Posted: March 2, 2010 |(0) Comments

Germantown — Boys basketball coach Steve Showalter is a man of supreme confidence.

After all, one doesn't take a previously moribund program like the Warhawks were for much of the 1990s and turn them into a three-time conference champion and two-time state tournament qualifier without it.

But Showalter stands in awe of Germantown's three-time WIAA state wrestling champion Jesse Thielke, who secured the most recent of those titles with a dominating four-match effort at the WIAA State Individual Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison last weekend that had all the drama of a kindergartener's Christmas pageant.

"He's just amazing to watch," said Showalter. "His confidence is just astounding. I mean, it's amazing to be able to go into your chosen sport like he has and to be just that good at it. To do that is pretty awesome.

"Sometimes he scares me (laughs)," Showalter added. "I'm almost twice as big as he is, and I sometimes look around the gym to see if he's behind me (laughs even more)."

Technical falls in three matches

If that thought sounds like hyperbole or exaggeration, talk to Brookfield East's Justin Wolfenden, who was on the wrong end of a third-period technical fall inflicted by Thielke in the state 125-pound finals Saturday night.

It was the third technical fall in four tournament matches for Thielke.

The signature moment came late in the first period, with the score 10-2, after Thielke had already used a variety of leg and upper-body attacks to completely flummox the otherwise solid Spartan wrestler, moving so quickly that Wolfenden barely had time to turn his head before he was flat on the mat, the victim of yet another takedown.

At that point in the match, everyone could see Wolfenden just shake his head in disbelief at what was happening to him.

"Oh yeah," chuckled Wolfenden after the awards ceremony Saturday night. "That was just me saying 'Oh well, what can I do?'

"I mean, he's just so dominant," the Spartan senior added. "There's just not a lot of breathing room. You can't afford mistakes against him and I made some. He's just on a whole other level."

What's next?

So, given that level of complete dominance, where does the multi-time national champion look for challenges on the high school level?

For one, he can look to his Warhawks teammates and know that he can always make himself useful to them by dispensing lessons he's learned from his thousands of lifetime matches.

And he knows that he can also learn from them, too.

"I'm just trying to get better everyday," Thielke said, talking in a matter-of-fact tone that should throw a shiver into every potential opponent state and nationwide.

After all, these are people who already know that trying to take on Thielke is like trying to stand in against a category five tornado, using only a flimsy piece of plywood as protection.

Try as you might, you're just going to get blown away.

"I mean, even if I dominate a match, it's like coach Casey (Germantown coach Gabrielson) says, 'Try to find something you can work on. Try to reach new levels,' " Thielke said.

Thielke also looks for challenges on the high school level in the Ringer's Wrestling Club practice room, where he can butt heads with his old friend and conference competitor Alex Dieringer of Port Washington. Dieringer just earned his second state championship in three years with a dominating finals performance at 140 pounds also on Saturday.

Thielke thinks nothing of locking up with Dieringer when they get together at Ringer's, despite the fact that he's giving away close to 15 pounds to his friend.

"Those are the best practices," said Thielke. "The bigger and stronger (my training partner), the better it is. In fact, that was one of the things that made me happiest about this (latest state title), to also see Alex win and then to have Ringer's Coach (Jim) Schmitz there to see both of us become champions."

Tournaments abound

And now the work outside of high school begins in earnest.

There will be the usual summer of traveling about to tournaments ("Even more than usual," he said), that will include the much-anticipated foray into Senior National competition against seasoned adult wrestlers, and in about three weeks or so, the globe-trotting Thielke will be part of a US Junior National Greco-Roman team that will take part in an international tournament in Bulgaria.

That little venture is on top of the trip he made to the Junior World Tournament in Turkey he made last summer. He laughs when asked if all this traveling has helped his language skills.

"I wish," he chuckled.

But that doesn't mean he isn't thinking about history. He's now one of just 47 wrestlers in state history who have earned three championships.

And only 10 have earned the coveted four and only one of those has been a Division 1 competitor (Kevin Black of River Falls, 1995-98). Thielke's close to breaking into that elite club, but he's only going to worry about it when the time comes.

"This feels really good," he said, "but I'm just going to continue things one match a time, and when that first (high school) match comes around next fall, then I'll start thinking about it (four state titles)."

And in the process, he will likely start down a most inevitable road toward doing it.

THREE-PEAT

Germantown grappler earns third WIAA state championship

Jesse Thielke's run to the title

• Technical fall (15-0) over Tanner Owens of Hudson (38-11 record)

• Technical fall (19-4) over Zach Mommaerts of Oconomowoc (43-4)

• Major decision (17-3) over Justin Meins of Port Washington (37-8)

• Technical fall (19-4) over Justin Wolfenden of Brookfield East (43-8)

Thielke's overall high school record: 136-1

Also competing at state for Germantown: Joe Multerer at 285 (31-14), lost to Brookfield Central's Bryce Gilbert on a pin in the first round.

QUOTE: "He is just something special," coach Casey Gabrielson said. "I've never seen a better technician. I coached a four-time (champ) in Hawaii, but Jesse would just make him look like a normal champion. He's just a complete step above."