MEDFORD WRESTLING - Some solid results at Arcadia; Raiders’ GNC streak snapped

MEDFORD WRESTLING

Four Medford wrestlers placed in the top five of their weight classes and there were some other nice wins sprinkled in Saturday during an 11th-place team finish at the Arcadia Raider Challenge.

Seniors Paxton Rothmeier and Parker Lissner led the Raiders by taking third and fourth at 175 and 150 pounds, respectively. Senior Nick Malchow and sophomore Jordan Lavin were fifth-place finishers at 113 and 126 pounds.

The Raiders scored 202.5 team points to finish ahead of Onalaska (196), Independence-Gilmanton (194.5), Mosinee (192.5) and four other teams in the 18-team tournament. Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro won the tournament fairly comfortably with 511 points. Menomonie (394), Cadott (383), St. Croix Central (372.5) and Arcadia (351) filled out the top five.

In most weight classes, pool matches determined the placement pool wrestlers finished their days in.

At 175, Rothmeier put himself into the championship pool by starting the day 30. He needed just 11 seconds to pin Garet Bouzek of Independence-Gilmanton, pinned Aiydan Sonnentag of Cadott in 1:12 and pinned Boyceville’s Liam Moore in 1:00.

In the championship semifinals Rothmeier, now 17-3, lost a 17-4 major decision to 25-11 Braden Peterson of GET/ MM. He came back in the third-place match with a pin in 2:45 over Onalaska’s Carter Beeler. He led 10-1 at the time of the pin.

Lissner sits at 22-16 after his 3-2 day at 150 pounds. He got into the championship bracket with a 3-0 start. He pinned Blake Slaby of Independence-Gilmanton in 48 seconds, pinned Boyceville’s Alex Obermueller in 4:15 and stuck Brookwood’s Kai Pyykkonen, who is 17-10, in 4:23.

In the title bracket, Cadott’s Jon Phelps, who is 29-9, stopped Lissner’s momentum with a 13-4 major decision. Two firstperiod takedowns put Lissner in a deficit he couldn’t get out from. Scott Johnson of GET/MM took the third-place with a 14-0 major decision.

At 126 pounds, Lavin (16-18) went 2-1 in his opening pool to wrestle in the fifththrough eighth-place bracket. He pinned Connor McDonnell of the GET/MM reserves in 37 seconds and Mason Fleming of Mosinee in 33 seconds but got pinned in 2:35 by 27-4 Bailey Casey of Menomonie.

Lavin took care of business in the placement bracket, winning his semifinal by technical fall 21-5 over Kickapoo’s Rhonan Culver and then pinning Arcadia’s Andy Monroy in 1:59 for fifth.

There were just seven wrestlers in the 113-pound weight class. Malchow went 1-2 in his opening pool, pinning Rylan Kirschbuam of River Ridge in 24 seconds, losing 10-7 in a good match with 18-6 Daimian Drozd of Minnetonka, Minn. and getting pinned by Arcadia’s Ony Zaragoza.

That put him in the fifth-place match where he pinned Brookwood’s Micheal Godlewski in 2:35. He had gotten off to a strong 9-0 lead before finishing it off.

At 190 pounds, Ashton Noland was one of three wrestlers to go 2-1 in his initial pool, but the tiebreaker process sent him to the ninth- through 12th-place bracket. He got a 10-7 overtime win over junior Nolan Snegosky of St. Croix Central, rallying from a 7-1 deficit to tie it and then winning it with a takedown with 10 seconds left in the 60-second suddenvictory period. Noland stuck Austin Fernholz of Arcadia in 4:59. His chance to get to the title pool was dashed with a 3-1 loss to Boyceville’s Cole Retz, who got that spot thanks to a first-period takedown.

A win by pin over Onalaska’s Dayton Heintz in 4:55 guaranteed Noland of 10th place. He ended by getting pinned in 56 seconds in the ninth-place match by Arcadia’s Angel Garcia.

Levi Zuleger was 10th at 144 pounds. He went 1-2 in his pool, getting a pin in 1:37 over Brayden Kubis of Cochrane-Fountain City. He went on to get a 5-2 win over Onalaska’s Sam Sulentic with a firstperiod takedown and third-period reversal. Mason Leirmo of Mondovi/ Eleva-Strum pinned Zuleger in 1:47 in the ninth-place match.

Ian Stickney was 11th at 215 pounds. He went 1-2 in his initial pool, earning a pin in 3:08 over Alan Niblet of Cadott. He lost his first match in the placement pool, getting pinned in 2:27 by Daniel Segerstrom of Mondovi/Eleva-Strum but won the 11thplace match with a pin in 2:13 over Austin Jaskiewicz of the GET/MM reserves.

Preston Lyman at 120 pounds and Corey McVicker at 132 pounds were 14thplace finishers with 1-4 records. Lyman’s win was a pin in 2:24 over Minnetonka’s Jacob Galow. McVicker’s win was an 8-2 decision over Tharyn Tande of Mondovi/ Eleva-Strum.

Jackson Mayer placed 15th at 285 pounds after four losses by pin and Arhlen Lekie placed 16th at 138 pounds after five losses by pin.

JV State Finals

Also on Saturday, Medford’s Ayden Tyznik competed in the Wisconsin Wrestling Association JV State Finals at Wausau West. He got to the semifinals before placing sixth out of 24 wrestlers in the 113-pound bracket.

Tyznik got out to a 3-0 start in the competition. After piling up three near falls, he pinned Peyton Tonkinson of Whitnall-Greendale in 1:26 in his first match. Tyznik followed that up with a pin in 1:25 over Hunter Wilkinson of Riverdale. Wilkinson got the first takedown, but Tyznik reversed him and stuck him. In the quarterfinals, Tyznik dominated Holmen’s Conley Vogel with a 15-1 major decision.

With a trip to the championship at stake in the semifinals, Tyznik ran into a tough customer in eventual champion Kaiden DeGroot of Kaukauna, who beat Tyznik in a 15-0 technical fall.

Holmen’s Jin Xiong downed Tyznik 158 in the consolation semifinal, dropping Tyznik to the fifth-place match where he was beaten 10-4 by Wausau West’s Brent Jennejohn.

Two GNC losses

Medford’s historic run of 28 straight dual-meet wins in Great Northern Conference competition ended Thursday with losses to Antigo and Rhinelander in a GNC quad at Rhinelander.

The Red Robins took a 25-0 lead in the first dual and held off a Medford run in the back half of the meet to win it 40-27 and end the streak. Antigo was also the last school to beat Medford in a GNC dual, 4330 back on Jan. 10, 2019.

Ayden Tyznik got Medford’s rally started with a forfeit win at 113 pounds. Nick Malchow pinned Red Robin Mason Walrath in 1:15 at 120 pounds and Jordan Lavin pinned Jonathan Wissbroecker in 3:50 for a good win at 126 pounds to pull the Raiders within 25-18.

Jack Sundermeyer slowed the run, getting a pin over Raider Corey McVicker at 132 pounds. Ahrlen Lekie took a forfeit at 138 pounds and Levi Zuleger earned a 4-3 decision in a close 144-pound match to pull Medford within 31-27 with two matches left.

But one of the Robins’ top wrestlers, Jayson Arrowood handled Medford’s Domanic Spencer in the 150-pound match, pinning him in 52 seconds. Levi Binversie knocked off Parker Lissner in an 8-5 decision at 157 pounds to close it out.

Early in the meet, another of Antigo’s best wrestlers got the better of one of Medford’s best when Nolan Kielcheski earned a 15-4 major decision over Paxton Rothmeier at 175 pounds. A tight 4-3 win for Antigo’s Caleb Vandenlangenberg over Ashton Noland at 190 pounds also wound up being a key swing. Jordy Pregler pinned Medford’s Ian Stickney in 1:22 at 215 pounds, Johanan Taylor pinned Forest Hartl in 3:36 at 285 pounds and Medford forfeited to Joseph Stimac to start the dual at 165 pounds. There was a double forfeit at 106 pounds.

A 41-36 loss to the host Hodags went the opposite direction. Medford led 30-12 midway through, but Rhinelander took advantage of Medford’s youth on the back end and won five of the last six matches to take the dual.

Rothmeier took a forfeit at 175 to start the meet, but that was matched by a pin by senior Logan Schwinger over Noland, a freshman, in 18 seconds. Stickney turned a third-period reversal into a pin at 4:26 to end what had been a close match with Rhienlander’s Shayden Hylleberg. But Hodag’s strong heavyweight Reid Schultz countered with a quick 36-second pin over Medford freshman Jackson Mayer.

After a double forfeit at 106, Tyznik gave Medford the lead by pinning Trevor Denton in 1:22 at 113 pounds. Malchow stuck Grady Debay in just 30 seconds at 120 pounds and Lavin stuck Ivan Loka in just 47 seconds at 126 to give the Raiders their 18-point lead.

But Rhinelander’s comeback started with Hoyt Dantoin earning a 15-0 technical fall over McVicker in the 132pound match. Avrom Barr led 13-0 before pinning Lekie at 3:05 at 138 pounds. Tony Boldt’s pin of Zuleger in 1:37 in the 144pound bout got the Hodags within 30-29.

Gage Anderson pinned Spencer in 1:26 at 150 pounds to give Rhinelander the lead and essentially clinch the dual as the Hodags knew they were getting a forfeit at 165. Parker Lissner recovered after allowing the first takedown and pinned Dresden Klaver in 2:30 to win the 157pound match.

Antigo and Rhinelander both beat Lakeland in their other dual meets in Thursday’s quad.

Now 1-2 in the GNC, Medford will close out the dual-meet portion of the season tonight, Thursday. A third attempt will be made to get in the GNC quad at Lakeland after weather postponements. The Raiders will face Tomahawk (3-0) in the first round at 6:30 p.m. and Mosinee (1-2) in the second round.

Lakeland is set to host the GNC championship tournament on Saturday, Feb. 8.