Tigers are model of consistency

Stratford’s varsity wrestling team is the epitome of consistency in winning Marawood Conference championships. The Tigers have won nine consecutive regular season dual conference titles and eight straight conference tournament titles; there was no conference tournament in 2021 due to Covid-19.

The Tigers have also captured eight of the last nine WIAA Division 3 regional championships. Adam Davison, now in his third season as Stratford’s varsity head coach, expects his squad to keep the school’s streak of winning Marawood Conference regular season dual and tournament championships alive this season.

Davison has the luxury of having Joe Schwabe and Kane Krummel as his assistant coaches again this season.

“Both of them have an amazing amount of experience and are a huge success to this program, both in the past and present,” he said.

Stratford’s seniors from last year’s team that graduated left their mark on the high school program, most notably Gavin Drexler who won his third straight Division 3 state championship, Raife Smart who won his first state title and Elijah Lucio who placed third at state. All three of them are wrestling in college this fall. Drexler competes for Division 1 North Dakota State, Smart at Division 2 Upper Iowa University and Lucio at Division 3 UW-La Crosse.

“I think all those wrestlers brought something different to the table,” Davison said. “Gavin was huge into his mindset and attitude going into every match, Raife brought a toughness and explosion that was rare and Eli was always one of the hardest workers in the wrestling room and a kid who did it the right way. All of them left their mark and you can’t simply replace that level of talent, but you hope that the kids coming back this season took something away from their experiences.”

Stratford’s top returning wrestlers this 2022-23 season are senior Jackson Ormond in the 195-pound weight class, senior Ryan Becker at 160, sophomore Carter Lueck at 170 and sophomore Trenton Cournoyer at 120.

“All of these kids had varsity experience and success last year,” Davison said. “Carter had a great offseason by qualifying for freestyle nationals. Trenton has put in a ton of work in the gym and on the mat as he’s looking to build off a trip to state as a freshman last season. Ryan is looking to finally get his chance after being behind some tremendous talent throughout the year. Jackson is the leader and tone setter for this team. He’s a great young man and the kids really rally behind him.”

Top newcomers to this year’s varsity squad who should be in the team’s starting lineup at various times this season are freshman Colin Cournoyer wresting at 113 pounds, freshman Mathias Kaiser at 126, senior Sawyer Grabow at 152 and junior Kaleb Krummel at 170.

“Colin came out on top of a solid 113-pound wrestle off for the seasonopening Schoenherr Duals on Decem-ber 3 and he impressed with a 5-0 record, all via pin,” Davison said. “Mathias is going to have to step up as a freshman wrestling varsity; he has a bit of youth experience but it’s a different animal at this level. We’re super happy to have Sawyer back out for wrestling as a senior this year. He wrestled as a freshman and has been boxing since then so we know he’s tough and can handle the physicality.”

“Kaleb is very different because he’s had some rough luck with injuries to this point in his wrestling career, but his style is exciting and you really never know what the kid is going to do. I’ve seen him put both Jackson and Carter on their backs in practices; the kid can be dangerous if he can find some consistency and stay healthy.”

Jackson Ormond is Stratford’s only returning wrestler who placed at the state tournament last season. He took fifth place at 182 pounds.

“Jackson is the leader of this team, on and off the mat,” Davison said. “We already saw it during the the Schoenherr Duals when four teams forfeited to him. Even though he wasn’t getting on the mat, he was collecting points for the team and coaching the kids on the side. It’s great that as a coach, I know I can stay in the moment and focus on the next match while Jackson and the others are going to work on their techniques or try to keep other athletes focused.”

Trenton Cournoyer was a state qualifier last year as only a freshman.

“I’m biased but Trenton was someone who ended up as a loser in the new state seeding last year,” Davison said. “The kid he lost against in the first round was seeded 11th and ended up taking third. To me, Trenton would’ve been in the running for a medal had he gotten a different draw. He beat the sixth place medalist the week before and wrestled a really tight match with the fifth place kid in the season opener. He’s going to have another really good year. He’s worked hard and gotten a lot of mat time since last year.”

Stratford concluded its home Schoenherr Duals with a 3-2 record. Stratford defeated Brillion, 54-24; Wausau East, 6618 and Southern Door, 54-28. Stratford lost to Wittenberg-Birnamwood, 45-36 and lost the tiebreaker to Crandon when both teams finished with 36 points apiece.

The Stratford Tigers won both its Marawood Conference dual meets at Thursday’s Auburndale Quad. Stratford beat Athens, 64-18 and Auburndale, 52-27.

Tigers winning competitive matches against Athens were Trenton Cournoyer pinning Shaylon Blake in 47 seconds at 120 pounds, Mathias Kaiser pinning Marshall Venzke in 34 seconds at 126 and Roman Schmidt with a 15-1 major decision over Gavin Frahm at 106.

Stratford grapplers gaining competitive wins against Auburndale were Cayden Leonhardt pinning Coleman Becker in three minutes, 11 seconds at 132 pounds; Sawyer Grabow with a 14-2 major decision over Wyatt Malsin at 152, Ryan Becker pinning Hayden Lobner in 36 seconds at 160, Kaleb Krummel pinning Jarvell Owens in 1:25 at 170, Colin Cournoyer pinning Dawson Raab in 1:18 at 113 and Trenton Cournoyer pinning Zade Grassel in 3:02 at 126.

Stratford took fifth place out of 30 teams competing at Saturday’s Eau Claire North Husky Invite. Simley, Minn. won the tournament followed by Kaukauna, Arrowhead, Baldwin-Woodville and Stratford. Jackson Ormond won first place in the 195-pound weight class, Carter Lueck placed third at 182 and Roman Schmidt was fourth at 106. Brothers Colin and Trenton Cournoyer each took fifth place in the 113 and 120-pound weight classes.