Jarosik wins state title

Jarosik wins state title Sandy Creek senior claims 1st Cougar state championship in 38 years with 165-pound title

Sandy Creek senior Rowan Jarosik captured a feat that had only been done five times in the history of the wrestling program at Sandy Creek, winning an individual state championship. Jarosik claimed the Class D 165-pound weight class title with a pinfall victory over previously unbeaten Wilcox-Hildreth senior Graiden Ritner.

With the gold-medal win, Jarosik joins the likes of Jerry Horts, the Class C 155-pound champion in 1976, Ron Soucie, the Class C 185-pound champion in 1979, Delaine Soucie, the Class C 167-pound champion, and Dale Fike, a two-time state champion, who won the Class C 98-pound title in 1986 and the Class C 105-pound title in 1987.

Jarosik focused in on his title run this season after falling short of winning the Class D 150-pound title his junior season, after Centennial’s Jarret Dodson earned a narrow 4-1 win over Jarosik in the title bout.

OPENING ROUND

The Cougar senior opened his title run with a 6-1 victory over Samuel Hare of Hitchcock County. Jarosik gave up just one escape to Hare, while gaining a pair of takedowns, worth three points each, to advance to the quarterfinal round with a 6-1 win.

QUARTERFINALS

After claiming the five-point win over Hare, Jarosik moved on to the quarterfinal round where he would dominate Landyn Veik of Elgin Public/Elgin Pope John, claiming a 15-0 tech fall win over Veik in 2:20.

Jarosik led 11-0 after the first period scoring a three-point takedown and gaining a pair of four-point nearfalls. Jarosik then gained an escape point and with another three-point takedown, he earned the technical fall at the 2:20 mark of the match to advance to the semifinal round.

SEMIFINALS

With the dominating win over Veik, Jarosik set himself up with a big showdown with Wisner-Pilger’s Keegan Poppe, and again, Jarosik controlled the match, and his destiny to return to the championship finals.

Jarosik led 5-0 after the first two periods, scoring a three-point takedown in the first period, and a two-point reversal in the second period.

When the final buzzer sounded at the end of the match, Jarosik had added a takedown, while Poppe had a late-match escape for his one point in the match, as Jarosik secured his second straight trip to the final with the 8-1 win.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

Now facing Ritner in the title bout, Jarosik found himself in a spot that he had rarely been in for the past couple of years, down by three points in a match.

Ritner held a 6-3 lead which Jarosik scored on a takedown in the first period, while Ritner had an escape, takedown, and a two-point near fall to earn the three-point lead at the end of the first period.

Jarosik started the second period in the down position, but neither Jarosik nor Ritner could score on each other in the second.

It was the magical third period for Jarosik that stood out, as just 12 seconds into the final period, with 1:48 showing on the third-period clock, Jarosik got Ritner on his back, clamped down, and gained the pinfall win in 4:13 to finish his career as the 165-pound champion, and with a 42-1 record while handing Ritner his only loss of the season, with Ritner finishing his senior season with a 49-1 record.