Sebesta-Opelt takes 5th at state, Tibbett and Luchterhand compete NGL coach reflects on season

By Valorie Brecht The Neillsville-Greenwood-Loyal (NGL) wrestling team saw three athletes compete in the WIAA Division 2 Individual Wrestling State Tournament this past weekend, with one earning a guaranteed place. The event took place in Madison at the Kohl Center, with matches starting Thursday night.

Wrestling at 150 pounds in a return appearance at state, Hudzon Sebesta-Opelt took fifth place in his weight class, defeating Joe Lohmar (40-8) of Broadhead/Juda in the fifth-place match by fall (4:23). Sebesta-Opelt, a junior at Neillsville High School, had a 38-4 season record. To make it to the fifth-place match, he first defeated Nolan Thomley of Prescott of the quarterfinals by 7-2 decision. He lost to Max Ronsman of Luxemburg-Casco in the semifinals by 7-0 decision but came back to win over Taden Holldorf of Baldwin-Woodville in the consolation semifi nals by fall (4:51). “Hudzon has a lot of wrestling experience. He has been wrestling since he was a very little kid and has traveled all over the place to wrestle,” said NGL coach Scott Bryant.

Making his tournament run that much more impressive was the fact that this fall, he didn’t know if he’d even be able to wrestle at all.

“Hudzon races motorcycles in the summer and he got in an accident. He hurt his lower leg and ankle. He had to have surgery and got two or three plates put in and 18 metal pins. So we didn’t expect him to be able to wrestle. When he got the OK to wrestle, we were all surprised. It was a pleasant surprise to have him.

“He missed the first part of the season and he had some limitations. He had to do things differently. But he fought through it. Also, at the end of the year he got a staff infection in that same leg, so he had to deal with that. So he fought through a lot of adversity to do as well as he did. He did very well,” said Bryant.

Also competing for NGL was senior Dane Luchterhand of Loyal, in the 190-pound weight class. He lost to Ross Crist of Darlington/ Black Hawk in the first championship round by 10-6 decision.

Luchterhand finished the season with a 38-10 record. He frequently wrestled athletes that were a little bigger than him, as he went between weight classes to help his team this season. He regularly wrestles at 175, but he moved to 190 to help the team at dual meets. He also decided to wrestle at 190 for the WIAA tournament series because he felt he would have a better chance of qualifying for state.

“Dane grew in confidence and in experience (over his time in the NGL program),” said Bryant. “He reached his goals, becoming a conference champion this year. I think he is satisfied with his career. He told me he’s going to miss it. He was sad the season was coming to an end… He wrestled tough.”

Rydge Tibbett, a sophomore, of Neillsville was another NGL competitor at state. In the 113-pound weight class, he lost by 13-5 major decision in the first championship round to Nick Ersland of Wisconsin Dells.

Bryant was proud of Tibbett for making it to state his first year wrestling in high school.

“His freshman year, he had some injuries and things, so he didn’t come out. He wasn’t even sure he was going to come out this year, but we’re glad he did. He made some improvements and got more and more confident as the year went on. Looking back on his season, the majority of his losses were against state qualifiers. So he wrestled some really tough wrestlers.

“I think him making it to state will give him the upper hand and a lot of confidence next year.”

The NGL program will graduate three seniors this year: Luchterhand; Damian Sampson, who wrestled at 190 and 215; and Gavyn McFarlane, who wrestled at 157.

Bryant is looking to the future of the program with optimism.

“We have a really young team. Half of them are freshmen. And we had a couple that were close to going to state. Jake Luchterhand was one place away. Adam Kautzer was one place away. So we’ve got some opportunities for future state qualifiers, as long as everybody stays healthy.”

The NGL wrestling team earned the title of Cloverbelt Conference Tournament champions and Cloverbelt Dual Meet champions this year, winning 11 duals. As a team, they qualified for super-regionals and lost to St. Croix Central.

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Neillsville-Greenwood-Loyal’s (NGL) Hudzon Sebesta-Opelt, same as last year when there were three, works to dismantle Max Ronsman of Luxemburg-Casco in the state wrestling semifinals. Ronsman came back to win that match. Sebesta-Opelt ended up taking fifth overall as one of three NGL wrestlers appearing at state.