Jason Toshner

Fond du Lac’s Jason Toshner named 2014-15 Action Reporter Media All-Area ” Wrestler of the Year”

With Jason Toshner, what you see is what you get. What you see is a kid that looks stronger than just about everyone in the room. Someone who’s soft-spoken, but has a quiet intensity to him. An athlete that has motivation and determination as strong as his physical appearance.

When asked to describe Toshner, Fond du Lac wrestling coach Joe Rens put it pretty bluntly. “He’s just a horse,” Rens said. “He’s strong as an ox. To go along with that, he’s strong-willed. He’s strong-minded. When he puts his mind to something, he accomplishes it.”

Toshner accomplished nearly everything he put his mind to during his senior season for the Fond du Lac wrestling team and is the 2014-15 Action Reporter Media All-Area Wrestler of the Year because of it.

This year, Toshner finished 44-3 overall, won Fox Valley Association, regional and sectional championships and took second place at the WIAA Division 1 individual wrestling state tournament at 195 pounds. Of course, he came up short of his ultimate goal of winning a state title, but was it pretty sweet to end his prep wrestling career in a state championship match? Absolutely. He would have loved to cap it with a win, though.

“For me, I pretty much did everything I wanted to except for state — I wanted to win it,” Toshner said. “It was unfortunate that I couldn’t.”

Two of Toshner’s losses this season came to Menomonie’s Mason Stokke, who defeated him in the state title match by 6-0 decision. Apart from his matches against Stokke, and a loss in the On The Water Classic in Oshkosh while feeling under the weather, Toshner was dominant throughout the season. Having qualified for state as both a sophomore and junior, expectations were understandably high for Toshner as a senior. While not to be taken for granted, most observers had no doubt Toshner would be back in Madison for the state tournament. The only question was whether he’d make a legitimate run at a title after bowing out early in his previous two attempts.

Rens thought the confidence he’d built up and the experience he had would finally pay off for Toshner this year at state. He was right. “What got it done for him this year is the fact that he was an upperclassman. He’s a senior, he’s been there a couple times,” Rens said. “He was bound and determined to place and found himself in the finals. Prior to the state tournament, we looked at the bracket between coaches and we said there’s no reason why Jason shouldn’t make it to the finals. He should make it to the finals and he did. With all that being said, I think it was the fact that he was older, he’d been down there and experienced it and now it just becomes another wrestling match, another tournament instead of this big to-do.”

His experience showed as he cruised through the initial rounds before facing off against the undefeated Stokke in the finals. And even then, it’s not as though Toshner cracked under the pressure. He simply squared off against a kid just as strong and talented as him, fell behind early and couldn’t recover.

The other impressive part about Toshner is he isn’t just a wrestler. He’s a three-sport athlete, playing football in the fall and track and field in the spring. This past season Toshner earned second team All-Valley Football Association South honors as a linebacker, helping lead Fond du Lac to Level 3 of the Division 1 playoffs. He will be pursuing football this fall as he attends UW-La Crosse.

Rens pointed out that Toshner will get his name on the Fond du Lac wrestling program’s record board for highest single-season winning percentage in his weight class. In fact, as a three-time state qualifier, he’ll probably be regarded as one of the best big wrestlers to ever come through the program. But the legacy he’ll leave transcends wrestling — especially with how he was able to play three sports, which made him a better overall athlete, and maintain high marks in the classroom.

“I love it that he’s a three-sport athlete and I say all the time to our kids ‘Hey, play another sport,'” Rens said. “I played three sports, loved it and thought it was beneficial for me. You just find those three-sport athletes are successful. I think it helps them along. I like what message he sent to all the other athletes, all the incoming wrestlers. You can play three sports and still be successful. “The kids see that he never misses a day. He does it in the classroom, he does it in the wrestling room, he does it on the football field, now he’s in track. He makes competing fun. He doesn’t put a lot of pressure on himself. He just goes out there and does what Jason can do.”

Toshner, with slightly fewer words, agreed with his coach about the legacy he’ll leave. “With all the younger guys, I’ve left that if they work hard in the weight room, in the wrestling room they’ll be successful as well,” he said. That all being said, the first thing that will come to Rens’ mind when anyone utters the name ‘Jason Toshner’ is pretty obvious. “He’s a brute. He would muscle through just about everything. If he could lift a guy, he’d lift a guy. If he could tear his arm, not knowing, he’d tear his arm off. He’s just so dang strong.”

2014-15 Action Reporter Media All-Area Wrestling Team

Weight Name Class Record School

145 Josh Adams Jr. 42-4 Fond du Lac

195 Jason Toshner Sr. 44-3 Fond du Lac

285 Donte Johnson Soph. 40-8 Fond du Lac

Honorable men. Fond du Lac: 220 Gage Zahradnik, Jr

Fondy’s Jason Toshner looks to take next step

Most high school wrestlers would be thrilled to make it to the state tournament. Making it to state just once would be quite the accomplishment for any wrestler, but for Fond du Lac’s Jason Toshner, making it to the big stage this year wouldn’t be enough.

Toshner made it to the WIAA State Tournament the last two years as an individual, both first round exits. But that was in the past. Toshner believes he is a new person. “It was tough, last year I almost had it,” Toshner said after losing a close 6-5 decision last year in the opening round. “I should have caught him at the end but I made some stupid mistakes. I was younger but now this year, I am a new person.” The way the year is going for the 195-pound senior, Toshner looks as if he’s ready for that next step.

Toshner entered state with a 29-9 record as a sophomore and 37-7 as a junior. This year, he has only two losses — 31-2 — and is currently ranked No. 2 at 195-pounds in D1. The reason for his success? Simple. Hard work.

“Physically you can see he works hard, he spends a lot of time in the weight room training,” Fondy wrestling coach Joe Rens said. “Just his constant work ethic, he’s motivated … he’s just a kid you want to build your group around.”

Toshner’s two losses haven’t come by no slouch, either. His first loss came in the Marty Loy Invitational — held at Fond du Lac HS on Dec. 20 — to Mason Stokke of Menomonie, a 4-1 decision. Stokke is currently ranked No. 1 in D1.

Then his second loss came ten days later in the On The Water Classic, the 64-team tournament held in Oshkosh every year at the end of December. Feeling a bit under the weather that day, Toshner lost the first-place match on an 8-4 decision to August Peplinski of Wittenberg-Birnamwood. Peplinski is currently ranked No. 1 in Division 2.

Having that No. 2 ranking in front of his name doesn’t intimidate Toshner, but knows he can’t take it for granted, either. “It’s pretty cool,” Toshner said of the high ranking. “But there are high expectations, so I just have to keep winning. There can’t be any upsets.”

If he makes it back to state, Toshner hopes to finish in the top six. But Rens knows he’s capable of winning a state title. “I think with his experience down there he realizes it’s going to be just another match,” Rens said. “It’s a big venue, but same sized mat. Same shoes, but same mat in a bigger venue. I am confident that he could win a state title.”

Toshner started wrestling since he was in Kindergarten and started to compete in traveling teams as early as second grade. He can thank his parents for that. “My parents just put me in it, they wanted to get rid of me after school,” Toshner said with a laugh.

A 4.0 student in the classroom, Toshner not only made an impact on the mat. In the fall, Toshner helped rejuvenate the football program after the Cardinals capped the 2014 year off with a 10-2 record, making it to the WIAA Level 3 Playoffs before getting knocked off by state champ Kimberly. Toshner earned second-team all-Valley Football Association South as a linebacker. He had 43 tackles, one sack and had a forced fumble for a defense that only allowed just over 15 points per game. He also made honorable mention in 2013 as a punter and made second-team as a linebacker in his sophomore season. “Coming from a 1-8 season as a freshman, our varsity team wasn’t the greatest,” Toshner said. “But after the new coaches came in we grew more as a team. We bonded more and overall we were closer. We performed better.” His favorite high school memory comes from football when he picked off a pitch for a touchdown in Fondy’s Homecoming game his junior year. The senior also participates in track and field in the spring, competing in pole vault.

Toshner hopes he can play football at the next level and has made contact with a lot of the state schools, along with a few private. “Don’t know where I’m going yet, but (I’d like to play) football,” Toshner said.