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Xavier’s Rodriguez Salgado advances to semifinal at WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament

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AppletonSportsPage.com

MADISON – Xavier wrestlers Cristian Rodriguez Salgado and John Faulkner grappled at the 2026 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center on Thursday.

Both won their opening matches, and Rodriguez Salgado moved into the semifinals after picking up another victory.

Rodriguez Salgado (39-1) rolled to a technical fall victory over Nolan Pluess of East Troy 18-2 in the Division 2 106-pound preliminary round, and followed that up with a pin of Cullen Zellner of Denmark in the quarterfinals in 4:27.

Rodriguez Salgado will take on Drey Kren (51-2) of Regis/Altoona in a semifinal match at 7 p.m. Friday night.

Faulkner pinned Trey Zemke of Winneconne in 3:23 to take his first Division 2 150-pound match, but lost in the quarterfinals 8-5 to Remington Skic (45-4) of Merrill.

Faulkner moves into the consolation bracket, with a chance at fifth place and will wrestle in a consolation quarterfinal on Friday afternoon.