Itsael Medina won the 132-pound ….

Itsael Medina won the 132-pound A bracket by pinning Dalton Hagen of Marshfield (1:33), Elshadai Kalongi of Appleton West (1:54) and Cole Vargo of Marinette (1:03).

Nicholas Malchow went 2-1 to take second in the 106-pound A bracket. Tripp Reamer went 3-1 to take second in the 182-pound B bracket. Blake Schilling went 2-2 to take third in the 152-pound A bracket.

“Our JV wrestlers had a phenomenal day,” Marcis said.

Stratford won the team championship in Saturday’s tournament with 399 points. The Tigers distanced themselves from Freedom (339), Marshfield (333) and Brillion (321) to win it. Shiocton was fifth with 268 points, while Shawano (259.5), Hortonville (256.5), Medford (253), Appleton West (200) and Valders (157.5) rounded out the top 10.

Medford will see some tough competition next week when it returns to the Bi-State Wrestling Classic at the La Crosse Center Dec. 29-30. A total of 71 teams are expected to be represented in the tournament, which includes two separate sessions of wrestling each day.

As the season reaches the halfway point, and with a tough January schedule ahead, Marcis said the coaching staff is driving home the need for their young wrestlers to increase their intensity and understand how physical they need to be to find success as they work to improve daily.

“They’re always getting better, always improving and they’re great listeners,” Marcis said.