LAKELAND CONFERENCE WRESTLING - Angell, Madlon pin down titles at Lakeland Conference meet

LAKELAND CONFERENCE WRESTLING

Taydyn Angell took care of business as expected at 215 pounds, three more members of the Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe Wolfpack earned top-four placements and the team’s girls were first and second at Saturday’s 2025 Lakeland Conference Tournament.

The Wolfpack finished sixth in the team standings of the boys’ side of the tournament, held at Turtle Lake High School, while the girls were fifth.

The Luck Co-op won the boys team championship, barely squeaking by host Turtle Lake-Clayton 166-164.5. Unity was third with 151 points, Shell Lake took fourth with 128 points and Clear Lake, who went 7-0 in the conference duals, did not have a full roster available and slid to fifth Saturday with 93.5 points.

With 62 points, the Wolfpack finished ahead of Flambeau (49.5) and Bruce (16).

Angell, now 32-2 for the year, had no trouble in his five-man, 215-pound bracket. In the semifinals, he pinned Shell Lake’s Jackson Melton in 1:15 and in the title bout, he pinned Flambeau’s Jakob Taylor in 1:56.

Angell completed an unbeaten season in the conference and improved upon his second-place finish in last year’s tournament.

First-year senior Lee Zagorski (14-13) went 2-1 for the day and placed third at 285 pounds, a bracket that had five wrestlers. He lost by pin in 1:52 to eventual champion Cain Casarez of Turtle Lake/ Clayton in the semifinals, but came back with a win by pin in 3:27 over the Luck Coop’s Brett Bartlett in the consolation semifinals. Zagorski was down 4-0 in the second period, but a reversal and two near falls put him in control at 10-4. He got a reversal to start the third period and turned that into the pin.

That win sent Zagorski to the thirdplace match, where he pinned Shell Lake’s Jameson Buckridge off the first takedown in 56 seconds.

Senior Preston Fredrickson was fourth of five wrestlers at 150 pounds. He won his opener with a pin in 55 seconds over Nolan Herwick, a freshman from the Luck Co-op. Fredrickson ran into Clear Lake’s Cayden Paulson (21-4) in the semifinals and was pinned in 3:14. In the third-place match, Fredrickson (7-10) was pinned at the 3:00 mark by Shell Lake senior Briar Naglosky (22-8).

First-year sophomore Lucas Halida (13-14) was fourth out of six wrestlers at 132 pounds. He got off to a good start by earning a 10-2 major decision over Turtle Lake-Clayton’s Lincoln Grosskreutz, earning a takedown in each period. Eventual champion Brennon Colbeth of Clear Lake (33-13) defeated Halida with a 16-0 technical fall in the semifinals.

Halida came back with a pin in 2:25 over Flambeau’s Quentin Zach to earn a spot in the third-place match. There, Halida was pinned in 2:40 by Shell Lake junior Liam Hammond.

First-year junior Sawyer Winger (3-7) lost both of his matches at 157 pounds. Carter Daugherty defeated him in the quarterfinals with a 17-2 technical fall. The Luck Co-op’s Eric Currie then beat him him by pin in 2:33.

In the girls tournament, Kaitlyn Madlon won the 152-pound championship, beating both of the bracket’s other competitors. She pinned Lorelei Haaf of Unity in 1:13, leading 11-2 at the time of the pin. Madlon then pinned the Luck Co-op’s Delanie Vindish for the title in 3:31. She had been in total control, leading 10-1 at the time of the pin.

After the meet, Madlon was voted as the girls tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler and earned the Most Pins award.

At 114 pounds, Aspen Person went 1-1 to take second out of three entrants. Off her second takedown of the first period, she pinned Unity’s Persayiss Tucker in 1:39. In the match for the title, Clear Lake’s Jordyn Perry earned a 12-1 major decision.

The two girls combined for 42 points to put the Wolfpack ahead of Bruce (22) in the team standings. Unity won the team title easily with 160 points, followed by Clear Lake (76.5), the Luck Co-op (76) and Turtle Lake-Clayton (46).

The conference meet brought the regular season to a close and turns the team’s focus to the WIAA post-season.

The girls will compete in the WIAA Merrill regional Friday with competition Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe wrestlers earned weight class championships Saturday at the Lakeland Conference tournament in Turtle Lake. Taydyn Angell easily won the 215-pound bracket with a pair of pins. Kaitlyn Madlon won the girls 152-pound weight class with two pins. She was named the tournament’s top wrestler while earning the award for most pins as well.

set to start at 4 p.m. at the Merrill High School fieldhouse. The boys will head to Edgar for the WIAA Division 3 regional, which will get underway at 10 a.m. The top four finishers in each weight class at each meet will advance to the sectional meets. For the girls, that’s in Ladysmith on Feb. 21 and for the boys, it’s also at Ladysmith on Feb. 22.