Sports

Athlete: Jacob Giese

Sport: Wrestling

Weight class: 195 pounds

School: Bonduel High School

Year: Junior

Jacob Giese capped his first state experience with a third-place finish in Division 3 on Feb. 24 at the Kohl Center in Madison. The junior, who has been wrestling since age 6, posted a 44-7 record this season and won the 195-pound Central Wisconsin Conference title.

Q: Where did your interest in wrestling begin?

A: My interest was sparked when I was in kindergarten, and my parents introduced me to the sport.

Q: What’s your favorite part about wrestling?

A: That it’s an individual sport with great team camaraderie.

Q: What was the best part of your first state experience?

A: How excited the crowd got with each match.

Q: What is your favorite memory so far of Bonduel wrestling?

A: My favorite memories so far were made at state with some of my best friends.

If you are an overachiever and like to plan ahead, you can get a jump on next month’s combined Wisconsin DNR and Conservation Congress spring public hearing by reviewing the questionnaire now on the DNR website.

The 7 p.m. April 9 hearings in all 72 counties are an annual tradition for sportsmen and a hallmark of the nation’s only grassroots conservation-law advisory organization, the Wisconsin Conservation Congress.

The meetings allow the DNR to air suggested changes in fish and wildlife regulations to the public for a non-binding vote by sportsmen and others, with the results serving as an advisory tool for the Natural Resources Board. The meetings also give the Conservation Congress a similar opportunity to air their suggested changes on the same questionnaire, gauging support or opposition by similar non-binding votes.

County Conservation Congress chapters also elect delegates at the meetings.

Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School seniors Keegan Delforge and Dylan Sprague will both get back on the football field after signing letters of intent Thursday to continue their careers in the fall.

Delforge is set to play at Michigan Technological University, and Sprague will continue at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

“I always wanted to play football in college,” Delforge said. “I told myself that I was always going to play, no matter what, and to have it all fall together is an amazing feeling.”

Delforge, a defensive lineman who was second in tackles last season with 60, overcame wrestling injuries throughout his high school career. Delforge had surgery on his left shoulder sophomore year and right shoulder at the end of his junior season.

Bonduel High School seniors Colin Wussow, Jordan Boldt and Dalton Cairns signed letters of intent Monday to continue their athletic careers in college.

Wussow will be playing football at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls; Boldt is set to wrestle at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Cairns will continue basketball at Marian University in Fond du Lac.

“It’s very special,” Wussow said. “It was a goal I set for myself when I was growing up, to play in college. So it’s kind of surreal that it’s actually happening.”

For Wussow, football started with his earliest memories.

“I can remember tossing the ball around as a toddler on the farm and watching the Packers as a kid, and I just absolutely loved the sport,” he said.

Wussow locked in on the mindset to play football in college in middle school and made sure his athletic involvement in high school served that purpose.

Shiocton 62

Bonduel 44

No. 7-seeded Bonduel had a six-point halftime deficit to No. 2 Shiocton, but was outshot 36-24 in the second half to secure Shiocton’s WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal win.

“We did what we intended to do in the first half, played the way we knew we could,” head coach Duke Copp said, “but in the second half we were pretty much just playing catch-up. (Shiocton) started hitting more shots and just playing how they normally do and we couldn’t catch up to them.

“I’m proud of how our kids went there and played, especially in the first half. I was hammering on the kids to believe they could play and compete with (Shiocton), and they went out and did it.”

Parker Bohm led the Bears with 13 points, followed by Bryce Weier (12 points), Cole Letter (eight points), Dalton Cairns (eight points) and Dylan Burch (three points).

Shiocton had four double-digit scorers, led by Derek Bedor with 15 points.

Assumption 71

Athlete: Jordan Boldt

Sport: Wrestling

Weight class: 126 pounds

School: Bonduel High School

Year: Senior

Jordan Boldt ends his high school wrestling career with a list of accomplishments. The senior took the 126-pound WIAA Division 3 state title on Feb. 24 in Madison after winning the sectional tournament a week prior. After a 44-4 season, he also slid into the No. 2 spot for most wins in Bonduel school history with 162 and clinched the Bears’ seventh state title. Boldt, who has been wrestling since second grade, is a three-time state qualifier and will continue his wrestling career at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the fall.

Q Where did your interest in wrestling begin?

A My interest in wrestling began when Jacob Banker told me to try it out because not many people were into it, so I tried it out while playing basketball as well.

Q What’s your favorite part about wrestling?

While many thousands of Lake Winnebago anglers were concerned with big sturgeon or potential prize-winning panfish and walleyes in recent weeks, one group of enthusiasts focused their attention on the lake’s surface.

The only holes they dug were made by their spinning tires on the snow-plowed icy course created by volunteers of the Extreme Offroaders 4-Wheel Drive Club Ltd.

Opening day of the sturgeon spearing season found the lake covered with shanties of hopeful anglers, dozens of parked cars and trucks and a huge beer tent at Payne’s Point on Neenah’s southeastern edge.

There, too, were young ice racers like Cole Cerull, 19, of Appleton, who was putting the hand-studded tires on his 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit in preparation for one of eight classes of racing. He previously spent about 30 hours putting in the metal studs on his tires, and also does all his own engine work, he explained.

Bonduel senior Bryce Weier wanted to help his team win its first regional quarterfinal since his freshman season. He did it while breaking the school’s single-game scoring record with a dominating 46 points on Tuesday.

“I’m just shocked that I did that,” Weier said. “I was freaking out when I found out that I broke the record. I had no clue during the game that I was getting close to breaking it, and I definitely didn’t expect to have a huge game like that. I just wanted to get the regional win again.”

Weier combined with Parker Bohm (29 points) and Dalton Cairns (23 points) to lead Bonduel over Menominee Indian 106-92 in the WIAA Division 4 regional.

Fans of Wisconsin basketball who are feeling spontaneous and up for a little road trip may want to take a spin over to watch the Badgers play their first game of the Big Ten postseason tournament.

It’s only a couple of hours away, if you’re driving 400 miles per hour.

New York’s Madison Square Garden is the unlikely venue for the tournament, which begins for the Badgers today with a noon game against Maryland. It’s a geographic head-scratcher stretch to begin with, with the Big Ten being a Midwest conference, and follows last year’s sparsely attended conference tournament held in Washington, D.C.

The Shawano boys basketball season ended Tuesday after falling 60-56 to Medford in a WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal matchup.

The No.9-seeded Hawks got into an early rhythm on their home court and held the No. 9 Raiders from scoring a basket until over four minutes into the game. Shawano held a 10-point lead midway through the first half and went into the half up 22-17.

Alex Mueller opened the second half with a bucket for the Hawks, but Medford started to gain momentum with three 3-pointers on an 11-8 run. The Raiders followed by shooting 9 of 10 free throws, and a steal and layup by their leading scorer, Cam Wenzel, tied the game 41-all with just under 7½ minutes to play.