Posted on

Young Medford wrestlers earn several All-Great Northern awards

Young Medford wrestlers earn several All-Great Northern awards Young Medford wrestlers earn several All-Great Northern awards

The Medford Raider wrestlers may have been young, but they learned and grew into a formidable squad by season’s end, going 5-0 in Great Northern Conference dual meets and sharing the Great Northern Conference title with tournament champion Tomahawk. That gave Medford its fifth GNC team trophy in six years under head coach Brandon Marcis.

Nine Raiders finished the year with All-Great Northern Conference honors. Those awards are based on performances during the league tournament, which was held at Mosinee on Saturday, Feb. 5. Medford finished with 416 points in the meet and missed claiming the outright title by just four points as the Hatchets finished with 420. Both teams finished with 20 total conference points for the season.

Medford earned five weight-class championships, two second-place finishes and two thirds at the GNC meet to land first-team, second-team or honorable mention awards.

Junior Thaddeus Sigmund won his second GNC championship, while sophomore Jude Stark and freshmen Gage Losiewicz, Paxton Rothmeier and Owen Higgins all earned their first. Sigmund, the 106-pound champion last year, took this year’s 113-pound title and was basically unchallenged. He had just two matches in the GNC tournament, pinning Mosinee’s George Ahles in 39 seconds and Tomahawk’s Jack Derleth in 22 seconds. He also pinned both of those wrestlers in the dual meets, along with Lakeland’s Justin Funmaker. Sigmund went on to win the WIAA Division 2 regional title at 113 pounds with two pins and finished 33-7 after a tough first-round loss at the WIAA Division 2 Amery sectional to Northwestern’s Tommy Brown.

Stark, who got honorable mention last year at 120 pounds, moved up to the championship spot at 126 pounds by pinning his way to an unbeaten GNC record. He also had just two matches at the conference tourney, pinning Rhinelander’s Tanner Schmidt in 39 seconds and Tomahawk’s Andrew Tollefson in 46 seconds. Stark pinned Tollefson during Medford’s thrilling 39-37 win over Tomahawk on Feb. 1 and added dual-meet pins over Mosinee’s Chris Strejc and Lakeland’s Devon Semrau. Stark was the regional runner-up at 126 pounds finished 24-9 after losing 6-2 to Baldwin-Woodville’s Hunter Bonte in his first sectional match.

Losiewicz went the furthest in the post-season for Medford, qualifying for state at 132 pounds and finishing 33-10. In the GNC tournament, Losiewicz wrestled at 138 pounds and went 3-0 with pins over Lakeland’s Joey Havican, Rhinelander’s Robert Schramke and Tomahawk’s Ryan Larson. That was his second pin in five days over Larson. Losiewicz also pinned Rhinelander’s Sean Boman and Lakeland’s Brady Abb in his unbeaten GNC season. Losiewicz was a regional champion and took third at the sectional before dropping his lone state match 11-0 to Baldwin-Woodville’s Tyler Fink.

Rothmeier and Higgins took over varsity spots in January and were crucial to the team’s success down the stretch.

At 120 pounds, Higgins got four pins to win the GNC tournament title. He stuck Strejc, Lakeland’s Ashton Bremer, Rhinelander’s Kyle Wiese and Tomahawk’s Addison Peissig. He didn’t lose in the duals either, taking a major decision over Wiese, a 7-2 win over Bremer and a big pin over Peissig in Medford’s twopoint win over the Hatchets. Higgins was third at the regional and finished 18-9.

Rothmeier won the GNC’s 132-pound tournament title with four pins. He stuck Mosinee’s Jackson Folwarski, Lakeland’s Tyson Skubal after falling behind early in that match, Boman and Tomahawk senior Blake Felser. Those were the second pins of the season for Rothmeier over Folwarski and Skubal. He beat Felser 9-2 on Feb. 1 and pinned Schramke Jan. 6 at Rhinelander.

Medford’s five champions were the most of any team. Tomahawk had four, Rhinelander had three and Lakeland had two. Half of the champions were freshmen or sophomores. Youth was a theme for the GNC this year as 23 of the 42 awards winners were underclassmen.

Medford sophomore Logan Kawa was the runner-up at 170 pounds for the second straight year. He lost the title bout at the GNC tourney to Tomahawk’s Logan Bishop 7-5, a big improvement over a 14-2 major decision Bishop got five days earlier. In the previous round, Kawa outlasted Lakeland junior Jerry Goselin in a 4-2 overtime win. He pinned Antigo’s Robert Hagerty, Mosinee’s Eyan Manowski and Rhinelander’s Anthony Barnett to finish 4-1 for the day. He was an 8-4 winner over Hagerty in Medford’s Jan. 20 dual win over Antigo.

Kawa (26-14) dropped to 160 pounds in the post-season and was the regional runner- up. He lost his first sectional match 10-6 to Ellsworth’s Ivan Veenendall.

Freshman Tripp Reamer had an outstanding 4-1 day at the GNC tournament at 195 pounds. After going 3-2, including a forfeit win during the GNC duals, he pinned Antigo’s Wyatt Bieber, Mosinee’s Noah Meshak, Tomahawk’s Blake Younker and Rhinelander’s Reid Schultz at the league tourney before losing by injury default to Lakeland’s Leonard Chosa in the title bout.

One of the team’s most improved wrestlers by the end of the year, Reamer placed fourth at 170 pounds in the regional meet and finished 10-12.

Junior Wyatt Johnson followed up his honorable mention award last year at 220 pounds with a third-place this year at 182. Johnson was pinned in his first two matches at the tournament but finished with pins of Lakeland’s Tommy Howard in 53 seconds and Tomahawk’s Ethan Trayes in 3:33. Johnson pinned Bieber and Schultz during the dual-meet season.

Johnson was Medford’s fifth sectional qualifier after a second-place finish at the regional. He went 0-2 at the sectional and finished his year at 16-16.

Freshman Evan Wilkins got honorable mention at 152 pounds after a 1-2 day at the GNC tournament. He got a 15-0 technical fall over Tomahawk senior Brayden Jones in the third-place match. Wilkins was 3-2 in the GNC dual meets with a forfeit and pins over Jones and Rhinelander’s Joseph Evenson.

Tomahawk senior Marcus Matti was named the GNC’s Wrestler of the Year. He won the 220-pound championship for the second straight year and advanced to the WIAA Division 2 state tournament where he went 1-2 and finished the year with a 44-5 record.

Tomahawk’s Bob Garrou was named GNC Coach of the Year for the second straight season. The Hatchets had a league-high 10 individual award winners and sent Matti and junior 160-pounder Mason Evans to the state tournament. Evans (42-7) finished fourth at state. Rhinelander’s Gavin Ostermann was a Division 1 state qualifier at 182 pounds. He went 2-2 at state and finished 39-6.


Logan Kawa Second TeamJude Stark First Team

Gage Losiewicz First TeamTripp Reamer Second Team

Owen Higgins First TeamWyatt Johnson Hon. Mention

Paxton Rothmeier First Team

Evan Wilkins Hon. Mention
LATEST NEWS