Five Raiders qualify for challenging sectional meet
MEDFORD WRESTLING
Ready or not in this brief 2020-21 wrestling season, the post-season has arrived and five Medford Raiders took the first step toward potential state berths with their top-two finishes Saturday at the WIAA Division 2 regional meet hosted by the Regis-Altoona co-op in Eau Claire.
Sophomore Thaddeus Sigmund dominated the three-man 106-pound bracket to earn his first regional championship, while seniors Carson Church, Emett Grunwald and Dalton Krug and sophomore Wyatt Johnson kept their years going with second-place finishes.
As a team, the Raiders placed third in the seven-team meet with 160 points, 13 behind the host team and well behind the 239 points earned by the Neillsville Coop, who hosts this Saturday’s sectional tournament at Neillsville High School starting at 11 a.m.
The top two finishers in each weight class will qualify for the one-day individual state meet at Adams-Friendship High School Feb. 13. The top scoring team goes to the state team tournament, also at Adams- Friendship, on Feb. 20.
“We’re never satisfied, so we’re continuing to work,” Medford head coach Brandon Marcis said of Medford’s regional efforts. “Our ultimate goal is still to be at the top of the state picture. All things considered we did pretty well. Thad dominated his day. He never got past the first period. So that was good.
For some of our other guys. I think it’s hard to wrestle to your full potential every day. I think sometimes we let things we can’t control or distractions get to us. But I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction.”
Sigmund’s matches were over quickly. He pinned Stanley-Boyd’s Dale Sayles in 33 seconds and pinned Jace Prior of the Neillsville Co-op in 1:08 to earn the 106-pound title. Officially listed at 12-0 for the season, Sigmund will open sectional competition Saturday against third-ranked Nolan Johnson (9-1) of the Luck Co-op, who was ranked number-one until he lost his regional final match Saturday 11-2 to Baldwin-Woodville freshman Colton Hush, who is second in this week’s state rankings. For those into rankings, Sigmund is ranked 11th.
Tough losses prevented Church and Grunwald from winning regional titles, but their seasons do continue.
Grunwald (11-2) dropped down to 145 pounds and started with a solid 9-2 semifi nal win over Stanley-Boyd’s Russell Dorn, but in the championship, Abbotsford- Colby senior and 2020 state qualifier River Halopka (9-0) took a 6-5 double-overtime win. The wrestlers went through a scoreless 60 seconds of overtime. In the two ensuing 30-second rounds, Halopka got an escape, while Grunwald did not.
At 138 pounds, Church (11-2) was knocked off in his semifinal by Abbotsford- Colby freshman Tanner Halopka 6-4 in overtime as Halopka got a takedown in the extra minute.
Church bounced back in the consolation bracket, pinning Gage Ludovic of the Neillsville Co-op in 23 seconds and defeating Bloomer-Colfax’s Alex Poirier 9-3 in the second-place wrestleback.
Ranked sixth this week, Church will open sectional competition against 4-3 Traevon Wyckoff of Rice Lake and has a potential semifinal matchup with undefeated and third-ranked Jordan Penard of Amery (14-0). Grunwald drew thirdranked and 14-0 Mason Tylee of Amery in his sectional quarterfinal.
“Carson and Emett both lost tight ones in overtime and double overtime,” Marcis said. “We’re right there. With those two guys, I think we’re still not to our full potential yet. I think good things are going to come this weekend with the work that we’re putting in. I think it’s easy to wrestle to our potential for a little bit, but then it’s easy to step off the gas when we get satisfied or when we feel like we have enough points. That’s something we’re working on this week is just selling out every match. Selling out on everything we do, giving 110% and that way when you walk off the mat you can hold your head high because no matter what the result you know you did everything to get as far as you could.”
At 195 pounds, Krug (8-5) opened with a pin in 5:25 over Abbotsford-Colby’s Andrew Jeske to reach the final. There, he was defeated 15-4 by 11-1 Brayden Albee of Regis-Altoona. Krug will face 6-0 senior Carter Melton of Spooner-Webster in his first sectional bout, who is ranked fifth in the state. Top-ranked Kale Hopke (14-0) of Amery headlines the bracket.
At 220 pounds, Johnson (8-4) took second in a four-man bracket Saturday, pinning Noah Knobloch of Regis-Altoona in 57 seconds in his semifinal and then getting pinned in 4:34 by Spencer-Columbus senior Connor Luedtke (7-3).
Amery freshman Koy Hopke (14-0), who holds the state’s top ranking, is Johnson’s first opponent Saturday.
“The best guy on paper doesn’t always win and, in some of our brackets, I think we are the best guy on paper,” Marcis said. “It really doesn’t matter. At this time of the year, it all comes down to who wants it more, who’s put in the training, who’s put in the work and I think we’re there. I think we’re going to see some good things this weekend. It’s one match at a time and give it all we’ve got.”
The rest of the Raiders
Seven Raiders saw their post-season runs end during Saturday’s tournament.
The toughest break may have been dealt to sophomore Ty Sova. The Great Northern Conference champion at 113 pounds was in a bracket that featured the state’s top-ranked wrestler going into the meet, Neillsville’s Luke Dux and Treyton Ackman of Spencer-Columbus, who was ranked third at 120 pounds, but dropped down a weight class.
Sova (10-3) won his quarterfinal with a pin in 3:00 over Brison Tuschl of Bloomer- Colfax to set up a semifinal bout with Ackman. Ackman pinned him in 3:07. Sova stayed alive by pinning Stanley-Boyd’s Troy Trevino in the third-place match, but Dux pinned him in 3:45 in the second-place wrestleback. Ackman beat Dux 4-0 in the championship.
Freshman Kenny Pace got his first action in several weeks and took third at 170 pounds by going 1-2 for the day. Undefeated Tommy Friemoth of the Neillsville Co-op pinned him in 3:02 in the semifinals. Pace pinned Colin Boyarski of Regis-Altoona in 1:25 to get a secondplace wrestleback with 8-2 Joe Neider of Spencer-Columbus. Neider won that with a pin in 5:20.
Junior Oscar Hinderliter (5-6) went 1-2 and placed fourth at 152 pounds. He pinned Stanley-Boyd’s Blake Paul in 1:29 in the quarterfinals but then got pinned in 2:18 by eventual champion Payton Kostka (12-1) of Regis-Altoona. Tucker Bethea tipped Hinderliter 6-4 in the third-place match.
Freshmen Cory Lindahl and Logan Kawa each lost both of their contested matches and finished fourth. Lindahl, at 132 pounds, drew a bye and then lost his semifinal 15-6 to Bloomer-Colfax’s Luke Blanchard, who wound up third. Jarick Young (8-1) of the Neillsville Coop pinned Lindahl in 2:30 in the thirdplace bout and went on to take second. Kawa, at 160 pounds, got a bye and then was pinned in 5:27 in the semifinals by Ethan Rubenzer (8-4) of Bloomer-Colfax, who wound up winning the regional title. Abbotsford-Colby’s Talon Severson edged Kawa 8-5 in the third-place match.
Sophomore Itsael Medina Fuentes lost his only match and was fifth in the five-man 126-pound bracket. Louis Nikolai of the Neillsville Co-op pinned him in 1:08. Freshman Braxton Weissmiller was sixth at 285 pounds, suffering two losses by pin. Runner-up Tyler Krizan of Stanley-Boyd got him in 19 seconds and Craig Ervin of Regis-Altoona got him in 27 seconds in the fifth-place match.
Stanley-Boyd scored 133 points to finish fourth in the teams standings ahead of Spencer-Columbus (91), Bloomer-Colfax (90) and Abbotsford-Colby (89).
“With a lot of our younger crew, something that we’re lacking is just matches,” Marcis said. “What did we have this year, 10 matches before the regionals? I think some of their inexperience showed through a little bit just with mat awareness and where you are in a match. All those little things that you can’t really replicate in practice. They just need more matches. I think that was one of the biggest factors with them not advancing. But as a whole, they wrestled decent and I think they have a lot of positives to move forward with. I think they’re hungry to get better. ”
WIAA Div. 2 Neillsville sectional brackets
106 pounds
Colton Hush, Fr., Baldwin-Woodville (15-1) vs. Jace Prior, Jr., Neillsville Co-op (11-1) Brett Plomedahl, Fr., West Salem-Bangor (14-0) vs. Aaricka Carlson, Fr., Ashland (7-4) Thaddeus Sigmund, So., Medford (12-0)
vs. Nolan Johnson, Sr., Luck Co-op (9-1) Carter Schulz, Jr., Rice Lake (10-1) vs. Landan Lampman, Fr., Ellsworth (7-2) 138 pounds
Jordan Penard, Sr., Amery (14-0) vs. Colin Niederkorn, Jr., G-E-T/M-M (8-9) Traevon Wyckoff, Sr., Rice Lake (4-3) vs.
Carson Church, Sr., Medford (12-2)
Jackson McCormick, Jr., Black River Falls (13-2) vs. Taedon Nichols, Jr., Luck Co-op (9-1).
Tanner Halopka, Fr., Abbotsford-Colby (7-1) vs. Zach Roach, Jr., Hayward-Northwood (5-5) 145 pounds
Mason Tylee, Jr., Amery (14-0) vs. Emett Grunwald, Sr., Medford (11-2)
Braden Matzek, Sr., Ellsworth (11-1) vs. Mark Jarman, So., Northwestern (6-5) River Halopka, Sr., Abbotsford-Colby (9-0) vs. Tadan Holzer, Sr., St. Croix Central (12-3) Connor Melton, Fr., Spooner-Webster (3-3) vs. Nolan Thomley, Fr., Prescott (6-8) 195 pounds
Kale Hopke, Jr., Amery (14-0) vs. Justin Gappa, Sr., G-E-T/M-M (6-5) Carter Melton, Sr., Spooner-Webster (6-0) vs. Dalton Krug, Sr., Medford (8-5) Louis Jahnke, So., Ellsworth (10-1) vs. Nick Carlson, Sr., Osceola (12-4) Brayden Albee, Fr., Regis-Altoona (11-1) vs. Calvin Mansheim, Jr., Hayward-Northwood (9-1) 220 pounds
Koy Hopke, Fr., Amery (14-0) vs. Wyatt Johnson, So., Medford (8-4)
Luke Fischer, Sr., Osseo-Fairchild/Augusta/ Fall Creek (9-1) vs. Bradey Gottwald, Fr., Hayward-Northwood (4-4) Connor Luedtke, Sr., Spencer-Columbus (7-3) vs. Max Ramberg, Jr., Baldwin-Woodville (14-2) Isaac Pearce, So., Ashland (7-4) vs. Ian Matzek, Jr., Ellsworth (6-4)
