Smazal picks up 100th win in River Falls
By Nathaniel Underwood
Tristen Smazal picked up his 100th win of his career over this past weekend as the Abbotsford/Colby wrestling teams traveled to River Falls for the Northern Badger Classic. The girls team took 13th out of 30 teams with 50.0 points while the boys squad placed 17th out of 44 teams at the event with 99.0 team points.
Hitting the 100-win milestone was just the latest accomplishment for Smazal, adding to an already impressive list of high school achievements. As a freshman, a strong run late in the season propelled him to a state berth as he took first at the Cloverbelt Conference meet, second at the Division 2 regional, and third at the sectional meet in Amery.
Last season, Smazal added a trio of second place regular season tournament finishes and a first at the 2024 Ladysmith Invitational before picking up his second Cloverbelt Conference title. He then won the regional tournament in Medford before coming up just short of his second state berth by taking fourth at the sectional meet in Tomahawk. He has a pair of third place finishes so far this season and picked up a fifth-place finish in River Falls on Saturday, his best result at the meet of his career.
Smazal started his day off with a pair of victories. He quickly pinned Prescott’s Brayden Sanford and Osceola’s Travis Sicard, both wins coming in the first period, in consecutive matches to move on to the quarterfinals. There he met Marathon’s Cale Quaintance, who had just one loss on the season heading into their bout. Neither could get an upper hand in the first round and Smazal was able to get on the board first with an early escape in the second period. However, it was all Quaintance afterwards, as a pair of takedowns and a twopoint nearfall put him up 8-2 heading into the third. Two more takedowns in the final period secured the Marathon wrestler’s 15-3 win and relegated Smazal to the consolation bracket.
His first opponent there was Glenwood City’s Logan McVeigh. The two were evenly matched through the first two rounds, but McVeigh’s escape in the second gave him a 1-0 lead heading into the final period. A quick reversal by Smazal to start the round gave him a brief lead, but his opponent escaped to knot things back up. A key takedown by the A/C junior with less than a minute left turned things back in his favor and he was able to secure a 5-2 decision and move on.
Smazal’s next match against Riley Cummings of the Luck/Frederic/Grantsburg/ Siren co-op followed a similar pattern to his last two bouts. While Cummings was able to take the lead with a takedown in the first period, Smazal completely dominated the rest of the affair. He rattled off 15 straight points, including nine in the third period, to take a 15-3 major decision victory.
A 14-4 major decision loss to River Falls’ Oliver Larson pushed Smazal to the fifth place match, where he faced off against Ivan Woodhall of Northwestern. It was yet another major decision, but this time in favor of the A/C junior as he used a trio of takedowns and a four-point nearfall to defeat Woodhall 14-3. The performance earned the co-op 28.0 team points.
Jacob Hoppe also notched a fifth place finish for Abby/Colby at the two-day tournament, doing so in the 190-pound category.
After a first round bye, Hoppe picked up a first round pin of Northwestern’s Bryce Ronchi to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. There he faced up against eventual runnerup Brock Swenson of St. Croix Central, who knocked the A/C senior down to the consolation bracket with a win by fall.
In his first consolation bracket match, Hoppe dominated. He earned three takedowns and a three-point nearfall against Mondovi/Eleva-Strum’s Alex Coffey in the first period and then picked up the technical fall victory in the second after notching a quick takedown and a fourpoint nearfall. He then defeated Phillips’ Ayron Deleasky by fall to get to the consolation bracket semi-finals.
With a spot at the third place match on the line, Hoppe battled Hayward’s Deangelo Sardina past regulation. A late takedown in the first period put Hoppe ahead and another takedown in the second gave him a 6-2 lead heading into the third round. An early escape put him up 7-2, but a pair of takedowns from Sardina in the final 70 seconds allowed him to force an overtime period. Sardina scored the first takedown of extra time, giving the Hayward wrestler the 11-8 decision.
Hoppe then faced off against Shell Lake’s Brock Naessen in his final bout of the day. A takedown in the second put Hoppe ahead, but a four-point nearfall in the third nearly tipped the scales in Naessen favor. The A/C senior managed not only to avoid the pin but also escape entirely and then earned a takedown not long after to seal his 7-4 victory. His fifth place finish earned the co-op 29.5 team points.
Matt Jakel went 3-3 in the 138-pound weight class and placed eighth overall, grabbing 20.0 team points. The junior toppled Cadott’s Monte Lodahl and Shell Lake’s Tanner Bandoli in the first two rounds, earning himself a spot in the quarterfinals. De Pere’s Mycah Beckett was a formidable opponent and was able to pin Jakel in the second period to relegate him to the consolation bracket.
In his first consolation match, Jakel faced off against Cumberland’s Nathan Swint. While the two played to a near draw after two periods, with a late takedown by Jakel the sole points scored, the A/C junior rattled off eight points in the final round to take an 11-0 major decision over Swint.
While Jakel scored seven points in his next match against Regis/Altoona’s Jacob Lootans, he was not able to move on after Lootans was able to earn the win by fall. Jakel then had to forfeit his seventh place match, giving him eighth place.
Alix Colby went 4-3 over the weekend, placing 10th in the 132-pound weight class and earning 18.5 team points. A pin of Black River Falls’ Deacon Brown earned him his first win of the tournament but a match up with St. Croix Central’s Will Schmitt did not go in his favor as he fell 17-2 and was bounced to the consolation bracket. A win by fall over Flambeau’s Quentin Zach and a 19-2 technical fall victory against Kellen Blanchette of Cadott kept Colby alive, but he was not able to notch a point against St. Croix Falls’ Dominic Viebrock.
He then had to face off against Chase Lindner of Neillsville-Greenwood-Loyal. A takedown in the first period put Colby ahead and while Lindner was able to escape, Colby finished the job in the second period, earning a four-point nearfall before pinning his opponent.
In a battle for ninth place, Colby was paired against River Falls’ Rieder Loomis. Loomis was able to jump out to a nine point lead, but a reversal at the end of the second period got Colby on the board. A penalty on Loomis in the third was quickly followed by a reversal from Colby, which he nearly turned into a pin. The River Falls wrestler was narrowly able to avoid it,
See 100TH WIN/ Page 14
TOP-FIVE FINISHES - Tristen Smazal, left, picks up a first round victory over Prescott’s Brayden Sanford on Friday during the Northern Badger Classic wrestling tournament held in River Falls. He took fifth place in the tournament and earned his 100th career victory. Jacob Hoppe, pictured right, after winning his bout at Oshkosh West’s Wildcat Invite, also took fifth place at the River Falls tournament.
SUBMITTED PHOTOS 100th win
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however, giving Colby a four-point nearfall instead. Loomis then quickly earned a reversal and used the position to pin Colby, cutting his late rally short.
On the girls side, Allyson Blasel and Makenna Herrmann earned a pair of top-two finishes.
Blasel remains undefeated this season, running her record to 16-0 after taking first place in the 185-pound weight class. The freshman only needed to win two matches to earn her title in River Falls and she made quick work of both her opponents.
Her first match of the day saw her facing off against Unity’s Liberty Freer in the first round. Blasel earned a takedown in the first five seconds of the match and then pinned her opponent at the 0:27 mark to move on to the championship match.
There, she faced Bella Wright of Turtle Lake/Clayton. It was a similar story for Blasel in the title match as a quick takedown of Wright turned into a pin under a minute into the bout. Her first place finish earned Abby/Colby 26.0 team points.
Herrmann went 2-1 on the day in the 126-pound category. After taking a first round bye, Herrmann faced off against St. Croix Central’s Candence Trudell. While Trudell proved somewhat elusive, earning two escapes, Herrmann kept up the pressure early and, after her third takedown of the first period, she pinned her opponent and moved on.
In the semifinals, she faced off against Cassidy Lindner of Rhinelander. Herrmann held control over the affair, earning five points in the first round before turning a second round takedown into a pin. The victory earned her a spot in the championship bout, where she would face off against Regis/ Altoona’s Jaelyn Bowe. While the pair were deadlocked through most of the first round, Bowe was able to use a late takedown and then ended the title match with a pin.
The co-op will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 9 when they host Cadott and Spencer/Columbus for a conference triangular. The competition will begin at 5:30 p.m.
