Raiders battle, but 3 senior seasons come to an end

WIAA DIV. 2 NEILLSVILLE SECTIONAL

Three Medford seniors went into Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Neillsville wrestling sectional gunning to cap their solid careers with their first-ever state tournament berths.

Unfortunately, this was one of those days in sports where best efforts weren’t quite good enough.

Needing top-two finishes in their weight classes to qualify for this Saturday’s Division 2 state meet at Adams-Friendship, Emett Grunwald finished fourth at 145 pounds while fifth-place finishes went to Carson Church at 138 pounds and Dalton Krug at 195 pounds.

The trio’s efforts on the day produced 31 team points and a 14th-place finish out of 25 squads represented in the tournament, which was won handily by the Amery Warriors, who scored 167 points and qualified seven wrestlers for state. Baldwin-Woodville (124), the Neillsville Co-op (86.5), defending sectional champion Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro (80) and Regis-Altoona (78.5) rounded out the top five.

Grunwald stayed in state contention the longest, reaching the third place match in his weight class. He opened against Amery’s Mason Tylee, who entered the tournament ranked third in the state at 145 pounds. Grunwald didn’t back down and took the 17-0 Tylee the full six minutes but fell 5-2. Tylee went on to win the sectional title, pinning Abbotsford- Colby’s River Halopka in 1:47 in the final.

Grunwald (13-4) pinned Northwestern sophomore Mark Jarman in 2:16 in his first consolation match and then dominated Spooner-Webster freshman Connor Melton in the consolation semifi nals 14-2. Grunwald took a 4-1 lead with a couple of first-period takedowns, widened his lead to 7-1 in the second and put it away by getting Melton to his back in the third.

That win sent Grunwald to the thirdplace match where a win, coinciding with Halopka’s loss on the bordering mat, would have given Grunwald a wrestleback for second and a shot at state. Facing Ellsworth senior Braden Matzek (14-3), Grunwald came out as the aggressor, shooting the legs and getting the first takedown in the opening period. Matzek escaped to make it 2-1 heading into the second period. He escaped again to tie it and then got one quick opening late in the period and took Grunwald down to grab a 4-2 lead.

Grunwald was in the down position in period three and got his escape with 1:02 left to pull within. A couple of shots looked promising in the final seconds, but Matzek was able to keep his feet and won the match.

Grunwald finished his career with three sectional appearances, one regional championship and one Great Northern Conference championship.

While Church and Krug were eliminated from state contention in the consolation semifinals, they did go out as winners, taking their fifth-place matches.

Church (13-4) started his day with a pin in 1:41 over Rice Lake’s Traevon Wyckoff to set up a semifinal bout against Amery’s unbeaten and third-ranked senior Jordan Penard. Church hung tough but fell short 4-0. Penard (17-0) went on to pin Abbotsford-Colby’s Tanner Halopka in 1:56 in the final.

Church went from the Penard loss straight to the consolation semis, where he got locked up in a tough defensive battle with junior Taedon Nichols (11-2) of the Luck Co-op. The wrestlers were scoreless through two periods. Nichols won it in the third with a reversal. Church got an escape but couldn’t get the takedown he needed in a 2-1 loss.

He rebounded in a big way in his fifthplace match, getting a quick takedown and near fall to go up 5-0 in the first period. He pinned junior Colin Niederkorn (9-12) of G-E-T/M-M in 3:33.

Church finishes with two sectional appearances, one regional championship and one GNC championship.

Krug (10-7) went the distance with fifth-ranked Carter Melton (10-1) of Spooner-Webster in his opening match, falling 4-0. Melton went on to finish second in the weight class by winning the final wrestleback 2-1 in overtime over Osceola’s Nick Carlson.

Krug extended his day with a big third-period pin of West Salem-Bangor’s Chris Najera in consolation competition. Najera held leads of 6-3 and 8-5 in the second period, but Krug opened the third period with an escape, took Najera down and cradled him for the pin at 5:11.

That win gave Krug a rematch with regional champion Brayden Albee (13-3), a freshman from Regis-Altoona, who took a 15-4 major decision over Krug in the previous week’s regional title match.

This time, Krug was ready for Albee. After falling behind 4-1 in the first period, Krug started the second period on top and got two back points to get within one. Albee eventually escaped to take a 5-3 lead into the third. A violation and Wrestlers

an escape pulled Krug into a 5-5 tie, but Albee’s takedown with 50 seconds left allowed him to eke out a 7-6 win.

In his final match, Krug again gave up the first takedown. He entered the third period down 2-1 to G-E-T/M-M’s Justin Gappa (7-8). Starting in the top position, Krug got the leverage he needed to get Gappa to his back and secure a near fall that won the match 4-2. Krug also beat Gappa 7-5 in last year’s WIAA Division 2 team sectional.

This was Krug’s second sectional appearance. He had 26 wins as a junior and improved steadily after a 9-25 freshman season.

The Great Northern Conference will have three representatives at state out of the Seymour sectional. GNC Wrestler of the Year Chase Kmosena of Mosinee made it at 132 pounds, Mosinee’s Gage Coppock qualified at 160 pounds and Antigo’s Joshua Heuss is back at 170 pounds.

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Medford’s Carson Church controls the arms and this match with Colin Niederkorn of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro during Saturday’s 138-pound fifthplace match. Church got the pin in 3:33. Medford’s Dalton Krug starts to impose his will on Justin Gappa of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro during Saturday’s 195-pound fifth-place match. Krug got a third-period near fall to pull out a 4-2 win.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

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