By Joe Shinners Much to the surprise of many, Jesse Thielke's broken jaw has healed and he will continue to train with former Olympian Dennis Hall. Those developments over the course of the first week of the wrestling season will make all wrestlers in the Germantown junior's weight class shudder as Thielke attempts to win his third consecutive Division 1 state wrestling title this year. A year ago, Thielke won the Division 1 125-pound state title by defeating Arrowhead's Jake Sueflohn, 8-5. It was Thielke's second state title after winning the D1 112 title the year before, and avenged his only loss on his high school resume. Thielke entered the year with a career record of 89-1 and has won his first six matches of the year, although three came by forfeit at the Kiel Duals. But he almost didn't get to defend his state title this year. Thielke, the top draw among all area wrestlers and one of the top lightweights in the country, sustained the injury during a Greco-Roman practice session with Hall last month while training in Green Bay. Hall is one of USA Wrestling's national Greco coaches. The three cracks in Thielke's jaw - sustained after his attempted throw of Hall went awry and their heads collided upon impact - were repaired with titanium plates and screws. Thielke was medically cleared to compete last week. "It's just one of those things," said Jeff Thielke, Jesse's father, of the injury. "Dennis felt really bad, but it's just part of the sport. It's pretty hard to keep (Jesse) down." Thielke's status for the season was in doubt after the injury. "It was a pretty major surgery to get everything fixed," Jeff Thielke said. "They did a new type of surgery and put in titanium plates and screws in his jaw. His jaw was never wired shut. It was a new surgery and it worked. As far as competition, (Jesse's) good to go." That was good news for Jesse, especially after a strong season with the Fila Cadet Junior National Team that took Thielke around the globe the past summer. Thielke's highlight was winning the Pan Am Championshiops 119 title as a member of the Cadet Fila Junior National Team in Nicaragua. He also competed in Turkey as part of the junior world team, and has high hopes to continue the trend of national and international wrestling success. "He's a lot more excited this year to train harder," said Jeff Thielke. "He actually feels really relaxed about the (upcoming high school season). He has to train harder to compete at the next level." That's why throughout the year, Thielke will continue training with Hall whenever the opportunity presents itself this year. That way, if he gets a call from USA Wrestling to compete, Theilke will be ready in the spring. "He wants to keep in tune just in case USA wrestling calls," said Jeff Thielke. "He doesn't want to be scrambling to get in shape. He wants to make sure he's ready to go." Go Back to the Home Page Read More Articles by Joe../../../Archive.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1