The first day of the 73rd State Individual Wrestling Tournament identified wrestlers advancing to the semifinals in Division 1 and to the quarterfinals in Divisions 2 and 3.
Six of the nine former champions in Division 1 have advanced to the semifinals with a pair of victories Thursday. That list includes Justin Folley of Wauwatosa West/East at 126, Nathan Smith of Mukwonago at 132, Collin Kraus of Stoughton at 145, Brock Benitz of Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln at 160, Beau Breske of Hartford Union at 182 and Mason Stokke of Menomonie at 220.
Eight wrestlers in Division 1 remained undefeated through the first day of action. Dylan Koontz and Fritz Schierl of Stevens Point won their matches to both improve to 42-0 at the 113 and 160 classes, respectively. Sawyer Massie of Hudson is now 45-0 at 170. Both Dylan Anderson of Hudson and Breske remain unbeaten at 182, with records of 45-0 and 49-0, respectively. Jacob Raschka of Pewaukee is 51-0 at 195. At 220, Stokke increased his unblemished record to 29-0, and Jacob Simar of Kenosha Indian Trail improved to 41-0.
A.J. Schoenfuss of Stratford was the only former champion to wrestle in the Division 2 or Division 3 preliminaries. He pinned his opponent in 3:44 to advance to the quarterfinals in pursuit of his second straight title.
Action begins Friday at 10 a.m. with the Division 1 consolations. The Division 2 and 3 quarterfinals will begin at 11:15 a.m. with the semifinals in all divisions are slated for 7 p.m.