MEDFORD WRESTLING - Wrestlers pick up third-place win after setback in Friday duals
MEDFORD WRESTLING
MATT FREY
SPORTS EDITOR
Bouncing back from a disappointing finish to pool competition, the Medford wrestlers capped a 3-1 night by beating Kiel 39-30 in the third-place matchup in Friday’s Shiocton Clausen Duals.
The Raiders went into the meet knowing they’d be giving up 18 points in forfeits in three weight classes with illness sidelining their 157-pound standout Gage Losiewicz and Parker Lissner still working his way back from a shoulder injury. Still, they put themselves into position to get to the championship dual after knocking off Shawano 37-32 in their second dual of the tournament. But Stevens Point upset them 39-36 in the third round, setting up a three-way tie between those three teams at 2-1.
Shawano won the most matches of the three teams in pool competition to advance to the final, where it beat Shiocton 41-30. Winneconne defeated Stevens Point 39-33 in the fifth-place dual.
“We dug down deep and wrestled a pretty good dual against Shawano, did exactly what we had to do to win,” Medford head coach Brandon Marcis said. “In our minds we knew they were going to be the toughest dual. They beat SPASH by (4622) beforehand. We were just ready for it. I had a plan for moving guys. We had to win the flip and we went over what everybody’s job would be and we wrestled well.”
The key match came at the end at 190 pounds with Medford’s Evan Wilkins battling Shawano’s Conner Chelberg. The bout went back and forth with Wilkins grinding out a 9-8 to secure three team points and assure the Raiders of their fivepoint team win.
That was the first of three tight wins for Wilkins, who had to go at least the full six minutes in all of them.
“I thought Wilkins just wrestled great,” Marcis said. “He’s giving up a little bit of weight in every match. He’s wrestling full 190-pounders. He pulled through in a clutch moment in that Shawano dual. He had just hard grinder matches all night and he just rose to the occasion in every one of them. I was super proud of the way he competed and represented Medford.”
Jude Stark was a 2-0 winner over Owen Montour at 132 pounds. Max Dietzman also worked through a tough match against Shawano, taking a 3-1 overtime win at 285 pounds over Wahkeenyah Waukau.
“That win was about Max just staying in good position in that whole match,” Marcis said of the heavyweight match. “That was his first competition after being gone for a couple of weeks. To gut that out was a good win.”
Braxton Weissmiller got an early pin in 1:06 over Kaydin Campbell at 215 pounds, Cory Lindahl pinned Marcus Cicero in 18 seconds at 150 pounds, Paxton Rothmeier stuck Drew Chelberg in 3:55 at 165 pounds and Logan Kawa put Medford in position to clinch the win with a pin in 30 seconds over Mason Theis at 175 pounds. Jordan Lavin took a 15-2 major decision over Christopher Hammen-Jung at 120 pounds.
Along with three forfeits, Shawano got a 6-0 win from Kody Popelka over Owen Higgins at 144 pounds, a 15-0 technical fall from Dane Hodkiewicz over Nick Malchow at 113 pounds and a pin in 1:51 from Dylan Gartner over Caden Olson at 106 pounds.
In the dual with Stevens Point, the Panthers got three pins and a key decision to go with the three forfeits to upset the Raiders.
“I feel like we just overlooked them because Shawano beat them by 20,” Marcis said. “We just have to remember that every time we walk out on the mat it has to be treated the same. It’s a lesson to the guys. There were a lot of spots where guys gave things up that they didn’t need to or maybe they didn’t think it was a big deal because the next guy would make up for it. But at the end of the dual, guess what? That’s not what happened.”
Weissmiller pinned Point’s Connor Skarsten in 1:53 at 215 pounds, Higgins stuck Sam Riddel in 1:18 at 138 pounds and Kawa took care of Nathan Bernstein in 50 seconds at 175 pounds. The Raiders also got forfeit wins from Olson and Malchow while Stark beat Jake Roberts 8-2 at 132 pounds.
Wilkins got his big win in the dual in overtime, getting a takedown in the sudden- victory period to beat Dominik Urrutia 6-4.
Josh Woznicki, however, pinned Dietzman in 5:45, Camden Mayek pinned Lavin in 3:37 and Jake Hall pinned Lindahl in 48 seconds. Riley Seavers outscored Rothmeier 7-3 in a pivotal match at 165.
“In a dual meet, giving up a pin is huge,” Marcis said. “We have to fight, claw, scratch, whatever it takes to get out of there. You have to dig deep and figure out a way to get off your back for the team.”
Against Kiel, Medford got good work out of its light and middleweight wrestlers.
Olson pinned Kiel’s Jack Furdek in 1:10, Stark needed just 32 seconds to take care of Logan Kautzer, Higgins won the 144-pound match 13-6 over Mason Schaefer, Lindahl pinned Brady Kienbaum in 1:36, Kawa pinned Koen Sitzman in 42 seconds and Wilkins outlasted Emerson Sitzman 11-9. Rothmeier won a tight one as well, taking a 4-1 decision over Edward LeMieux. Malchow earned a forfeit win.
Kiel’s two contested wins came in the upper weights. Ben Kienbaum pinned Weissmiller in 2:12 and Emmett Langenfeld pinned Dietzman in 2:29.
Medford started the tournament with a 55-9 win over Reedsville. Lavin earned a quick 14-second pin over Aarion Wilson at 120 pounds and Higgins pinned Lucas Lodel in 2:43 at 138. Stark earned an 8-3 decision over Ethyn Sebo at 132 pounds and Lindahl took a 14-2 major decision over Tristen Verbeten at 150 pounds. Forfeits went to Olson, Malchow, Kawa, Wilkins, Weissmiller and Dietzman. Medford forfeited at 144 pounds and Logan Lodel edged Rothmeier in overtime 8-6. There were double forfeits at 126 and 157 pounds.
Menasha won the seventh-place bout over Reedsville 48-21.
Medford is at Mosinee tonight, Thursday, for a Great Northern Conference dual with the Indians, then it’s off to Freedom for the always-tough Irish Invitational Saturday. The Raiders wrap up GNC duals Jan. 18 at Antigo, facing Lakeland and the host Red Robins starting at 6:30 p.m.
“We’re putting an emphasis on conditioning and simple fundamental things,” Marcis said. “This year maybe I’ll admit I’ve gone over some things above and beyond what I normally do. I think for us for the next month, it’s just going to be back to the basics, the meat and potatoes of wrestling of head position and mastering those little things. Even in the high-level matches, it’s those little fundamental things that are killing us a little bit. That will definitely be a focus of ours to peak at the right time.”
Girls at Cadott
Medford’s two female wrestlers found success Saturday at the Cadott Invitational.
Avery Losiewicz improved to 20-2 and continued to dominate at 126 pounds. She won the bracket with a 44-second pin over Hayward’s Brooke Dorman-DeFoe, a semifinal pin in 1:42 over Cameron’s Reyana Ladd and a 15-0 technical fall over Menasha’s Eve Rausch in the championship.
At 132 pounds, Bridget Wesle got her first two wins, both by pin. She opened by pinning Cameron’s Katie Larson in 5:13. After getting pinned in 1:42 by Menasha’s Lillie Banks in the semifinals, Wesle needed just 1:32 to pin Hawyard’s Megan Livingston in the third-place match.
“She won one match by pin that just looked awesome,” Marcis said. “We do this thing we call the rock ‘em, sock ‘em half. The girl did exactly what she needed to do for Bridget to do this rock ‘em, sock ‘em half and she did it perfect and pinned her. You’re just so happy for a kid that comes to practice every day and works. She’s just started and is feeling the frustration of the rigor of wrestling. She had a great day.”
Those two accounted for a third-place finish in the girls team standings behind Menasha (161) and Cameron (92) with 40.5 points.
Also on Saturday, six JV Raiders competed in the Wisconsin Challenge Series at Wausau East. Ayden Tyznik placed fourth at 106 pounds, Broden Schilling was fourth at 113 pounds and Forest Hartl was fifth at 285 pounds. Jaxon Fallos was fifth at 285 pounds, while Maddix Brooks was 1-2 at 190 pounds and Austin Czarnezki lost both of his contested matches at 106 pounds.
Evan Wilkins
