Medford wrestlers earn some high finishes in state wrestling tournaments

Owen Higgins and Gage Losiewicz of Medford both finished second in their brackets at the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation’s state Greco-Roman wrestling tournament, while Losiewicz also earned a third-place finish in the state freestyle tournament.

Both tournaments were held in Wisconsin Dells on the weekend of May 8-9.

Medford was represented by a handful of wrestlers during the weekend, competing with the Northern Exposure club based in Merrill. Avery Losiewicz, Logan Kawa and Jude Stark also placed during the competition.

In the Greco competition, Higgins took second in the 14U 119-pound bracket, which featured 12 wrestlers. He opened with an 11-0 technical fall over Connor Weber of St. Croix Falls, pinned Brett Sladky of St. Croix Falls in the quarterfinals and got a 10-0 technical fall over Ethan Fischer of Somerset in the semifinals.

His dominating run, however, was ended in the championship by Caleb Dennee of the Valley Elite Wrestling Club of Marshfield. Dennee pinned Higgins in 44 seconds. Higgins fought off a wrestleback from Briar Naglosky of Shell Lake, beating him 10-7 to keep his hold on second place.

Gage Losiewicz wrestled in a fourman bracket at 136 pounds in the 14U age class. He went 2-1 in the round-robin format, earning 10-0 technical falls over Brett Suchocki of Merrill and Nolan Kielcheski of Antigo. Owen Seffrood of the Sarbacker Wrestling Academy beat Losiewicz 7-4.

Kawa took fourth in the 170-pound bracket in the 16U age class. The Medford freshman was in a seven-man bracket and went 2-2. After losing 13-8 to Brady Lehnherr of La Crosse, he earned a 12-2 technical fall over Sam Schutz of La Crosse and pinned Sedrick Hay of the Ringers club in Menomonee Falls in 1:12 to reach the third-place match. Kasey Gish of the Askren Wrestling Academy beat him 10-0.

Stark, another freshman, was fifth in the 10-man 120-pound bracket in the 16U age class. He drew a bye into the quarterfi nals, where he lost 10-0 to Askren’s Lucas Peters. In consolation competition, Stark got a 10-0 technical fall over Reese Miller of the Team Nazar club, but he lost 16-6 to Devon Lietzau of La Crosse. In the fifth-place match, Stark got a 10-0 technical fall over Mason Baumgartner of Prairie du Chien.

Paxton Rothmeier wrestled at 126 pounds in the 16U age class. He went 1-2, pinning Jack Nichols of RT Elite of Oregon in 22 seconds. He was pinned by Nicholas Schomaker of the Aviators and Chase Theiss of Wisconsin Dells.

Freestyle results

In the freestyle tournament, Gage Losiewicz lost to eventual champion Sefford by a 12-0 technical fall and didn’t lose again while wrestling back to second place at 136 pounds in the 14U age group.

Losiewicz took 10-0 technical falls over Jaxon Busse of the Sarbacker Wrestling Academy and Askren’s Marlon Muniz to clinch third place. Sefford’s title gave Losiewicz the chance to challenge for second and he succeeded, pinning Askren’s Elijah Terrell in 2:25.

Avery Losiewicz went 1-2 to place third in the 127-point weight class for girls in grades 6-8. She beat Lilliana Banks of the Aviators and fell to champion Dealya Collins and runner-up Makenzie Usher.

Kawa went 1-2 at 170 pounds in the 16U age group. He pinned Schutz in 1:04 and lost 10-0 to Gish and 15-10 to Braden Holleman of the Askren Wrestling Academy.

At 126 pounds in the 16U age class, Rothmeier lost to Rhett Koenig of Prairie du Chien and Askren’s Caleb Cody.