Young crew continues to build for February, goes to 2-0 in GNC

MEDFORD WRESTLING

The preparation for the post-season continued Saturday for the Medford Raiders, who fought for four top-five finishes and a 12th-place team standing at the Freedom Irish Invitational.

Freshman Gage Losiewicz posted Medford’s top individual finish of the tournament by taking second at 138 pounds. Logan Kawa and Thaddeus Sigmund earned fourths and sophomore Jude Stark was fifth at 126 pounds.

The Raiders finished with 83 team points in the 19-team tournament, which was won by Amery, the state’s topranked team in Division 2. The Warriors scored 190 points to finish well ahead of Shiocton (149), Brillion (133), Evansville (132), Bay Port (126.5), Hortonville (126), Slinger (106), Burlington (105), Freedom (101.5), Auburndale (101) and Appleton North (90).

“The big thing with those guys is getting more physical,” Medford head coach Brandon Marcis said of his team last week. “We got taught a lesson down at Bi-State and it really narrowed our focus in practice. We’re getting less technical and more physical, which is kind of funny, but it’s the truth. In practice we’re kind of beating each other up for a little bit.”

The Raiders filled 11 of the 14 weight classes for the tournament and were led by a 3-1 day from Losiewicz, who improved to 18-7 for the season.

Losiewicz got to the 138-pound final with three pins, taking care of Jeremy Dey of Two Rivers (1:10), Cashton Miller of Brillion (3:33) and Ryker Crooks of West De Pere (0:49). Jake Stoffel of Appleton North (24-2), who entered the day ranked seventh in the weight class in Division 1, needed 4:49 to record a 17-2 technical fall in the title bout.

Sigmund (21-6), ranked 12th last week in Division 2 at 113 pounds, started his day with a pin in 1:15 over Mishicot’s Kaden Tesarik and a 7-0 win over 20-4 Gunner Katzenmeyer of Evansville. Wyatt Skebba of Hortonville (11-1) knocked off Sigmund 9-1 in the semifinals and 23-4 Bob Huntley of Brillion, ranked ninth in Division 2, was a 7-2 winner in the thirdplace match.

At 170 pounds, Kawa (14-8) got pins in his first two matches over Cooper Cappaert of Freedom (2:20) and Calvin Coffeen of Slinger (4:51). Undefeated and D2 second-ranked Owen Heiser of Evansville (29-0) was a 16-0 winner by technical fall in the semifinals and Dion Helser of Shiocton (23-4) beat Kawa 15-7 in the third-place match.

Nolan Skebba of Hortonville edged Stark 10-8 in a 126-pound quarterfinal, but Stark bounced back with a pin in 1:18 over Amery’s Sam Kelling, a 14-3 major decision over Brillion’s Garett Deiter and a pin over Slinger’s Nolan Skinner in 2:45 in the fifth-place match to improve to 13-5 for the year.

Freshmen Paxton Rothmeier and Owen Higgins also placed in their weight classes.

Rothmeier went 3-2 to place seventh at 132 pounds. He opened with a 15-3 major decision over Evansville’s Wyatt Nelson, who is 15-9, but Shiocton’s Isaiah Carton (18-10) pinned Rothmeier in 3:01 in the quarterfinals. Rothmeier pinned Burlington’s Ty Kielser in 3:23 in his first consolation match, but a loss by pin in 4:50 to Brillion’s Sean McConnell sent Rothmeier (7-4) to the seventh-place bout, where he won by medical forfeit over Denmark’s Carson Peterson.

Higgins (4-7) went 2-3 at 120 pounds, including a 16-2 major decision over West De Pere’s Ethan Agnew and a pin in 2:00 over Appleton North’s Jackson Kolasinski, who is 16-10, in the consolation bracket. Brillion’s Trenton Nicklaus (228) pinned Higgins in 1:47 in the seventhplace match.

Senior Oscar Hinderliter got a pin in 1:20 over Ashwaubenon’s Jackson Schuyler while going 1-2 at 160 pounds. Cory Lindahl returned to the lineup at 145 pounds and went 0-2, while Evan Wilkins was 0-2 at 152 pounds. Wyatt Johnson dropped down to 182 pounds where he was 0-2 and Braxton Weissmiller lost a tough 7-6 decision in his opening match to Evansville’s Baylin Crull and went 0-2 at 220 pounds.

The Raiders return to Great Northern Conference competition tonight, Thursday, when they host the Antigo Red Robins at 7 p.m. Medford is off to a 2-0 start in GNC competition, while Antigo is 1-1. Medford will head to the 16-team Arcadia Challenge on Saturday.

“We’re looking forward to getting through these next couple of weeks and we have our eyes on the prize,” Marcis said. “I want to win with this young team and they want to do it too, so that’s a good thing. We’re fired up about it.”

Medford 66, Mosinee 17

Medford improved to 2-0 in Great Northern Conference duals with a quick 66-17 win over Mosinee Thursday at Raider Hall.

The Raiders got 30 points just like that with forfeit wins for Losiewicz at 138 pounds, Wilkins at 145, Blake Schilling at 152, Hinderliter at 160 and Kawa at 170.

Freshman Tripp Reamer took the mat for the night’s first contested bout at 182 pounds and was taken down by Eyan Manowski, but he escaped, took down Manowski and wound up pinning him at 1:16.

“One thing I can say is the energy is high,” Marcis said. “Reamer got that big pin and the kids were just having fun. They’re jumping up and down, they’re congratulating each other. In the room when we’re doing breakdowns and talking about stuff, the energy is high. You can tell.”

Mosinee’s highlight of the night followed when its best wrestler, senior Logan Johnson, earned a 20-2 technical fall over Wyatt Johnson at 195 pounds. The energy in the gym swung back to Medford’s side in the 220-pound bout when Weissmiller got the first takedown in his match with Teryn Walls and never let him back up, pinning him at 1:46.

Medford forfeited to Zach Owens at 285 pounds and Jackson Nechuta at 106 pounds, but that was the end of Mosinee’s success.

Sigmund had to work for it, going into the third period before pinning George Ahles at 5:06. He came close in the second but had to settle for a near fall and a 10-3 lead before finishing the match in the third.

Matt Gebert took a forfeit at 120, Stark needed just 18 seconds to Chris Strejc at 126 pounds and Rothmeier finished the dual with a 24-second pin at Jackson Folwarski.

In an exhibition match, Athens’ Brooks Kraus won a tight 138-pound match with Losiewicz by a score of 8-7. Both wrestlers barely avoided pins in the first two periods, then Losiewicz rode Kraus through the third but couldn’t get Kraus to his back.

“We talk about leveling up and doing better in each match, wrestling better than we’re supposed to and I think we did tonight,” Marcis said. “We lost one match. You can’t ask for much more. Our sights are on the full season. We’re training through these next couple of weeks. We’re not trying to peak now. We want to peak at the end of the season. We’re training through these and the boys are responding well.”

Thaddeus Sigmund grabs control in his 113-pound match with Mosinee’s George Ahles Thursday night. Sigmund won by pin in 5:06.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS