Here's how a Wausau-area mason became a world champion bricklayer

WAUSAU - It was a mid-January Saturday and Michael Schlund and Aaron Kowalski were in a garage practicing building a brick wall, over and over.

Both Schlund and Kowalski are journeymen masons with decades of experience. They know how to build a brick wall. But the practice session was about a lot more than just building a wall; they were building with speed, honing their bricklaying and timing skills to a razor sharp edge. They were looking for special nuances in movement and skill that would allow them to build a brick wall to exacting international quality standards faster than anybody else in the world.

Kowalski is the second-generation owner of Kowalski Masonry, a Wausau-area business founded by his father, Al, in 1970. Schlund works for Kowalski, but in this circumstance, their roles were reversed. Schlund was doing the actual building of the wall and Kowalski was supporting him as a "tender," bringing Schlund the mortar bricks he needed so the bricklayer could work as efficiently as possible.

The two were prepping for the Spec Mix Bricklayer 500 World Championship that was set for Jan. 18 in Las Vegas. Schlund and Kowalski competed there before, and came close to winning it in 2022.

They would go on to prevail this year, winning the title "World's Best Bricklayer," and prizes worth well over $100,000, including a four-wheel-drive Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup, a concrete mixer and more than $15,000 in tools.

But Schlund and Kowalski didn't know that while they were practicing for the event. All they knew was that they would be up against another bricklayer who had won the previous three championships and was a favorite to get the trophy again. And they knew everything down to the tiniest detail had to go right in order for them to get the edge.

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The rules of bricklaying competition require quality as well as quantity.

When the bricklaying competition was first started by Spec Mix, a company that produces various kinds of masonry mortars, grouts and other construction products, the game was purely about speed and resulted in terrible walls that would not pass muster on any job site.

But soon rules were added to ensure that the competition wasn't only about quantity, the number of bricks laid, but also quality. The amount of mortar applied between bricks was regulated. It can't be too thick or too thin. The walls have to be vertical and square, just as the work Schlund does day to day has to be.

In order to win, a bricklayer has to build a high-standard wall that's 26 feet 8 inches long. The bricklayer to lay down the most amount of bricks in a hour wins, if he meets the quality parameters.

"It pushes you to do a good job," Schlund said.

Schlund wasn't feeling the groove in practice.

Winning a bricklaying championship requires experience, attention to detail, muscle memory and endurance. But it also requires a feeling and swing to the work that's almost ethereal. Through the years of competing, Schlund and Kowalski have honed a specific strategy. They want Schlund to work at a steady pace throughout the hour of the competition, hoping others burn themselves out and tire by going out too fast, too soon.

"I know how fast I've got to go," Schlund said. "In 20 seconds, that's probably like 10 brick. So I know how fast I got to spread the mud (mortar), I know how fast I got to lay the brick."

When he finished what was supposed to be the last practice round Schlund knew he didn't have the knack. He asked Kowalski, "You got another run in you?"

Kowalski laughs at the thought. "This was Saturday. We were leaving Sunday morning for Vegas. And we had all this set up and tear down," he said. "But I knew from the beginning everything wasn't falling in line."

Schlund couldn't quite define the problem. "Something in my mind; I couldn't get the rhythm down," he said. "I did not want to end on that."

So yeah, Kowalski had another run in. If Schlund thought it would help, it would help. "Mike has an eye for this like no one else I've ever seen," Kowalski said.

That last run, things clicked. His arms were moving, the mortar was spread and the bricks went down like clockwork. Schlund was ready.

But everything went right in the competition

That feeling of flow, of rhythm, of being in the groove continued on the day of the competition.

Being a tender is a demanding job, Kowalski said, but it's nothing like being the bricklayer. He had time to watch Schlund and check out the other competitors during the event, and, he said, "Mike was blowing them out of the water."

Everything was working, Kowalski said. "He was so into what he was doing, everything else didn't matter."

Schlund said he develops a kind of tunnel vision in the competition. While he hears the announcers and the crowd (thousands of people watch the competition), they are just background static.

Physically, the hardest part is "throwing the mud down," Schlund said. "It's tiring, because I'm throwing as fast as I can go. And you're laying the brick as fast as you can go. And trying to do it so it looks nice. See, there's a very fine line between quantity and quality."

Schlund put down 759 bricks in that hour. At three pounds a brick, that's more than a ton. He and Kowalski estimate that he used at least a ton of mortar in the effort, too.

He was tired at the end, but that got overshadowed by the elation when his wall passed the quality judgement and was determined the winner.

Schlund loves the truck. And he loves the idea of being a champion. He's a quiet guy, but there's a fierce competitive streak in him.

Kowalski is jubiliant too. "I got my trophy," he said. "And I got a f---ing mortar mixer, and that's all I want. ... No one can ever take away my memories and thoughts."

Schlund will be ready to defend his crown next year. Because he's the champion, he automatically is invited to the national event. That means that Kowalski Masonry will be able to compete with another team at the regional competition.

"We're going to try like hell to get two teams out there (for the championship)," Kowalski said.

Features reporter Keith Uhlig is based in Wausau. Contact him at 715-845-0651 or kuhlig@gannett.com. Follow him at @UhligK on Twitter and Instagram or on Facebook.