Wolfpack wins majority of bouts in season-opening dual defeats

WOLFPACK WRESTLING

While Friday night’s heavy snow forced the Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe Wolfpack to pull out of Saturday’s Barron Invitational, the team did add another meet to its first-week schedule, going 0-2 at the Dec. 7 Ladysmith Duals.

The Wolfpack opened with a 60-15 loss to the host team and finished with a much closer 27-24 loss to Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/ Prairie Farm. Lakeland Conference rival Clear Lake was also at the meet, but the Wolfpack did not face the Warriors.

The Wolfpack, however, will see them tonight, Thursday, in the Clear Lake Quad that also includes league rivals Shell Lake and Turtle Lake-Clayton.

“Overall, it was a good first meet,” Wolfpack head coach Greg Sonnentag said of the Ladysmith meet. “We had some matches which we performed well and some where we made big mistakes. It was a good reminder on how much harder we need to train to get in shape. We ran out of gas a couple times, which perhaps affected some outcomes.”

The Wolfpack’s five wrestlers went 3-2 in the Ladysmith dual. Preston Fredrickson was the first to take the mat. At 126 pounds, he got an early takedown against Jackson Summerfield and then added another in the second period that turned into a pin at the 2:41 mark.

Troy Duellman got the first takedown against Bishop Peterson in the 160-pound bout and turned that into a pin at 1:47. At 152 pounds, Braeden Person and Elias Mikunda waged a defensive battle that Person won 2-0 with a third-period takedown that finally broke a scoreless tie.

Julian Krizan was pinned in 3:04 by one of Ladysmith’s top wrestlers, Matthew Roach, at 182 pounds. That match was scoreless until Roach got a secondperiod reversal. Roach and Krizan split WIAA Division 3 tournament matches at the end of last season.

At 145 pounds, Ladysmith’s Garrett McKinley pinned the Wolfpack’s Ali Blodgett in 36 seconds.

Ladysmith took forfeit victories at 285, 106, 113, 132, 138, 170, 195 and 220 pounds to easily secure the team win.

The Wolfpack went 4-1 against Chetek- Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm in contested matches.

Fredrickson got an early takedown and finished it with a pin in 1:09 in his victory over Brayden Mohr at 126 pounds. Blodgett earned six team points with a forfeit win at 145.

Duellman controlled his 160-pound match with Justin Fowler, leading 5-0 before getting the pin at 3:47. Krizan dominated Josh Konvicka in the 182-pound bout, getting two near falls and leading 11-0 before securing the pin at 4:41.

Person gave up an early takedown to Wylee Huset in the 152-pound match and wound up losing 3-0.

Otherwise, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/ Prairie Farm got 24 of its team points with forfeits at 120, 170, 220 and 285 pounds.

The Wolfpack is scheduled to attend the Auburndale Invitational Saturday. That tournament starts at 10 a.m.