KAUKAUNA — The Kaukauna Galloping Ghosts wrestling team is expected to return home to Kaukauna about 8:30 p.m. Saturday and will take part in a welcome-home parade.
The parade will begin at Team Industries and follow Wisconsin Highway 55 through the city to County Highway CE ending at Kaukauna High School.
The Ghosts are familiar with the route after having won the Division 1 WIAA championship today in Madison for the third time in three years.
To put that into perspective, Lucas Peters and Cole Tomcheck, the only two juniors on the team, have never lost a state title during their high school careers so far.
The Ghosts claimed the title with a 41-26 win Saturday over Marshfield in the championship match at the UW Field House in Madison.
The state champs came in as the top seed in the bracket after qualifying for the 14th time in the last 16 seasons and for the 21st time overall, according to the WIAA’s tournament preview.
They had a string of five straight appearances from 1999-2003 and have surpassed that streak with their current run of 11 consecutive appearances.
They now have won a total of seven state championships, including four straight from 2014-17 before the current run. The Galloping Ghosts have also finished runner-up four times, including 2000, 2003, 2008 and 2013.
Division 1 Championship
Kaukauna defeats Marshfield 41-26
- 220 – Jordan Loose (Kaukauna) over James Clements (Marshfield) Dec 6-1
- 285 – Ben Krueger (Kaukauna) over Adrian Kruger (Marshfield) SV-1 7-2
- 106 – Nick Jenkins (Kaukauna) over Ava Gardner (Marshfield) Dec 9-3
- 113 – Jon Sternweis (Marshfield) over Michael Posorski (Kaukauna) Fall 4:53
- 120 – Easton Ledden (Marshfield) over Moses Hammen (Kaukauna) Fall 3:12
- 126 – Lucas Peters (Kaukauna) over Jace Kelnhofer (Marshfield) Fall 0:35
- 132 – Bryan Winans (Kaukauna) over Keenen Landwehr (Marshfield) Fall 0:25
- 138 – Greyson Clark (Kaukauna) over Brett Franklin (Marshfield) TF 20-4
- 145 – Hoyt Blaskowski (Marshfield) over Brady Sprangers (Kaukauna) Fall 0:45
- 152 – Caleb Dennee (Marshfield) over Connor Smith (Kaukauna) Maj 10-0
- 160 – Garrett Willuweit (Marshfield) over Peyton Lee (Kaukauna) Maj 15-6
- 170 – Liam Crook (Kaukauna) over Eli Colby (Marshfield) TF 16-0
- 182 – Judah Hammen (Kaukauna) over Owen Griesbach (Marshfield) Maj 14-3
- 195 – Drew Wendzicki (Kaukauna) over Mason Seidl (Marshfield) Fall 2:40
Kaukauna first topped Waukesha West 67-6 in the quarterfinal, the defeated Muskego 72-4 in the semifinals.
The Ghosts are coming off an impressive run at the individual tournament last weekend.
Greyson Clark, a Purdue commit, won his fourth state championship of his high school career.
Lucas Peters of Kaukauna defeated Jacob Herm of Neenah for the 126 title.
Bryan Winans of Kaukauna, who also wrestled in a championship match, finished second at 132.
Six other Ghosts qualified for the state field.
.
.
