Three place in state tourneys; six make WWL championships

MEDFORD YOUTH WRESLING

Gage Losiewicz wrestled for a championship and Avery Losiewicz earned a third-place finish in her girls bracket during the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation’s Kids Folkstyle state tournament, held March 5-7.

Paxton Rothmeier, Max Losiewicz and Jace Vach also represented the Medford Wrestling Club and competed in the event, which was held this year at the Woodside Wisconsin Dells Center, rather than the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.

This year’s tournament was an open event, as opposed to the usual format where wrestlers had to qualify in regional tournaments.

Gage Losiewicz came within a win of his second state championship. His first came in 2016. He went 4-1 during the final day of competition, which included his 2006-07 age group and 135-pound weight class.

He started with a pin in 2:35 over Mukwonago’s Jack Savasta and then pinned Dodgeland’s Gavin Vitense in 3:15. He pinned Zebadiah Holden of Glenwood City in just 46 seconds in a quarterfinal match and then stuck Callum Wheeler of Merrill in 3:21 in the semifinals.

In the championship match, Losiewicz met Owen Seffrood of the Sarbacker Wrestling Academy located in Iowa County. Seffrood won the title with a 12-2 major decision. Losiewicz scored with an early reversal, but a late near fall in the first period broke open the match and gave Seffrood an 8-2 lead.

Avery Losiewicz went unbeaten after a first-round loss to place third out of 13 wrestlers in the girls 2008-09 age division and 125-pound weight class in competition held March 6.

Her loss was a 5-3 decision to eventual runner-up Lilliana Banks from Aviators Wrestling of Appleton. After a consolation bye, Losiewicz pinned Bree Streeter of Wausau East in 53 seconds, pinned Kalyce Sobotta of Arcadia in 1:53, pinned Sydney Turner of Southern Door in 1:31 and then beat Matilda Burns of Ashland in the third-place match 6-0.

Rothmeier compiled a 3-2 record in the 120-pound weight class of the 2006-07 age division.

He started with two victories. He pinned Mason Perez of Waterford in 2:47 and defeated Finn Grauwels of Middleton 6-1 to get to the round of 16, where he was pinned in 2:11 by Carter Freeman of Wisconsin Rapids, who wound up finishing third in the tournament.

In the consolation bracket, Rothmeier was a 6-3 winner over Isaac Briggs of St. Croix Falls before being eliminated with a 5-0 loss to Colin Fischer of Bonduel.

Vach, wrestling at 72 pounds in the 2012-13 age division, went 1-2 in his state matches. His win in the consolation bracket was a 9-0 major decision over Jack Seidl of Auburndale.

Max Losiewicz wrestled in the 84-pound weight class of the 2010-11 age group where he drew a first-round bye and then lost twice.

Losiewicz was pinned in 2:18 in the round of 16 by Benjamin Spalla of Twin Lakes. Caiden Johnson of Burnett County beat him 15-7 in a consolation match.

Sova places 4th

Medford’s Rachel Sova finished fourth in the 106-pound bracket of the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation’s Women’s High School Folkstyle state tournament, held Sunday, Feb. 21 at the Thunderdome in Oconomowoc.

Competing in a bracket of 10 wrestlers, Sova lost her first-round match to eventual runner-up Josie Stachowski of Ringers Wrestling (Milwaukee) by pin in 5:30. After a bye, she ripped off three straight wins.

First, she

pinned Cecilia Defoe of Stratford in 2:56. She followed that up with a 15-0 technical fall over Gracie Rombalski of Independence- Gilmanton. A pin in 2:43 over Aaricka Carlson of Ashland put Sova in the third-place bout against Sophie Wagner of the TigerSharks (Princeton-Green Lake). Wagner won a tightly-contested bout 7-6.

Bopasoreya Quintana of Sun Prairie won the weight class championship, beating Stachowski in the final 4-1.

WWL highlights

Several youth wrestlers from Medford were able to find competition this winter in the Wisconsin Wrestling League, which drew 44 clubs from around the state in its first season and was able to give kids in kindergarten through eighth grade weekend matches at various sites.

The WWL’s season ended with qualifi ers on Sunday, Feb. 7 and its championship tournament on Sunday, Feb. 14 at the Crass-Trained facility in Altoona. The top four K-2 finishers in the qualifying tournaments advanced to the championship tournament. The top two finishers in each weight class advanced to the 3-5 and middle school championship tournaments.

At the grades 6-8 qualifier in River Falls, Medford’s Parker Lissner (124 pounds), Gage Losiewicz (132 pounds) and Evan Wilkins (140 pounds) advanced with second-place finishes. In the final tournament, Losiewicz capped a 14-3 season in the WWL with four wins and

SUBMITTED PHOTOS

the championship in his weight class. He beat Bryson Schmid of Next Level Warrior Wrestling Academy 10-0, got a 7-2 overtime win over Trenton Kirkland of Crass-Trained, beat Nash Banko of the Askren Wrestling Academy 6-0 and, in the title bout, beat Johnathan Krager of Spring Valley 4-2.

Wilkins went 2-3 for the day and placed sixth. He started with a pin in 2:44 over Nathan Bernstein of Wisconsin Rapids and a pin in 1:17 over Justin Thelen of Nekoosa. After two losses, Wilkins landed in the fifth-place bout where he was pinned in 41 seconds by Kaleb Rose of La Crosse. Wilkins finished 9-10.

Lissner went 0-2 in the tournament to finish 8-8.

Max Losiewicz placed second at 82 pounds in his grades 3-5 qualifier in Loyal and went 1-2 in the final tournament. His league record was 8-6.

At the K-2 qualifier in Altoona, Talon Judnic advanced with a fourth-place finish at 46 pounds and Vach moved on with a fourth-place finish at 70 pounds. Vach went 2-2 with a pin and a decision in the championship tourney to finish 10-6. Judnic lost twice to end up 3-9.

Avery Losiewicz competed in the 115-pound bracket for girls grades 6-8. She placed fifth with a 2-2 tournament record and wound up 13-4 for the season. Girls did not have to go through the qualifi er round. She pinned Markiya Uherka of Columbus-Rio in 1:28 and beat Amari Y’Ana Richard of Neenah 6-2 in the fifthplace bout.

Gage Losiewicz was the runner-up at 135 pounds in the 2006-07 age group at the WWF state tournament.SPORTS EDITOR After finishing third in her bracket at the WWF Kids Folkstyle State Championships, Medford’s Avery Losiewicz (far right) shares the podium with (from left) fourth-place finisher Matilda Burns of Ashland, runner-up Liliana Banks of Appleton and champion Chesney Bartoszek of Wrightstown.