A/C takes on Oskhosh, Shawano tourneys

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Abbotsford/Colby wrestling team had two separate tournaments this past Saturday. The boys team traveled to Oshkosh for the Wildcat Invite while the girls squad made the trip to Shawano for the Shawano Holiday Classic. In a series of five dual meets, the co-op took seventh out of 10 teams while the girls team earned 46.0 team points to take ninth out of 22 teams.

The boys faced off against the hosting Oshkosh West squad in their first dual of the meet. The Wildcats started out with two victories, but Jacob Hoppe got Abby/ Colby on the board with a win by fall in the first round over Zarch Bartels. Four forfeits over the next five weight classes by the co-op allowed Oshkosh to take a commanding lead, however.

Tristen Smazal and Matt Jakel helped the situation with first round pins of their own, defeating Yylah Yang and Colden Searles, but two more forfeits and a win for Oshkosh West in the final matchup gave the Wildcats a dominant 60-18 victory.

The co-op bounced back in their second dual, facing off against Xavier. While the Hawks picked up a win early, a forfeit coupled with a win by fall for Ricardo Nava Rojas over Aaron VandenHuevel put Abby/Colby ahead.

A dominant performance on the back end allowed the co-op to pick up the win. Alix Colby defeated Carson Tylinski by a 15-0 technical fall, Jakel pinned Dante Vargas at the 1:13 mark, and Smazal, Xavier Hoppe and Christian Satey all picked up forfeit victories for Abby/ Colby, allowing them to take the dual 4124.

A closely contested matchup with D.C. Everest awaited the co-op in the next round. Jacob Hoppe started things off with a win by pinning Zeke Lehrke, but the Evergreens tied things up as Andrew Hettinga notched a win over Nava Rojas. Forfeit wins for Abby/Colby pushed them back ahead and Jakel pulled off his third straight win by fall, this time defeating Blake Williams.

D.C. Everest rallied late, however. While Satey won with a third-period pin over Preston Weitz, Xavier Hoppe, Gilbert Sundermeyer, and Isaac Sundermeyer fell in their matches. A forfeit for the co-op in the 150 pound weight class tipped the scales in the Evergreens’ favor and they defeated Abby/Colby 35-30.

This set up a battle with Sheboygan North in the next round. Smazal, Colby, and Jakel pulled off three straight victories in the middle of the match to pull even with the Golden Raiders. Smazal dominated his match, winning by technical fall 17-1 over Noah Gonzales, and Colby and Jakel both posted first round pins over Victor Hernandez and Dan Giambrone.

While Satey picked up a victory over Laindyn Markham in the 165 pound weight class and the co-op earned one more forfeit win, they could not quite keep up with their opponents down the stretch, falling 41-29.

The loss placed the Abby/Colby squad in the seventh place match, where they faced off against Appleton East.

A trio of early forfeits gave the Patriots an early advantage, but Smazal got Abby/ Colby on the board with an early pin of Paul Martin. Jakel followed up with a victory by fall over Xander Schiltz at the 3:18 mark and Colby added a third straight win for the co-op by defeating Hayden Rossey by fall in the first round of his match.

Xander Hoppe and Satey both won forfeits for Abby/Colby to extend their lead, and while Appleton East made a comeback with two straight victories of their own, Jacob Hoppe closed the door with a win over Cian Braun in the 215 pound weight class, pinning his opponent at the 1:47 mark. A forfeit win for Nava Rojas sealed the deal and gave the co-op seventh place with a 42-30 victory.

Smazal, Jakel and Jacob Hoppe all were 5-0 in their matches, with Jakel having an especially strong day by pinning all five of his opponents and taking no forfeit victories. Colby also was undefeated, going 4-0 with one forfeit win, two pins and a win by technical fall.

Meanwhile, the girls had a strong showing in Shawano. Allyson Blasel continued her impressive start to her high school career by remaining undefeated this season, picking up four more wins and her third tournament victory.

Blasel pinned all four of her opponents during Saturday’s round robin tournament in the 185 pound weight class. She quickly dispatched Maeli Lavache of Appleton West and Green Bay West’s Gabriela Staeven in her first two matches of the day, winning by fall in the first period in both.

While it took a bit longer for her to earn her win over Lucy Beyer of Seymour, Blasel was still in control for most of the bout. She raked up seven points in the first round before quickly collecting five more in the second and then pinning Beyer at the 2:04 mark.

Her toughest opponent of the day came in her final match, where she faced off against Bonduel’s Alisha Berg. Berg opened the contest with an early takedown and took a 3-0 lead into the second period. Blasel answered with a takedown of her own midway through the second, but a reversal and four-point nearfall for Berg gave her a commanding 9-3 lead heading into the final set.

Looking to extend that advantage by hoping to score a reversal or escape, the Bonduel wrestler opted to start the next round on bottom, a decision that Blasel made her pay for. The Abby/Colby freshman used her starting position to work a match-saving pin within the first 20 seconds and earn herself another first place finish. The victory earned Abby/Colby 18.0 team points.

Meanwhile, Makenna Herrmann put forth a top-three performance of her own, grabbing third and 25.0 team points in the 132-pound weight class.

Starting off with a 20-2 technical fall win over Peshtigo’s Natalie Haynes, Herrmann moved on to the quarterfinals where she faced off against Appleton West’s Gabby Ardeneaux. She took down Ardeneaux three times in the first round, finally pinning her at the 1:52 mark and earning herself a spot in the semifinals.

Herrmann could not find much to work with against Brillion’s Sevanna Hoyer and Hoyer was able to earn the win with a pin at the 2:32 mark. The Abby/Colby senior then moved into the consolation bracket, where she defeated Ayanna O’Kimosh of Shawana by fall in the second period. The win set her up with a match against Oshkosh West’s Samatha Bryant in the third place match.

Herrmann dominated the affair. After taking an early 3-0 lead after the first period, an escape, takedown and three-point nearfall in the second period had her up 10-1 heading into the final round. While Bryant managed an escape to start the third, Herrmann recorded another takedown and a four-point nearfall to take a 17-2 technical fall victory and earned herself third place.

The wrestling teams will be back in action this coming Friday and Saturday for a two-day tournament in River Falls. The start time for both days is set for 7 a.m.

2024-25 ABBOTSFORD/COLBY WRESTLING TEAM - This year’s 2024-25 Abby/Colby girls and boys wrestling squads have battled through three tournaments already this season. The boys placed seventh at the Wildcat Invite in Oshkosh while the girls took ninth in the Shawano Holiday Classic this past Saturday.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD