12 GREEN DEMONS HEADED TO STATE

Article by Tanya Burrows

Youth wrestling is alive and well in the Adams Friendship area, and in the Green and White tradition, 12 area youth wrestlers will head to Madison this Friday to compete in the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation Kids Folkstyle State Tournament. The 12 youth from Adams Friendship will be joined by over 1300 other youth wrestlers from across the state all competing for a coveted WWF trophy and a place on the podium.  Placing first or second at one of the regional competition sites on Saturday March 13^th was just the first obstacle these young wrestlers faced in achieving their 2010 goal.  Waiting two weeks to compete in Madison, keeping their eye on the prize and maintaining their weight until state are a few of the others.  

For some of the Green Demons, a first trip to state has nerves jumping and anticipation levels high.  Garrett Gasienica, Griffin West, Sebastian Billington, Makinlea Gast, Seirra Kemp and Frank Murray  are making their first trip to the state tournament  and hoping to have their names in the books as one of the top 6 youth wrestlers in their age group and weight class.  For veteran wrestlers Jared Lenze, Rylan Burrows, Brandon Kniprath, Cole Clark, Trenton McManus and Dylan Richardt, the experience of competing at State is nothing new, but  the challenge remains the same.  Wrestling action will begin Friday night at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison on one of 14 mats.  Wrestlers born 1995 through 1998, wrestling in the boys division on Friday will include from A-F Cole Clark, Trenton Mc Manus, Rylan Burrows, Dylan Richardt, and Frank Murray. These boys will wrestle 2 matches Friday night, and must have at least one win to continue on Saturday.

Wrestling will begin early Saturday morning for the other 7 A-F wrestlers. For Sierra Kemp and Makinlea Gast, it will be a first for the WWF as well as them; as this year’s  tournament has its own girls division.  Joining the girls on the mats early Saturday will be Jared Lenze and Brandon Kniprath, both returning state qualifiers; and first time competing will be Garrettt Gasiencia, Sebastian Billington, and Griffin West. Competition for the older boys will resume about noon on Saturday.

In a addition to the Green Demons regular fundraising  efforts, a generous e donation by Dr. Joseph Parlante of Adams helped to  make the trip to Madison a reality for the Green Demons.  Wish these youth wrestlers luck as they hit the mats hard this last week of practice leading up to the ultimate experience  of wrestling at The WWF State Tournament. GO Green Demons!!