Teresa Pejsa
Menomonie wrestling during a prematch meeting.
MENOMONIE — The Menomonie High School boys wrestling program has built a rich tradition and history over the years, and this season’s team plans to carry that momentum forward with a roster full of returning talent and athletes who have already competed on the state’s biggest stage.
The class of 2026 (this year’s senior class) has been a part of a Mustang team that has been competing in the WIAA wrestling team qualfier for three years in a row. In 2024, the Mustangs advanced through the team sections and competed at the WIAA team state championship, meeting up with two-time state champion Kaukauna. Last season, Menomonie out-matched West Salem-Bangor in the first round of the sectionals, but fell to a strong Holmen team in the finals.
With 11 returning varsity wrestlers, the team looks forward to another year of high level competition. Coming off of a Big Rivers Conference (BRC) championship, the team led by head coach Rylan Lubeck reloads once again. The 2024-25 team finished with a 12-8 dual record. Challenging themselves with high level opponents competing at “The Clash” national duals, complemented with duals at the Mustangs home tournament, the “Whitetail Shootout”.
The wrestling team returns considerable talent and experience with two-time state qualifiers senior Bryce Shepard and junior Aidan Aure along with three high-level seniors in Jacob Anderson, Bailey Casey, and Luke Pember who have all earned a trip to the state tournament.
An up-to-date site Wisconsingrappler.com provides season outlook and rankings that breed anticipation for this winter season. Four seniors and two juniors are ranked top ten in the state in Division 1 by the pre-season outlook: Bailey Casey, 4th, state qualifier; Aiden Aure, 2nd, 2x state qualifer; Aaron Howard, 7th, state qualifier; Luke Pember, 8th, state qualifier; Jake Anderson, 8th, state qualifer; Bryce Shepard, 8th, 2x state qualifer.
We asked a few wrestlers with prior state experience and a well-rounded freshman where their focus is and what they look forward to this wrestling season.
“A lot of good guys are coming back and, I think, six state qualifiers that could do some damage,” Luke Pember said. “The season didn’t end in pleasant way. I did training in the offseason to come back stronger.”
“The seniors are really developed and have been wrestling their whole life,” said Aidan Aure. “We have been together since covid and still have that chemistry matters to pick someone up, it is a different feeling when someone you’ve been with forever talks to you than someone new. It is really nice just to see the people you grow up with really mature. I look forward to knowing that I belong there and believing in myself and pretty hesitant. By that time I knew I was good enough to beat people that were good and placing well and winning big tournaments.”
“It would help if we can spread out all of the weights and make sure we get all of these freshmen well-developed, learning the mustang way and how it works in the high school,” Aaron Howard, a team captain, said. “We always get a lot of young guys on the team and we are looking forward to having a similar team from last year except some of our replacements will be freshman rather than seniors. We have a lot of solid seniors and juniors that should be able to do really well at individual state so hopefully that should help the team aspect a lot more.
“Hopefully the young guys can hold their weight and not let up too many points or get the win. I can remember since we were in elementary school going to a bunch of different states to wrestle not just for wrestling but because we loved hanging out with each other and always going out to eat after tournaments. That being said we should have a very connected team which should help on the mat and also in the practice room feeling connected and feeling at home can help us feel comfortable and push ourselves harder.”
“I look forward to having longer time with teammates like all of the bus rides,” Colin Howard, a well-rounded freshman, said. “Also there are only three in middle school meets and at least four in high school. I look forward to being a part of the team and making a team state run. My focus is to make it to state but it is harder this year with how they changed the layout but my main goal is placing high at sectionals.”
The WIAA made changes to the individual and team wrestling tournaments, including one that restructures the Tournament Series for the 2025-26 season to balance the number of qualifiers across divisions, eliminate the regional round of the tournament competition and replace the Tuesday team sectional with an expanded team sectional on the second Saturday of the Tournament Series. The state team tournament was also moved from Madison to La Crosse. Complete details for the restructured Tournament Series are available on the WIAA website.
These strong, young team will put on their singlets for the first time Friday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. when they face Marshfield in the MHS gymnasium in a dual meet. The Mustangs very limited home events to compete and show their abilities. All support is appreciated and it would be an amazing atmosphere to pack the gym.
Menomonie will host a WIAA Individual Sectional Tournament, Feb. 14. Team sectional championships will be held Feb. 21. The Individual State Championship is Feb. 26-28 in Madison and the State Team Championship is set for March 6-7 at the La Crosse Center.
Bryce Shepard lives and breathes athletics from football to wrestling and everything in between. This school year he decided to take that love of sports and mix it with his interests in English skills as a senior at MHS. Jacob Anderson is a senior who is also a member of the Mustang boys wrestling team.