L-C’s Bosman a true champion, on and off the mat
It was about four years ago when I received a phone call at the office about a potential story idea.
There was a youth wrestler who had done quite well for himself at some national tournaments and the individual on the line wanted to see some coverage about him.
Given the size of the coverage area versus the size of our staff, youth sports were not something we could tackle other than the photo submissions we printed on one of the weekend pages.
I ended the conversation by saying I’m sure I’ll be covering this wrestler soon since he would be an incoming freshman during the upcoming school year.
The wrestler was Bryce Bosman, and sure enough, I was interviewing him at the Kohl Center in Madison after he advanced to his first WIAA Division 2 state championship match in 2016.
The nice thing about a student-athlete like Bosman is he never let his success go to his head or change his demeanor.
The Luxemburg-Casco senior was still the same soft-spoken individual following his fourth state championship match, which saw him come within an eyelash of becoming a four-time champion.
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The loss was no doubt tough to swallow. However, Bosman didn’t let the defeat sour his final state trip.
Bosman could later be found in the concourse at the Kohl Center joking with friends and teammates, making the most of those moments together one last time before they ultimately go their separate ways following graduation.
After all, the camaraderie that comes with being a part of a team and having fun with friends is the real reason any kid signs up for a sport.
The student-athletes who never lose sight of that are the ones who truly enjoy and takeaway the most from the sports they compete in.
“Nobody in my family had ever wrestled besides me,” said Bosman, who has earned academic all-state honors in his career. “They sent home a letter with all the little wrestling kids on there when I was little and I saw that and my dad thought why not try that. I went in there and that’s what I stuck with it.
“A lot of my buddies did it. Our program, we start them off really young. We’ll get all the guys out. Yeah, some will quit, but most of them stick with it. That’s what made me stick with it because all of my buddies did it, too.”
Bosman’s success was by no means a solo act. It was a product of L-C’s wrestling room and the quality individuals it consistently turns out, on and off the mat.
“He’s the ideal kid that you want in your program to have lead your team and be the example,” Luxemburg-Casco coach Chas Treml said. “He’s been that and then some.
“He’s just always really focused. He had his goals and he followed them. He put in a lot, a lot of extra time to do all kinds of summer camps and offseason wrestling. That’s what is going to make those guys better, and he put that time in.”
Treml became L-C’s varsity coach during Bosman’s freshman season. It was only fitting Bosman would become the new head coach’s first state champion since Treml had previously coached him at the youth level.
“You can’t ask for a better kid,” Treml said. “He’s been a very determined kid since I remember him coming in at youth practice and coming in at championship practice. That group was a core group coming up all the way through. They worked their butts off and to do the things that he did with that group of seniors has set me up as a coach. It took it right back to that next level of what we were and getting us back on track.”
The senior class that Bosman is a part of helped a traditional power like L-C end a four-year state drought by advancing to the UW Field House in back-to-back years, including winning the program’s 12th WIAA state championship in 2018.
Although Bosman fell just short of becoming the 40th individual state champion in L-C history, he was the first person to come over with a huge a smile and greet junior Reece Worachek off the mat when he accomplished the feat by winning the 170-pound state title.
“I took second, but you still have to cheer on your teammates. That’s big for him and big for the community of Luxemburg-Casco,” Bosman said.
The five individuals the Spartans had at state this year produced enough points to place first in the Division 2 team standings for the individual tournament.
While his time competing on the mat is done, Bosman plans to do his part to help ensure L-C’s success continues in the future.
“I’ll still be coming in next year for practices and stuff,” said Bosman, who will attend NWTC to pursue a career as an electrical linesman. “My schooling is like 20 minutes away from high school, so I’ll still be coming and joking with them and practicing with them.”
The lasting impression I’ll take away from this year’s state tournament was seeing Bosman and Worachek lay on one of the mats before the Walk of Champions Saturday night and watching the highlight reel on the video board above like they were in recliners watching a movie.
Those moments with teammates are just as special as any state championship in my opinion for a student-athlete. Soon enough they’ll discover those are the moments they’ll look back on miss most about the sport when it’s over.
“I look back and I had a good career, and I’ve done what I done,” said Bosman, who went 179-18 in his high school career. “I won three and runner-up once, that’s a pretty good career for me I feel.”
Yes, it certainly was.
