This year's 31-team field feature squads from seven states (Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin). Six of the teams are nationally ranked: No. 24 Lockport (Ill.), No. 26 Kasson-Mantorville (Minn.), No. 27 Montini Catholic (Ill.), No. 33 Apple Valley (Minn.), No. 35 Southeast Polk (Iowa), and No. 48 Kaukauna (Wis.)
Additional notable teams include Chicago Mt. Carmel, Marmion Academy, and Carl Sandburg who are all ranked inside the top ten in Class 3A per Illinois Matmen; Stoughton, Milton, Pewaukee, Freedom, Two Rivers, and Fennimore are all ranked inside the top five within their division statewide per Wisconsin Wrestling Online; Waverly-Shell Rock is ranked inside the top five in Iowa Class 3A by multiple outlets; St. Michael-Albertville and Simley are ranked inside the top four of their class in Minnesota per The Guillotine; Platte County is ranked third in Class 3 per MissouriWrestling.com; while Thompson, Ala. was top five in their state tournament last year.
From an individual competitor standpoint, there are 20 wrestlers in this tournament field that won a state title last year and/or appear in the InterMat national high school wrestler rankings. Three wrestlers seek to repeat as champions at the Cheesehead this year: No. 14 Patrick McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.), No. 9 Jacob Raschka (Pewaukee, Wis.), and No. 1 Gable Steveson (Apple Valley, Minn.); another pair of wrestlers seek a third consecutive title, No. 8 Real Woods (Montini Catholic, Ill.) and No. 1 Brady Berge (Kasson-Mantorville, Minn.); while No. 4 Austin O'Connor (St. Rita, Ill.) is after a fourth consecutive tournament title at the Cheesehead.
Fans will assuredly be treated to an excellent showcase of wrestling over both days of competition, foremost in a pair of weight classes where multiple nationally ranked wrestlers are present. At 160 pounds, it's a trio, including those ranked first and second nationally: Brady Berge, Jake Allar (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.), along with No. 19 Trevell Timmons (Lockport, Ill.); while three ranked wrestlers are present at 195 pounds: No. 2 Patrick Brucki (Carl Sandburg, Ill.), No. 9 Jacob Raschka, and No. 10 Daniel Kerkvleit (Simley, Minn.)
In addition to those already mentioned, five other nationally ranked wrestlers are present in the field: No. 12 Joey Melendez (Montini Catholic, Ill.) at 113 pounds, No. 11 Will Lewan (Montini Catholic, Ill.) at 145, No. 17 Jackson Hemauer (DeForest, Wis.) at 182, and No. 19 Noah Ryan (Kasson-Mantorville, Minn.) at 220.
With many weight classes having close to ten wrestlers ranked inside the top eight of their state tournament classification in the bracket, there is guaranteed to be an extremely intense level of competition from first to last whistle over two days in Kaukauna, Wis. at the 19th edition of the Cheesehead Invitational.
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