Medford hosts the WIAA Division 2 wrestling regional Saturday

What: WIAA Division 2 wrestling regional tournament.

Where: Medford Area Middle School large and small gyms When: Saturday, Feb. 10 at 10 a.m. Who: Teams from Medford, Abbotsford-Colby, Ashland, Bloomer-Colfax, McDonell Catholic-Elk Mound, Mondovi/Eleva-Strum, Mosinee, the Neillsville Co-op, the Osseo-Fairchild Co-op, Rhinelander, Spencer-Columbus Catholic, Stanley-Boyd and Tomahawk.

What’s at stake: Advancement to sectional competition. The top four wrestlers in each weight class qualify for the Feb. 17 individual sectional at Tomahawk. The top two teams qualify for Tuesday’s team sectional at Somerset.

Regular season team results: Medford easily won the Great Northern Conference championship by going 5-0 in the dual meets and winning last Saturday’s conference tournament by 119 points over runner-up Tomahawk. Mosinee finished fourth in the league standings and Rhinelander was sixth.

Seven teams from the Cloverbelt Conference will be represented in the regional meet. The Neillsville Co-op went 9-0 in conference duals and won last Saturday’s conference tournament with 205 points. Stanley-Boyd was 5-4 in the duals and fourth (193) in the tournament, while Abbotsford-Colby was 6-3 in the duals and fifth (118.5) in the fournament. Bloomer-Colfax was sixth in the tournament, Spencer-Columbus was seventh, McDonell-Elk Mound was eighth and the Osseo-Fairchild co-op was 10th.

Ashland was eighth in last Saturday’s Heart O’ North Conference tournament.

Wrestlers to watch: The Medford Raiders carry six GNC champions on their roster, including two-time state qualifier Gage Losiewicz at 157 pounds, 2023 state sixthplace finisher Logan Kawa at 175 pounds. Cory Lindahl (150 pounds), Owen Higgins (138), Jude Stark (132) and Jordan Lavin (120) also won GNC titles. Max Dietzman (285), Parker Lissner (144), Paxton Rothmeier (165) and Evan Wilkins (190) were GNC runners-up and third-place finisher Braxton Weissmiller (215) was a 2023 state qualifier.

Rhinelander has three GNC champions in Owen Kurtz (215), Reid Schultz (285) and Logan Schwinger (190). Tomahawk’s Presley Gutbrod (113) and Mosinee’s George Ahles (126) also won GNC titles. Gutbrod was a state qualifier last year.

Cloverbelt Conference champions in the field include Tristen Smazal of Abbotsford-Colby (38-8, 120 pounds), Troy Trevino of Stanley-Boyd (32-8, 126 pounds), Adam Kautzer of the Neillsville Co-op (24-12, 132 pounds), Hudzon Sebesta-Opelt of the Neillsville Co-op (29-2, 150 pounds), Tanner Halopka of Abbotsford-Colby (40-4, 157 pounds), Jakob Luchterhand of the Neillsville Co-op (3310, 165 pounds), Dane Luchterhand of the Neillsville Coop (33-10, 175 pounds) and Willy Graham of Stanley-Boyd (39-7, 285 pounds). Graham beat the Neillsville Co-op’s Jackson Meyer (29-11) 7-3 in the final.

Stanley-Boyd senior Breckin Burzynski is 38-3 and took second in the conference at 138 pounds.

Burzynski, Smazal and Sebesta-Opelt were state qualifiers last year.

Ashland’s Gunner Crowe is 24-9 at 215 and took third in the Heart O’ North meet. He is the wrestler Weissmiller beat in last year’s sectional to get to state.

Mondovi/Eleva-Strum isn’t deep but the team has a couple of 30-win wrestlers in 285-pounder Blaine Severson and 175-pounder Ethan Odegard.

Sports Editor Matt Frey