MEDFORD WRESTLING - Wrestlers keep on rolling with dominant Senior Night

MEDFORD WRESTLING

The end may be nearing for a strong group of Medford seniors, but one could view Thursday’s Senior Night triangular as sort of a beginning –– the start of one last push toward the Raiders’ ultimate wrestling goal.

The Raiders were physical and in control throughout their 64-12 and 57-21 wins over New London and Auburndale while improving to 13-1 in dual meets. On a night where wrestling seniors Jude Stark, Cory Lindahl, Logan Kawa, Braxton Weissmiller and Max Dietzman and manager Nikki Poetzl were honored for their contributions to the program, those wrestlers were undefeated for the night and Stark hit the 100-win milestone for his career with his two wins.

Stark and Lindahl were the only seniors to actually get two matches and they easily took care of both of their opponents.

“I saw a lot of good stuff,” Stark said of the team’s effort. “We wrestled way better than we have in the past. These are some good teams that we just beat and we beat them pretty substantially so I’m happy with that.”

“It kinda hurts a little bit to see that soon I have to leave my team and everything like that,” Lindahl said of the Senior Night festivities. “Being the last time in my home gym, I don’t know. It feels good that we’re being represented out here.”

In the opening dual with New London, Medford won the first 12 matches to build a 64-0 lead.

Stark got it started at 132 pounds, getting a quick five-point lead on Brice Guyette and then adding five points in the second period on a reversal and near fall before he got the pin at 3:04.

Owen Higgins took a forfeit at 138 pounds, then Parker Lissner won a slugfest with a strong-looking freshman, Anakin Abel, 17-9 for a major decision that made it 16-0. Abel’s near fall to start the second period tied the match at 5-5, but Lissner reversed Abel and had him nearly pinned but had to settle for a near fall and a 10-5 lead. Abel closed the period with a reversal to make it 10-7, but Lissner took charge to start the third and built a 10-point lead.

Lindahl’s first win of the night was a 30-second pin over Spencer Hanson at 150 pounds and was followed by a pin in 2:49 from Gage Losiewicz over Owen Ross in the 157-pound match. Losiewicz led 12-1 at the time. At 165 pounds, Paxton Rothmeier got an early takedown over Phoenix Fletcher. He took his time in trying to break down the New London sophomore, but when he saw his opening, took it in one quick move to pin Fletcher at 1:44.

The closest match of the dual came at 175 pounds. Evan Wilkins built a 4-0 lead over Bulldog Jackson Pecher with a firstperiod takedown and a second-period reversal, but Pecher reversed Wilkins right back. It was 5-2 going into the third, where Wilkins rode Pecher for nearly 90 seconds before getting reversed, but he stayed off his back and held on for the 5-4 win.

Kawa faced a solid sophomore in Howie Roloff at 190 pounds, but Medford’s reliable senior took care of business with a pin at 3:06. Weissmiller took a forfeit at 215 and Dietzman got New London’s Braxton Bryant to his back twice in the first period to build a 7-0 lead and stayed in good position the rest of the way for an 8-1 win.

Caden Olson took a 10-0 first-period lead on Sophia Hull-Riggs and pinned her in 2:31 at 106 pounds and Nick Malchow took a forfeit at 113 pounds to end Medford’s 12-match run. New London got on the board with a pin in 3:51 from Wyatt Magolski over Jordan Lavin at 120 pounds and a pin in 2:40 from Trevor Schultz over Broden Schilling at 126 pounds.

One of the state’s top wrestlers, Colton Weiler, gave Auburndale a 6-0 lead over the Raiders by pinning Lissner in 2:47 in the 144-pound match of that dual, but Medford won the next seven matches to build an insurmountable 39-6 lead.

Stark’s 100th win came on a 44-second pin of Trevor Trowbridge at 132 pounds. He’s the third Raider to hit 100 career wins this season, joining Kawa and Losiewicz.

“It means a lot,” Stark said. “It’s been a long milestone, finally getting there feels good. It’s a lot of work. When we were doing the math a couple of weeks ago, we thought about it and we were like, it might happen on Senior Night. I was ready for it and it did.

“My first match felt good. He was definitely a better guy. I got an arm bar in on him. The second guy, I knew he was long and lanky and I really don’t like wrestling those kind of guys, but I just did what I could and put it away right away.”

Lindahl got Medford on the board after Lissner’s loss with a 16-1 technical fall in the 150-pound bout over Brett Thiel.

“The first one I just kinda stuck to what I knew and took him down as fast and as hard as I could,” Lissner said. “I tried to get in his head a little bit, but I ended up pinning him before he could even think.

“The second guy I kinda watched how he wrestled the other person (from New London),” he added. “Based on how he wrestled him, I was thinking during my match, ‘OK he’s going to do this so I’m going to hit this move right here.’ It worked out.”

Weissmiller pinned Gregory Brummund in 1:08 in the 215-pound match while the other seniors, Kawa and Dietzman, got forfeits at 175 and 285 pounds.

Losiewicz pinned Carter Grassl in 1:40 at 157 pounds, while Rothmeier got a takedown, a two-point near fall and then a three-point near fall with five seconds left in the first period to take a 7-0 lead over Wyatt Malsin in the 165-pound match. Rothmeier won 9-0.

Wilkins bumped up to 190, but he more than held his own physically against Hayden Lobner. A good shot with 30 seconds left in the first period gave him the first takedown. A reversal and near fall in the second period bumped Wilkins’ lead to 7-0 and, after a third-period escape, he pinned Lobner in 5:25.

Higgins finished the meet with a pin in 1:52 over Coleman Becker at 138 pounds and Schilling added a forfeit win at 120 pounds.

Olson didn’t win at 106 pounds, but he put in solid work in turning an early 9-0 deficit into a 9-6 loss. He had a shot in the third period when a reversal turned into two back points, but he couldn’t get both of Truxton Becker’s shoulders to the mat. Derek Godard pinned Malchow in 1:51 at 113 pounds and Zade Grassel pinned Lavin in 1:26 at 126 pounds.

The seniors will wrestle at home one more time, but it will take place at Medford Area Middle School when the Raiders host a WIAA Division 2 regional meet on Feb. 10. So Thursday was a true goodbye to Raider Hall.

“It’s a bittersweet thing for sure,” Stark said. “I love this sport, but it’s a really draining sport. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s hard. It’s not easy.”

On Saturday, Medford should wrap up another Great Northern Conference championship at the league’s tournament in Antigo. Competition starts at 10 a.m. The Raiders have a four-point lead over Lakeland, Mosinee and Tomahawk going into the meet. Barring something catastrophic, this will be the sixth straight season Medford has won or shared the conference title.

Then it’s on to the post-season and while Medford has stuck to a day-by-day approach to the season, there’s no ignoring what this team knows is in front of them in February.

“Hopes are looking really high for conference again this year and then team sectionals,” Lindahl said. “We know we’re going to have to bring it. We’re looking at team state, we’re working toward that every single day.

“Our mindset is a lot different than it has been in the past,” Lindahl added. “We’re constantly thinking we’re going to win, we’re going to win, we’ve gotta win and we keep striving to do better every single day. Coach (Brandon Marcis) definitely helps out with that. He helps us push to be the best we can. He lets us know that yeah, it’s going to be tough and you’re going to want to quit, but keep pushing through, and it’ll pay off in the end.”

“I’m happy about this team,” Stark said. “This is the one that we’ve got a real chance. We’ve got a real shot at it.”

Raider Gage Losiewicz has Auburndale’s Carter Grassl in a bad spot on his way to a quick pin in 1:40 during their 157-pound match. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS