and capped his day by pinning Homestead’s Spencer Bold in 50 seconds. Thielke improved his record to 44 -0 for the season.

Other highly-touted wrestlers who advanced Saturday include Germantown’s Cody Szohr (37-5) at 119 and four Arrowhead standouts, Andrew Crone (37-5) at 103, Adam Yde (34-8) at 125, Jake Sueflohn (42-0) at 145 and Shane Hughes (28-5) at 189.

For complete tournament results go to www.trackwrestling.com