A/C wrestling starts season strong

The Abbotsford-Colby co-op wrestling team started off their season with a solid performance at Antigo’s John Roberts Scramble, filing a fourth place finish out of 19 teams and demonstrating how they may be a force within the Cloverbelt conference this season. While the team is relatively young, they have solid numbers and talent to go with it.

“I think if we can keep everyone healthy and guys fall into the right weight classes, then we’ll field almost a full-team,” head coach Steve Wozniak said. “We’ll be competitive. Neillsville and Cadott, they’re going to be tough this year, and Regis will be up there too, but I think we can be a competitive team within the Cloverbelt.”

Their early results in Antigo, where five of their wrestlers placed on the podium with a top four finish and most wrestlers notched at least one win, seem to add some credence to those words. Given that the Antigo tournament was the first high school meet experience for many of the co-op athletes, there is still a lot of room for improvement as well.

While there are a lot of fresh faces coming to the Abby- Colby squad, the team’s returners will continue to make a big impact. Senior Levi Dommer, who wrestled in last year’s sectionals, senior Brayden Meyer, who had to battle through a tough 2021-22 regional, and sophomore Jacob Hoppe, who put in a lot of work over the offseason are among those who are expected to contribute to the team.

As the season progresses and athletes can start to fill-in to their ideal weight classes, the co-op’s numbers will start to turn into a real strength. Part of maintaining those numbers is building interest in the sport from its’ youngest levels through into high school. It’s something that Wozniak and his coaching staff have been trying to establish over the years and they are seeing the results.

“It’s the middle school coach, Mike Jakel, our assistant head coach Sage Soppa, and I; the three of us run our youth program,” Wozniak said. “So it’s really nice that we can work with those kids all the way through youth wrestling and then Mike takes them in middle school before Sage and I get them in high school. We’re pretty involved at all levels. We’ll talk about what we are doing at each level, which is great for growing the program.”

With a combination of youth and experience, the Abby-Colby team has some high expectations, though their road through the WIAA tournament will likely be even harder than usual.

“We have some strong wrestlers that are going to do well in our conference,” Wozniak said. “But this year with regionals, they switched it up and they are doing a super-regional and I think our super-regional is one of the toughest in the state for Division 2. If we get some guys through regionals, I think there is a good chance of them making it to state.”

The recent changes will certainly be something that the team will have to overcome, but the coaching staff is eager to see what the athletes can accomplish.

The aforementioned results of the John Roberts Scramble have only added to that excitement. A fourth place finish where the team scored 250.0 points, which placed them behind only Shiocton’s 444.5, Marathon’s 351.0 and Hayward’s 296.5 is especially impressive given that the team had several weight classes doubled up on, given that it is still early in the season.

Top performers from the Saturday tournament from the boys’ side included Brayden Meyer going 4-1 in the 152 -class to take second place, Luis Nava Rojas placing second in the 285-class with a 4-1 record, Matt Jakel going 3-2 to take third in the 120-class and Tristen Meyer also going 3-2 in the 126-class to take third. Jacob Hoppe also took fifth in the 170-class after going 4-1 on the day.

MaKenna Herrmann took third in the girls division, a competition which has seen significant growth even from last season.

“Last year [at the John Roberts Scramble] there were only eight girls in the girls division,” Wozniak said. “This year there were 22. So that part of wrestling is growing too and that’s exciting to see. And it’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve had a girl in our program. It’s good that we are going to these tournaments that are supporting girls’ wrestling.”

With one tournament already under their belts, the co-op will head to Eau Claire North High for their next tournament on Saturday, Dec. 10. This will be another good challenge for the team, with a number of solid programs boasting some of the top wrestlers in the state slated to participate. The tournament is to start at 9:00 a.m.