EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal, Fennimore Times, Boscobel Dial

Kadyn Davis, Sr., 175 pounds, Belmont/Platteville wrestling

DODGEVILLE — The  Belmont/Platteville boys wrestling team produced a historic performance at Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Dodgeville Regional tournament.

Senior Kadyn Davis returned from injury to win the 175-pound title, and junior Dylan Weigel was the champion at 138, as the BP co-op scored 193 points to finish second, just ahead of #2-ranked Evansville (190) to qualify for team sectionals for just the second time in program history.

The Belmont/Platteville co-op, which advanced to team sectionals two years ago, also qualified a program record eight individuals for Saturday’s WIAA D2 Westby Individual Sectional.

Fennimore, which was moved up to Division 2 this year, after winning three-straight D3 Team State titles, won the regional title with 242 points.

Fennimore and Belmont/Platteville were back in action Tuesday night at the D2 Prairie du Chien Team Sectional, along with GET/Melrose–Mindoro and Lodi. The winner of Tuesday’s PdC Team Sectional will advance to the WIAA Team State Tournament Saturday, March 8 at the UW Field House. 

“Getting second at the toughest regional in the state says a lot about this team,” said BP head coach Emeric Williams. “I know there weren’t too many people that saw us getting out of that regional, and right fully so seeing as the No. 2 (Evansville) and No. 5 (Fennimore) ranked teams in the state were there along with Prairie du Chien. But we knew what we had going in, and knew it was possible for us to do.

“It was preached to take care of business individually and the team part of it will follow the individual success, and that’s what happened.”

Davis (26–5), who had not wrestler, since placing ninth at the Bi-State Classic Dec. 27–28, scored a team-high 27 points, which also included his 100th career victory, and Weigel (49–4) added 25.5 points with his title, but none were more important than BP’s final match of the day.

Senior heavyweight Rusty Wruck (24–11)  pinned Edgerton’s Sean Allison in the 285-pound fifth-place match to secure crucial team points for Belmont/Platteville.

“Having the team score come down to a fifth place match says a lot about the character that Rusty Wruck has,” said Williams. “Even though that match wasn’t going to qualify him for sectionals, he still went out and got the fall for us to take the second place team in the team standings.”

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Alyvia Bahl, Jr., 132 pounds, Lancaster girls wrestling
Bahl went 4–0 with a bye and three pins to win the 132-pound title at last Friday night's WIAA Girls Mineral Point Regional. Bahl (33–5) pinned Cuba City/Benton/Southwestern's Jaden Kohl in 55 seconds in the championship match to help the Flying Arrows win the regional team title with 137.5 points. Bahl and four other LHS sectional qualifiers, including regional runners-up Amelia Johnsen (24–14, 120 pounds) and junior Sophia Burr (19–12, 152), will compete at Friday's Prairie du Chien sectional with a chance to advance to next week's WIAA Girls Wrestling State Tournament.

Kylie Butler, Jr., G, Argyle/Pecatonica
Butler scored a game-high 32 points on 11 of 16 from the field and a perfect 11 of 11 at the free throw line to lead the Orioles (19–3, 10–3 SRE) to a 77–73 win over D5 #10 Belmont (14–7, 10–4 SRW) in a Six Rivers Conference game last Friday night. Senior Morgan Freeman posted a career-high 32 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and two blocks to lead the Braves, who still clinched at least a share of the Six Rivers West title, due to second-place Shullsburg's (9–5 SRW) 62–52 loss to D5 #2-ranked Albany-Monticello last Friday night. 

Eli Langmeier, Sr., C, Platteville boys basketball
The 6-foot-7  Langmeier  dominated the smaller Arrows in the paint all night, posting his best game of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds in last Thursday's 77–71 victory at Lancaster. The win helped the Hillmen (15–6, 8–0 SWC) clinch a third-straight Southwest Wisconsin Conference title. “I believe everyone was excited for Eli on his big night,” said Platteville head coach Mike Huser. “He has been coming on in the last several games and to see it all come together on Thursday evening was really good to see.  He has worked hard at continuing to get better in all areas, so the scoring was a bonus, but he was also very active rebounding and defending; all around great effort.”

Thomas Freeman, Fr., C; Wyatt Temperly, Fr. G, and Jacob Kress, Jr. G, Belmont boys basketball
Six-foot-3 Belmont freshman Thomas Freeman dominated the smaller Lancaster Flying Arrows to the tune of 24 points and eight rebounds in a 73–68 non-conference win last Tuesday night at LHS. Freeman (10–12 FG) had his way in the paint against Lancaster, which was without leading scorer and rebounder junior forward Zach Hermsen (15.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg), but his biggest shot of the night was an unexpected 3-pointer that gave the Braves a 66–60 lead with 2:12 left in the game.

Lancaster (12–7) led 60–55 with four minutes left, but freshman Wyatt Temperly’s 3-pointer to ignite an tide-turning 14–3 Belmont run, and junior Jacob Kress gave the Braves a 61–60 lead on a 3-pointer with 3:28 left to play, then put the nail in the coffin with his fourth triple of the night to make it 69–63 with 1:35 left. Temperly finished with 17 points and six assists, and Kress had 16.

Paisley Williams, So., F, Benton girls basketball
Williams recorded a 15-point, 10-rebound double–double to lead the Zephyrs to a 64–55 victory over visiting Juda last Friday night, Benton's first victory of the season.

Dalton Wolf, Sr., 285 pounds, Fennimore wrestling
Wolf recorded three pins and scored a team-high 30 points to win the 285-pound title and help Fennimore claim the team title at last Saturday's WIAA Division 2 Dodgeville Regional. Wolf (35–14) then scored a pair of pins at Tuesday's WIAA D2 Prairie du Chien Team Sectional to help the Golden Eagles defeat both Lodi Center 50–20 and Belmont/Platteville 41–26 to win the Sectional Team title for a fourth-straight year, but first in Division 2. Fennimore, which won the last three D3 Team State titles under former coach Chad Steldt, is headed to the D2 Team State Tournament under first-year head coach Riley Lull, after being moved up a division by the WIAA's new Competitive Balance Initiative.