MEDFORD WRESTLING - Rothmeier a champ at Chi-Hi; wrestlers get first GNC win
MEDFORD WRESTLING
Paxton Rothmeier took the 175-pound championship, Parker Lissner was third at 157 pounds and Ashton Noland cracked the top five at 190 pounds during the Medford Raiders’ seventh-place team finish at Saturday’s Chippewa Falls Invitational.
Fourteen wrestlers combined to score 157.5 team points as the young squad continued to get important mat time and learn as the bulk of the Great Northern Conference season is still ahead of them and the WIAA post-season isn’t too far off in the horizon either.
The Raiders outscored Spring Valley-Elmwood (156), Edgar (94), Prescott (58) and New Lisbon (30) in the 11-team tournament, which was won by New Richmond with 311 points. West Salem-Bangor was 11 points behind the Tigers. Chippewa Falls (264), Regis-Altoona (231), Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm (214.5) and Tomah (184) rounded out the top six.
Rothmeier’s first tournament win of the season was earned with five wins, all by pin, in a 10-man bracket at 175.
In his five-man pool, Rothmeier (12-2) pinned West Salem-Bangor’s Kaden Langrehr in 49 seconds, Kody Steivang of Chippewa Falls in 40 seconds, Cayden Riley of Prescott in 33 seconds and Adam Wilhelm of New Richmond in 54 seconds. His 4-0 pool record put Rothmeier in the championship match, where he needed just 1:10 to pin West Salem-Bangor’s Caden Anderson, who is 21-8.
In a nine-man 157-pound bracket, Lissner went 2-1 in his pool. He pinned Riley Maier of Chippewa Falls in 3:39 and earned a 20-4 technical fall over Regis-Altoona’s Ryder Parker. He got to the 15point threshold in 5:36. With a spot in the championship on the line, West Salem-Bangor’s Nick Griffin (9-7) took a 16-3 major decision. Lissner got the first takedown, but Griffin took control from there.
That sent Lissner (18-14) to the thirdplace match, where he pinned Regis-Altoona’s Gregory Troisi in 4:51.
In the eight-man 190-pound bracket, Noland went 1-2 in his initial pool, pinning RJ Quinn of Spring Valley-Elmwood in 56 seconds for his win. In the fifth-place bout, Noland pinned Liam O’Brien of West Salem-Bangor in 3:21.
Ayden Tyznik and Ian Stickney were sixth in their weight classes. At 113 pounds, Tyznik went 2-2 in his pool with a pin in 1:23 over Brayton Cooksey of Chippewa Falls and a pin in 1:01 over Blake Shilts of Regis/Altoona. Tyznik lost a close 4-2 decision to Spiro Butler of Chippewa Falls in the fifth-place match with a third-period takedown being the difference.
Stickney went 2-2 in his 215-pound pool, pinning Isaac Arentz of West Salem-Bangor in 1:32 and Jackson Monk of Regis-Altoona in 56 seconds. In the fifthplace match, Ryan Schutte of Chippewa Falls won by pin in 4:18.
Nick Malchow finished seventh at 120 pounds. The senior went 1-2 in the early rounds, getting a pin in 3:07 over Edgar’s Brendan Imhoff. From there he went into the bracket to determine fifth through eighth place. He pinned Tomah’s Kael Finch and then was pinned by West Salem-Bangor’s Ryan Arntson in 1:25.
Preston Lyman also competed at 120 pounds for Medford. After an 0-3 start, he went to the bracket to determine ninth through 12th place. He pinned Imhoff in 3:17 and then was pinned by Landon Miller of Regis/Altoona in 2:25 to finish 11th.
Jordan Lavin finished eighth in the 126pound weight class. In his pool, Lavin was 1-3, pinning Prescott’s Brayden Sanford in 1:53. He then went to the seventh-place match, where he was pinned in 1:46 by Jacob Marek of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/ Prairie Farm. Jackson Mayer was another eighth-place finisher for Medford. At 285 pounds, the freshman went 1-3 in his pool, earning a pin in 1:15 over Prescott’s Austin Hughes. He got pinned in the seventhplace match in 2:20 by John Norberg of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm. Forest Hartl was ninth for Medford in the weight class. He went 0-4 in his pool but finished his day with a pin in 31 seconds over Hughes in the ninth-place match.
At 132 pounds, Medford’s Corey McVicker was credited with a ninth-place forfeit win over teammate Ahrlen Lekie. Both went 0-4 in their pools. At 138 pounds, Domanic Spencer went 0-4 and placed ninth. Levi Zuleger finished 10th at 144 pounds. He was 1-3 in contested matches, earning a pin in 3:50 over Gracey O’Brien of New Lisbon. He led 7-0 at the time of the pin.
Losiewicz 3rd at West
At the Wausau West Warrior Women’s Challenge Saturday, Medford sophomore Avery Losiewicz placed third out of 18 wrestlers in the 138-pound Gold bracket.
As the second seed, Losiewicz (23-5) drew a first-round bye and then pinned Hortonville’s McKenzie Spaay in 1:46 to advance to the quarterfinals. There, she needed just 38 seconds to pin 21-8 Katelyn Ottosen ofWaunakee.
But in the semifinals, Monroe’s Althea Eckdhal (32-6) got the first takedown and tacked on a near fall for a 5-0 first-period lead. Losiewicz got back into the match when she started the second period with a takedown, but an escape and takedown sealed a 9-3 win for the third-seeded Eckdhal, who went on to lose the title match to 20-0 Lillie Banks of Menasha by pin in 3:19.
Losiewicz ended her day on a high note, pinning 21-4 and fifth-seeded Leah Lawrence of Wisconsin Lutheran in 2:32, turning a reverse into the match-ending pin after Lawrence had taken a 3-0 firstperiod lead.
Medford 41, Lakeland 20
Medford got its first GNC dual win Thursday, taking care of Lakeland 41-20 on Senior Night and Parents’ Night at Raider Hall.
The Raiders got pins from four wrestlers, a technical fall from Tyznik and two forfeit wins to win fairly comfortably in just their second and final home meet of the regular season.
“It was really good,” Medford head coach Brandon Marcis said. “I’m always worried about forfeits and we actually got two forfeits on them, which I did not expect because at the beginning of the season they had about 25 guys on their rosters. I know all teams face that, wrestling is a grind. I’m just really proud of these kids. I thought they wrestled really good.”
Stickney, a freshman, got Medford’s first pin at 215 pounds, answering a 15-0 technical fall T-Bird Kenny Thompson had gotten over Noland at 190 to start the dual.
Stickney took down Zac Amershek quickly, kept him down through the first period and got a four-point near fall at the edge of the mat to end the period. Amershek got in on Stickney’s leg and took him down to start the second period, but Stickney quickly reversed him, turned him and stuck him at 2:53.
“Ian came through and got the momentum going for us,” Marcis said. “I thought he wrestled really good. He did some really nice technical things that we’ve been working on in practice, like head position and good hand fighting and chasing his angles. I thought he did a really nice job on that.”
Tyznik got a quick takedown and near fall in the first period for a 7-1 lead and dominated from there in his 20-5 technical fall over Evan Hastreiter in the 113-pound match. He finished it at 5:43. Malchow, on his Senior Night, followed that up by pinning James Stelzel in 3:13 at 120 pounds to give Medford a 17-11 lead. Malchow got two four-point near falls to lead 12-2 after one period. He was taken down in the second period and was in trouble for a couple of seconds, giving up a four-point near fall, but he got a reversal and finished it.
“I thought Tizzy turned a little corner tonight,” Marcis said. “We kinda changed up a couple things that he’s doing on his feet and its seems to be working for him. When Tizzy does good on the feet, I think the matches go really well for him. Nick Malchow had a nice showing. He has senior pride and I’ve really noticed the last couple weeks that he’s been wrestling like a mad man. He chased his angle really nice. He gets in these little scramble situations and now he has the experience where he winds up on top.”
Lavin needed just 1:16 to pin Lakeland’s Landon Gray-Ives at 126 pounds. Lissner’s final home match ended with a pin of Lakeland’s Kade Elm in 5:53 at 150 pounds. He led 6-0 after one period and got it to 14-1 through two periods with two more takedowns.
“Parker did very well,” Marcis said. “He wrestled a decent kid. The kid was strong. Parker this year in general has been showing us a lot of technique. Parker knows more moves than anybody on the team.”
Rothmeier ended the meet by taking a forfeit at 175 pounds. Spencer earned a forfeit at 138.
The closest match of the meet came at 144 pounds. Zuleger, a freshman, came all the way back from a 6-1 deficit against Seth LaBarge. The wrestlers started the third period in neutral position. Zuleger rolled through a potential takedown by LaBarge and was the one who gained control for three points. After LaBarge escaped, Zuleger fought off another low shot from LaBarge and got on top for three more points and a 7-7 tie. LaBarge got out with 45 seconds left and held on from there 8-7.
“We’ll get that kid at conference,” Marcis said. “If we see him again, I like that matchup.”
At 285 pounds, Hartl made his season debut coming off a football injury and was pinned by Lakeland’s Tyrone Moore in 1:45. Still, his addition should be a lift for the Raiders going forward.
“Forest just starting practicing at the beginning of January,” Marcis said. “I know the more practice time he gets the more we’re going to see the true Forest. We’ll get his conditioning back, sharpen up his technique and he’ll be there.”
T-Bird Charlie Ernst pinned McVicker in 2:30 at 132 pounds. There were double forfeits at 106, 157 and 165 pounds.
Up next
Great Northern Conference competition got pushed back again Tuesday when a quad at Lakeland was postponed for a second time this season. It will now be held Jan. 30 at 6:30 p.m. Medford will face Tomahawk and Mosinee in that quad.
Instead, Medford’s first GNC quad takes place tonight, Thursday, at Rhinelander at 6:30 p.m. The Raiders will face Antigo and the host Hodags in dual meets.
In between the GNC quads, Medford will make its annual trek to the Arcadia Challenge on Saturday. Wrestling begins there at 9:30 a.m.
