MEDFORD WRESTLING - Losiewicz 7th; Raiders get some hard-earned wins at Donnybrook

MEDFORD WRESTLING

Going to the Dan Gable Donnybrook is tough for some of the best high school wrestlers of the Midwest, making it even more challenging for the young wrestlers the Medford Raiders are carrying.

But the Raiders came away from the three-day event in Coralville, Iowa with a few wins and some positives to build from to start their 2024-25 season.

Sophomore Avery Losiewicz had the most success, reaching the quarterfinals and finishing seventh in the girls 140pound weight class. She went 4-2 in her matches. Bridget Wesle went 3-2 over the weekend at 145 pounds.

The guys got a 14th-place finish at 113 pounds from senior Nick Malchow and a 22nd-place finish from freshman Ashton Noland at 190 pounds. Some wins on the consolation side of the brackets were highlights for the team on Saturday.

“We have a crew with a lot of inexperience,” Medford head coach Brandon Marcis said. “They’re young and they’re not super experienced, so we’re just trying to make the learning curve as fast as possible. Going down to one of the premier tournaments in the nation, the fact that we won some matches is a pretty big deal. I think that they responded well. I think they have good perspective and I think the growth that we made was huge.”

In the girls competition, Losiewicz drew a first-round bye Thursday and then started her year with a pin in 1:06 over Melody Vargas of DeKalb, Ill. A pin in 2:39 over Claire Hynek of Prairie High School of Cedar Rapids, Iowa got Losiewicz into the round of eight. There, she was leading McKenzie Tollefson of Decorah, Iowa in the first period but got caught and was pinned in 1:28. Tollefson (11-2) went on to place fourth.

In the consolation bracket Friday, Losiewicz won a hard-fought 10-7 decision over Tarriel White of Marion, Iowa and then had to come back 30 minutes later to face Damiyah Williams of Mason City, Iowa. Williams pinned her in 2:28. In the seventh-place bout, Losiewicz won by medical forfeit over Makana Miller of Waverly-Shell Rock, Iowa.

“If Avery wants to be a state champion she has to follow through on her shots and believe in her shots,” Marcis said. “That’ll be the thing that gets Avery a state championship. Every now and then, she’ll kind of get caught or stuck and then the elbows go out and the girl catches her and throws her to her back and she gets pinned. For her it’s just tweaking the little things and keeping her penetration on her shots. If she does that, I believe she definitely beats the Decorah girl.

“I know Avery wasn’t exactly happy with her results of the match, but that Mason City girl had some tricks up her sleeve,” Marcis added. “She threw Avery a couple times for big points. She was tough. I think it was eye-opening for her because I know she was upset just at the way she wrestled that match. But as far as the experience goes, I think it was really good for her. I’m happy that she’s not satisfied, but she also got the best finish that anyone from Medford’s ever gotten in two years at the Donnybrook.”

Wesle went 1-2 Thursday in her bracket, earning a consolation pin in 1:18 over Katherine Martinez of Lockport Township, Ill. She went into the Silver Bracket on Friday and pinned Aurora Helms-Hueper of Albert Lea, Minn. in 42 seconds and Ella Andes of Bettendorf, Iowa in 5:42.

“I just think back to last year and how much better she is,” Marcis said. “She’s picked up where she left off. In general the girls are so much fun to coach. They listen well. Bridget did very well.”

Malchow’s win in the opening match of 113-pound competition was a highlight of the boys tournament on Friday’s first day. He pinned Carter Janssen of Hampton-Dumont, Iowa at the two-minute mark to end the first period.

“Nick Malchow locked up a cradle and did very well,” Marcis said. “He did exactly what he was supposed to do and he was our victor in that first round.”

Malchow wound up 2-3 for the weekend, earning a medical forfeit over Lukas Foster of Joliet Catholic Academy, Ill. in Saturday’s consolation rounds.

Noland’s 22nd-place finish was earned with a consolation bye and then a pin in 4:50 over another Wisconsin wrestler, Blar Har of the Brown Deer Co-op. He was 1-3 in his contested matches, including a loss by pin in 5:34 in the 21st-place match to Xavier Briseno of Lockport Township.

At 215 pounds, Ian Stickney won his second consolation match by pin in 3:50 over Travis Harshbarger of Basehor-Linwood, Kansas. He went 1-4 over the weekend.

“Both Noland and Stickney are freshman who started wrestling in middle school,” Marcis said. “They’re still young and the 190/215 pound weight classes at the Dan Gable Donnybrook are full of absolute machines. Watching those guys gut out those matches and power through and get those wins was so satisfying. In our practices we’re definitely showing a ton of technique. We teach the kids something and when they go out there and it looks like it’s supposed to you really feel a sense of satisfaction. So hat’s off to that.” Senior Parker Lissner got off to a tough start Friday, losing a 9-7 first-round decision to Rylee Brown of Fort Dodge, Iowa and then losing by technical fall 21-5 to Lester Brown of Staley, Mo. He rebounded to win the Silver bracket with a 16-1 technical fall over Darius Murry of Creighton Preparatory School of Omaha, Neb. and a pin in 1:37 over Andrew Gotch, also of Creighton.

“I think the first day was a bit of a wakeup call for him,” Marcis said. “You could tell on the second day he wanted it. He’s leaving the Donnybrook 2-2. For him I think it’s exactly what he needed. Second day he went after it and he got it.”

Ayden Tyznik went 1-4 at 113 pounds, getting his win by pin in 2:50 over Colt Hallquist of Park Hill South, Mo. Jordan Lavin went 1-4 at 120 pounds, earning a medical forfeit over Dominic Lieber of the Brown Deer Co-op. Marcis said he had a 10-1 lead in one of his early matches before getting caught and pinned.

Freshman Levi Zuleger went 0-4 with three losses by pin and another by technical fall at 144 pounds.

Medford is back on the mat tonight, Thursday, for its home opener, a nonconference dual meet with the Neillsville Co-op that is set to start at 7 p.m. The Raiders will be at the Eau Claire North Husky Invitational Dec. 13-14 before opening Great Northern Conference competition at the Lakeland Quad Dec. 19. They’ll see Tomahawk and Mosinee at that quad, which starts at 6:30 p.m.

Fulk Classic

While Medford’s more experienced wrestlers were at the Donnybrook, the Raiders also sent a JV crew to the Jeremy Fulk Classic in New London, Iowa, where they placed eighth out of eight teams with 36 points.

Freshman Jackson Mayer had the highlight win of the meet, getting a consolation pin over Zander Amburn of New London in 3:23. Mayer finished sixth in his eight-man bracket, falling by pin in the fifth-place match to Brock Fisher of Mid-Prairie, Iowa.

Corey McVicker was credited with a win by injury default over Kain Arrowood of Fort Madison, Iowa while going 1-2 at 138 pounds. Tyler Kmosena was credited with second place in the 106-pound bracket, which had just two wrestlers. He competed twice against Trenton McKean of Lone Tree, Iowa, and was pinned in 4:00 and 1:35.

Ahrlen Lekie was pinned twice and placed fourth out of five wrestlers at 132 pounds. Preston Lyman lost his only match 15-6 to Justice Lightfoot of Fort Madison, Iowa and took fifth at 120 pounds. Domanic Spencer was pinned twice and placed sixth out of seven wrestlers at 150 pounds.

Nick Malchow