A/C wrestlers battle at Eau Claire North’s Husky Invite
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Abbotsford/Colby wrestling team traveled to Eau Claire North for the Husky Invite this past Friday and Saturday. The girls had a pair of top-two finishes on the first day and the boys followed up by taking home a trio of top-five performances.
Allyson Blasel and Makenna Herrmann netted a first and a second place on Friday evening, combining to go 5-1 for the day. The girls team took 10th out of 25 teams with 109.5 points.
Blasel remained undefeated this season after going 3-0 in the 185-pound bracket and claiming her second tournament win in as many tries. The freshman had a first round bye and then faced off against Eau Claire Memorial’s Mia Koehn. She quickly scored a takedown on Koehn and then turned it into a pin in the first round at the 0:51 mark.
Blasel then took on Isabella Giza representing McDonell Catholic/Elk Mound in the semifinals. Giza was the first to score points, recording a takedown about 45 seconds into the match, but Blasel was able to regain control with a reversal at the minute mark. She used the position to score a win by fall in the final moments of the first period and secured a place in the tournament finals.
Eau Claire North’s Maddie Sorensen awaited Blasel in the championship bout. Both wrestlers entered the match with an undefeated record this season and Soresen had also pinned both her opponents to earn her place in the finals. The A/C freshman scored the first takedown of the match in the first period, but a quick escape by her opponent and a reversal from Soreson midway through the second round led to a 3-3 tie heading into the final two minutes. Blasel opted to start the final round on bottom, a tactic that earned her the lead after scoring an early reversal. While Soreson managed to escape, Blasel scored a decisive takedown with 30 seconds left to win the 8-5 decision and her second tournament title of the season. She scored 48.0 team points.
Hermann also earned a bye in the first round of the 132-pound bracket. In the quarterfinals, she faced off against Arrowhead’s Madisyn Clark and the A/C senior made quick work of her first opponent, scoring a win by fall at the 0:34 mark. In the semifinals she was paired against Valencia de la Torre of Auburndale and while the Eagle wrestler was able to score the first take down of the match, Herrmann was later able to turn the tables with a reversal and a pin in the first round, punching her ticket to the finals.
There she faced off against Wausau West’s Madelynn Lee, who boasted a 7-0 record after winning her first two matches by fall. Lee was able to force a decisive takedown in the first round and turned it into a pin a few seconds later, dealing Herrmann her only loss of the day. Herrmann earned 44.0 team points for her second-place performance.
Kori Geiger also wrestled for the varsity squad and placed ninth after following in her first round bout against Sierra Eklund of Nekoosa/Assumption/Port Edwards.
On Saturday, juniors Tristen Smazal and Matt Jakel picked up third place finishes while senior Jacob Hoppe notched a fourth place finish for the co-op. The varsity squad finished with 119.5 team points and took 15th out of 29 teams.
Smazal started his day off with a win by fall in the first round over Baldwin-Woodville’s Siraj Whirry. He then had to grind out a victory over Simley, Minn.’s Derek Buck in the quarterfinals. Neither wrestler was able to score a point over the first two periods and the two entered the final round deadlocked at 0-0. Smazal was finally able to break that tie with a quick reversal in the opening moments of the third period and later earned a penalty point to advance with a 3-0 decision.
The A/C junior then drew Menomonie’s Bailey Casey for his semifinal match. Similar to his last match, there was very little scoring over the opening four minutes, with Casey’s early escape in the second period being the only point notched by either wrestler. Smazal was able to tie things up at 1-1 early in the final round, but the Menomonie junior was able to retake control with the match’s first takedown not much later. Smazal once again escaped, but another takedown and subsequent nearfall by Casey sealed an eventual 94 decision.
Another competitive bout that went the distance awaited Smazal in the third-place match. There, he faced off against Arrowhead’s Wyatt Sandoval and the two battled to a near draw after the first two periods. Sandoval held a slim 1-0 lead after a second round escape, but Smazal was able to knot things up after scoring his own escape mid-
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way through the third round. A penalty assessed against Sandoval not long after turned out to be the difference maker as Smazal was able to hold out for a 2-1 decision. The third place performance scored 37.0 team points for Abby/Colby.
Jakel, meanwhile, sailed through his first two opponents of the 138-pound bracket on Saturday. He racked up nine points before winning by fall in the first period against Bloomer/ Colfax’s Mason Smith and then earned a 12-3 major decision over Gavin Jacob of Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln. While Jacob was able to manage three escapes, Jakel remained on the attack all match, scoring four takedowns to take a spot in the semifinals.
There he faced off against Lincoln Robideau of St. Michael-Albertville. He was kept on the defensive by Robideau, who racked up 20 points over the first two rounds to take a 20-2 technical fall victory and bounced Jakel to the third-place match.
Arrowhead’s Cole Duchateau awaited him there, but Jakel was able to quickly take control of the match. He dealt Duchateau his second loss of the season after earning a first round takedown and then winning by fall at the 1:49 mark. The third place finish gave the co-op 40.0 team points.
Hoppe needed five matches to pick up his fourth-place finish in Eau Claire, going 3-2 in the 190-pound weight class. He swept his first three matches of the day, picking up a pin over Sam Helgestad of Spencer/Columbus Catholic/Granton in his first match before dominating in a 15-0 technical fall victory over Whitehall’s Luke Matejka. He then won by major decision over Neenah’s Kaden Roth in the quarterfinals. He grabbed a 6-1 lead after two first round takedowns and expanded it to a 12-3 advantage after another pair of takedowns in the second period. An escape in the third period sealed his 13-3 major decision win.
Hoppe was dealt his first loss of the season in the semifinals where he faced off against John Murphy of St. Michael-Albertville, Minn. A trio of takedowns and a nearfall in the first round for Murphy eventually led to Hoppe being pinned at the 1:01 mark and relegated him to the third place match. He faced Simley’s Vristol Short in his final match of the day and it was Short who took the initiative. The Simley wrestler earned seven first period points before adding 10 more in the second to win 17-2 by technical fall.
The A/C senior finished in fourth and picked up 36.5 points.
Aiden Burt went 1-3 in his matches in the 285-pound weight class to finish in 14th and Christian Satey suffered a pair of losses in his two bouts on Saturday.
Auburndale Quad
Abbotsford/Colby went 1-2 in a quad against Auburndale, Stratford and Athens last Thursday evening.
The co-op fell 65-10 to Auburndale and 69-6 against Stratford. Jakel earned two of the three wins that Abby/Colby managed against the two clubs, defeating the Eagles’ Brennen Welch by an 11-1 major decision and Stratford’s Lucas Forrest by fall at the 4:39 mark. Smazal picked up the only other win for the co-op squad, defeating Auburndale’s Coleman Becker by fall in the second period.
A 36-24 victory over Athens was more a numbers game than anything. There were four double forfeited weightclasses and another eight matches that were decided by forfeit. Only Jakel and Eyan Cortista wrestled against opponents during the dual and neither match made it out of the first round. Jakel earned his third victory of the day by downing Athens’ Dale Felix at the 0:29 mark and Cortista lost by fall against the Bluejays’ Evin Passehl.
