ORFORDVILLE, Wis. — Coaches love when they can get their teams to start thinking like they’re a family.
Joel Steinmann is fortunate. His Parkview/Albany wrestling team is way ahead of the game. They already have four sets of brothers involved with the squad.
“The Egans, the Suers and the Finleys were all wrestling and we had the Brown bothers, Gavin and Byron, as my assistant coaches,” Steinmann said. “Plus our managers are sisters. This is a family that grew up through our system from top to bottom.”
The close-knit Vikings enjoyed a terrific season, which is reflected on the 2022-23 Beloit Daily News All-Area Wrestling Team. Steinmann is Coach of the Year and Parkview sophomore 220-pounder Wes Egan heads the team as Wrestler of the Year.
The Vikings placed the most wrestlers ever on the First Team with seven. In addition to Wes Egan, the honorees include sophomore Slater Valley (106), junior Danny Finley (120), senior Ian Suer (132/138), senior Evan Suer (138/145), junior Sam Schwengels (182) and senior Wyatt Egan (195).
“We had a season to remember for sure,” Steinmann said, noting the Vikings’ Trailways South Conference title was their first league crown in 41 years. “We lost our first two duals against Turner and Parker (a tie score, but lost in a tie-breaker) then went on to finish 6-0 in conference and 18-2 overall.”
The Vikings also won the Holiduals at Oakfield, Wis., and the Ithaca-West Invitational. In addition, they were second at the Monroe Invite and Trailways Invite and third at the Mt. Horeb and Polo invites. They tied a school record with seven qualifiers for sectionals and three (Schwengels, Wyatt and Wes Egan) went to state.
Steinmann, in his 25th year of coaching and 20th in Orfordville, said one of the things he’ll remember most about this season was how unselfish his Vikings were. Wes Egan was a prime example.
While he officially weighed in around 190 pounds all season, he moved up to the 220-pound class and his older brother wrestled at 195. Wyatt, too, was light for his class.
He generally weighed in around 180 and yet won conference and went 40-8 to finish his career at 86-21. He had skipped his junior year.
Wes Egan also earned Wrestler of the Year in the Trailways South Conference. He had a 48-5 record with championships in the conference meet, sectionals, the Holiduals at Oakfield, Wis., as well as invitationals at Mt. Horeb, Polo, Ithaca-Weston and Monroe. He was also second at the Warbird Invitational (Darlington/Black Hawk) as well as regionals.
Egan was also the only local wrestler to place in the WIAA State Championships, finishing sixth in his first appearance there. His 48 wins and 29 pins were both program records. He also had three tech falls and five major decisions, the most-ever by a sophomore at Parkview/Albany, and he paced the Vikings in team points.
“The guys I went up against were bigger, but I felt like I was a lot quicker,” Wes Egan said. “I’m used to wrestling up because I wrestled 220 last year, too. Last year I actually weighed 220. I think next year I might go down a weight. We’ll see.”
Trailways South opponents had to hate seeing the Vikings coming. Valley, Finley, Ian Suer, Schwengels and both Egans were unbeaten in conference duals.
“We figured we would have a good year, but winning conference was a big surprise to us,” Egan said. “I think the last few duals we realized that was a possibility. We hadn’t done it for 41 years and we all stepped it up to make it happen.”
Wrestling fever caught on in a big way at Parkview this season. Even junior Nico Zamora, a foreign exchange student from Spain who had never wrestled before, used his martial arts background and went 25-14, taking third at conference.
“The staff — Gavin Brown, Byron Brown, John Rice, Brett Zimmerman and Al Stark —were terrific,” Steinmann said. “They really pushed the guys in practice. And this group really wanted to get the best out of each other. They worked hard, they set goals and they reached them.”
The entire team follows:
• FIRST TEAM
106: BRAYDYN COLLINS–Clinton, So., 30-16. RVC champion. 2nd at Bradford and Monroe Invites, 3rd at Ithaca/Weston Invite, 4th at Waunakee Invite. Sectional qualifier.
106: SLATER VALLEY–Parkview/Albany, So., 38-10. Trailways South champion and unbeaten in league duals. 1st at the Holiduals (Oakfield). 2nd at the Warbird (Darlington/Blackhawk) and Mt Horeb tournaments, 3rd at Polo, Monroe, Deerfield Scramble and regionals, First time sectional qualifier.
106: JACKSON OLSON–Hononegah, Fr., 36-14. 2nd in NIC-10, regional. 4th at Mid-States Classic.
106: MIGUEL MARTINEZ–Beloit Memorial, So., 30-10. Big Eight champion. 19 pins, 37 takedowns, 3rd in sectional.
120: ANGELINA CASSIOPPI–Hononegah, So., 30-6. 2nd in NIC-10. 5th at Sycamore Invite. Two-time IHSA girls state champion.
120: GAVIN EKBERG–North Boone, So., 31-14. 7-0 in Big Northern Conference. Regional champion. Set school single-seasons pin record with 25.38-10. Unbeaten in conference duals. 1st at Ithaca-Weston and Monroe, 2nd at the Warbird Holiduals, 3rd at Mt. Horeb, Polo, 4th at regional, sectional.
120: CHASE RODRIGUEZ–Big Foot/Williams Bay, Jr., 31-5. 17 pins. Three-time RVC Tournament champion. First in Oakfield Tournament, Deerfield Invite. 2nd in Burlington Invite, regionals. 3rd in sectional, state qualifier.
120: DANNY FINLEY–Parkview/Albany, Jr., 38-10. Undefeated in conference duals. 1st at Ithaca-Weston, Monroe; 2nd at the Warbird, Holiduals, 3rd at Mount Horeb, 4th at regional, sectional.
132: ZACK RIES–Beloit Turner, Jr., 35-13. 3rd in RVC, regional and sectional. 25 pins. 49 takedowns. 179.5 team points.
132/138: IAN SUER–Parkview/Albany, Sr., 39-12. First at Holiduals, 2nd at the Warbird and Monroe Invite, 3rd at conference, 4th at Polo, Ithaca-Weston and regionals. Two-time sectional qualifier. Undefeated in conference duals. 101-40 career record.
138: JOE LOHMAR–Brodhead/Juda, 39-10. Two-time RVC champion, 2-time sectional qualifier and a WIAA state qualifier this season. Co-Wrestler of the RVC Tournament this year.
138: JUSTIN TEAGUE–Beloit Turner, Sr., 30-5. 2nd in RVC Tournament. 22 pins. 169.5 team points.
138/145: EVAN SUER-Parkview/Albany, Sr., 33-19. First in conference, 2nd at Holiduals, Ithaca-Weston, Monroe, 4th at Warbird, Deerfield Scramble, regionals, sectionals. Career record of 108-42.
145: MARCUS McINTYRE–Brodhead/Juda, Jr., 41-5. Two-time RVC champion, three-time sectional qualifier and two-time state qualifier. Has 90 career wins with a shortened freshman season.
145: NATE POZZANI–Beloit Turner, Sr., 27-11. 2nd in RVC Tournament, 5th in Regional. 39 takedowns. 18 pins.
145: CONNER DIEMEL–Hononegah, So., 35-17. 2nd in NIC-10 and regional, 3rd at Sycamore Invitational.
152: CODY SULLIVAN–Clinton, Sr., 34-14. RVC champion. 1st at Monroe Invite, 2nd at Bradford, 11th at Mid-States. Sectional qualifier. School record 22 pins.
170: DJ VERNON–Clinton, Sr., 22-10. 2nd in RVC. 3rd at Monroe Invite. Sectional qualifier. State qualifier.
170: ELLIOTT DIEMEL–Hononegah, Sr., 38-12. NIC-10 champion. 2nd in regional, 3rd in Batavia Invite.
182: SAM SCHWENGELS–Parkview/Albany, Jr., 47-7. 1st at the Warbird, Holiduals, Mount Horeb, Polo Invites. 2nd at Ithaca-Weston, Conference, regional, sectional, 3rd at Monroe. Undefeated in conference duals. First-time state qualifier advancing to the second day.
195: WYATT EGAN–Parkview/Albany, Sr., 40-8. 1st at Ithaca-Weston, Deerfield Scramble and conference, 2nd at Mount Horeb, Polo, Monroe and regionals, 3rd at sectionals. Two-time state qualifier. Undefeated in conference duals. Career record of 86-21 without wrestling as a junior.
220: WES EGAN–Parkview/Albany, So., 48-5. 1st at Holiduals, Mount Horeb, Polo, Ithaca-Weston, Monroe, Conference and Sectionals, 2nd at the Warbird and regionals. First-time state qualifier and placed sixth at state. Undefeated in conference duals.
220: ISAAK SMITH–Hononegah, Jr., 32-14. NIC-10 champion. 2nd in regional, 5th at Mid-States Classic.
285: ETHAN DELGADO–North Boone, Sr., 27-15. 3rd place Polo Tournament. 2nd Richmond-Burton Tournament. Regional champion.
• HONORABLE MENTION
113: Alex Thiering (Beloit Memorial), So. 120: Brayden Ward (Turner), So. 126: Owen Harwick (Clinton) Fr.; Owen West (Beloit Memorial), So.; Sydney Andrews (Turner), So. 132: D’Angelo Vernon (Clinton), Jr. 138: Carter Ries (Big Foot/Williams Bay); D Terrell (Turner), So. 145: Nico Zamora (Parkview/Albany), Jr. 160: Carlos Ramirez (Turner), Jr. 170: Eric Halon (Turner), Sr. 182: Kooper Huffman (Turner), Sr. 195: Hunter Griinke (Turner) Sr.; CJ Streuly (Brodhead/Juda). 285: Van Jensen (Clinton), Sr.; Anthony Hamilton (Turner), Jr.; Ben Lavariega (Big Foot/Williams Bay).
