Denmark duo producing dominant seasons
T.J. Weidman knew he had a lot of rust to knock off after missing an entire year on the mat.
Gabe Wertel was happy to help him out.
The Denmark duo has become one of the most dominating 1-2 punches at the heavier weight classes in the area as a result.
“It really helps both guys because they push each other,” Denmark wrestling coach Tim Kapinos said. “They’re good friends, so they want to see each other succeed and that helps out in the practice room.”
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Weidman and Wertel will both be aiming to punch their tickets to state on Saturday in Wrightstown at a WIAA Division 2 sectional after winning regional titles in back-to-back weight classes at Valders.
Weidman, who missed all of his junior season last year with an injury, is 39-2 and ranked No. 3 at 220 pounds in D2 by Wisconsin Wrestling Online.
Wertel, a junior, has an unblemished marked of 41-0 and is ranks No. 4 at 195 pounds.
They have combined for 55 pins this season.
“We push each other a lot,” said Wertel, who is a couple of victories away from 100 career wins. “Almost every day we’re together and live wrestling. We’re always competing over who is stronger and going as hard as we can.”
After qualifying for state last year, Wertel has been on a tear this season.
The 195-pounder broke Denmark’s single-season record for pins in winning his second straight regional title. His 29 pins surpasses the previous mark of 27 held by Brian Schaetz (2011) and Brock Bergelin (2015).
His strength and confidence were bolstered this year with the return of Weidman, who missed all of last season after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder.
The setback was sustained early in the 2017 football season and prevented Weidman from building upon the regional title he won as a sophomore.
“Wrestling Gabe, helped me come up to speed,” Weidman said. “At the beginning of this year, I was really rusty from not wrestling last year.”
Weidman has had to make up a lot of ground on the mat since this is only his second season of wrestling at the high school level. He sat out as a freshman to do Olympic lifting before returning to the sport as a sophomore when Wertel was an incoming freshman.
“Sophomore year he worked really hard to get some of that technique back and get back into the swing of things,” Kapinos said. “But his biggest strength is his strength.
“He was fairly limited with technique, but he has come a long way since the beginning of the season just with his strength and his ability to overpower most kids that he wrestles. It’s given him a lot of success.”
Weidman and Wertel enjoyed success in the fall, helping the Denmark football team advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Weidman, a 6-foot-1 inside linebacker, led the team with 84 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and 10 sacks to earn first-team all-North Eastern Conference honors.
On the mat, the Vikings were ranked No. 5 in D2 heading into regionals. Four of the top five teams were NEC foes Freedom, Luxemburg-Casco and Wrightstown.
“These guys are wrestling really well,” Kapinos said. “It’s just a matter of fact that we’re in a tough conference and tough regional.”
Denmark advanced five wrestlers to sectionals. Sophomore Ethan Schwartz (138 pounds) also won a regional title, while junior Cole Tenor (126) and senior Bradyn Polomis (182) won wrestlebacks for second place to advance.
The Vikings are looking to advance multiple wrestlers to the WIAA individual state tournament for a fifth straight year.
Weidman and Wertel would ultimately like to extend the program’s medalist streak to five consecutive years as well.
“That’s my main goal, just to get on podium with Gabe because we work so hard during practice,” Weidman said. “To see our hard work pay off, that would mean the world.”
