WIAA GIRLS/DIV. 2 WRESTLING - Losiewicz easily qualifies, draws 3-seed in her state bracket

WIAA GIRLS/DIV. 2 WRESTLING

The hope that two members of the Losiewicz family would be battling for championships at the WIAA individual state wrestling tournament cruelly ended due to injury before the season even started.

But the one who remains is going to take her best shot at becoming the family’s second state champion.

With three quick pins at Friday’s WIAA Ladysmith girls sectional, Medford’s Avery Losiewicz secured her second straight berth in the state tournament. As a freshman a year ago, Losiewicz placed third at 126 pounds. This time around, she’s the third seed as she enters the fray today, Thursday, in the 16-woman field at 132 pounds.

Girls competition at the Kohl Center in Madison starts with preliminary matches at 2 p.m., followed by the quarterfinals. The goal, of course, is to reach the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Friday and to be in the March of Champions at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday prior to the finals.

“It feels pretty good (to be going back),” Losiewicz said before practice in the MASH wrestling room on Monday. “It will be kinda weird without Gage.”

Gage would be her senior brother and one of her mentors, who won the WIAA Division 2 state championship last year at 157 pounds. A knee injury suffered in the second game of the football season and subsequent surgery in December prevented him from getting the chance to defend that title. But the UW-Eau Claire wrestling recruit is recovering well and optimistic about competing in some fashion yet this spring in track and field.

The only Medford wrestler at state this year, Avery Losiewicz said she’s going into the tournament a better wrestler both physically and mentally this year compared to last year.

Her 41-7 season included some tough matches early, particularly in Medford’s trips to the Dan Gable Donnybrook in Iowa and the Bi-State Classic in La Crosse in December. She’s 13-1 since moving down to 132 pounds permanently with her only loss in that time being to a Minnesota wrestler.

“Definitely one thing I had to work on was not getting caught,” Losiewicz said of what she learned early in the year. “I have to continue moving. Not one thing to the next, but fluid movement through the whole thing.”

After state last year, movement was a focus for improvement this year.

“I definitely think I’ve improved my skill from last year,” she said. “I’m moving on the feet more and just taking my shots when they’re there. And getting out of the bottom better.

“My expectations coming into the season were pretty high,” Losiewicz added. “I did want to get higher at Bi-State (she finished fourth). In Iowa, I placed higher than last year (seventh), so that was one of my goals too.”

She’s said she’s recently started using an ankle pick off the whistles more to get quick takedowns and it’s been on display in the post-season.

On Friday, she needed just 30 seconds to pin Cameron’s Adalynn Fawley (15-20) in the quarterfinals and 47 seconds to pin Ladysmith’s Anna Krizan (31-9) in the semifinals. She expected a little bit of a tougher match against Ashland’s Matilda Burns (42-7) in the final, but got the pin on her second takedown at 1:28.

Losiewicz’s first-round match today is against 14th-seeded Dakota Allen, a senior from Wisconsin Lutheran who is 30-15. The winner will get either sixth-seeded Lydia Hutter of Adams-Friendship (46-4) or 11th-seeded Riley Paulsen of Portage (33-7) in the quarterfinals.

Lillie Banks, a 42-1 junior from Menasha is the top seed and the defending 132-pound state champion, while Fort Atkinson junior Hayli Fletcher (42-4) is the two-seed. Fletcher, who was fourth last year at 120 pounds, and Losiewicz could meet in the semifinals. The only wrestler in the entire bracket that was in last year’s 126-pound bracket with Losiewicz is fifth-seeded Franky Groom of North Crawford-Seneca (36-5). She finished fifth last year.

“I just looked at my seed and whether I was on the top or bottom of the bracket,” Losiewicz said. “That’s about it. I just have to wrestle like I am and have that confidence in myself that everyone else has.”

As for the thought of being the family’s second state champion, “that would be pretty cool,” Losiewicz said.

Amery sectional

Saturday was a tough day for three Medford wrestlers at the WIAA Division 2 Amery sectional.

Raiders Ayden Tyznik, Parker Lissner and Paxton Rothmeier went a combined 0-4 while seeing their seasons end and, for Lissner and Rothmeier, their prep wrestling careers end.

Rothmeier had the best chance of winning. In his 175-pound quarterfinal against Baldwin-Woodville senior Drew Stark, Rothmeier got a quick takedown 17 seconds into the match and held control for more than a minute. Stark got an escape, but Rothmeier took a shot to the leg and got Stark down again for a 6-1 lead going into the second period.

Stark quickly reversed Rothmeier to start the period, but an escape but Rothmeier up 7-3 heading into the third. Rothmeier started the period with an escape to go up 8-3, but Stark got a takedown with 41 seconds left as Rothmeier appeared to wear down. Rothmeier got an escape, but Stark’s takedown with four seconds left tied the match at 9-9 and sent it to a one-minute sudden-victory period.

There, Stark wrapped up Rothmeier for a takedown 17 seconds in for the 12-9 win.

Stark then lost his semifinal match by a 17-2 technical fall to eventual champion Griffin Marko of St. Croix Falls, so Rothmeier did not get a wrestleback and was eliminated. He finished his year 28-6.

At 150 pounds, Lissner was taken down almost immediately in his quarterfinal match with Osceola sophomore Isaac Dunnom (42-15) and was unable to escape, giving Dunnom a 3-0 lead to start the second period. That pretty well described the match as Lissner just was unable to get any offense going.

Dunnom rode Lissner throughout the period. Dunnom reversed Lissner to start the third and got a four-point near fall at the end of the match to win in it 9-0.

Dunnom lost his semifinal match to eventual champion Bradyn Penard of Amery, which prevented Lissner from getting a wrestleback and ending his season at 35-19. Dunnom finished second and qualified for state.

At 113 pounds, Tyznik held off eventual champion Kaiden Hahn of St. Croix Falls (44-5) for a minute in their quarterfinal match, before Hahn got a takedown and got the pin at 1:16. With Hahn’s semifinal 11-0 win over Aaron Olson of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm, Tyznik earned a wrestleback against Olson. But Olson, a 33-5 freshman, took control with a first-period takedown and near fall. Leading 10-0, Olson got the secondperiod pin at 2:46 and wrestled his way back to second place and a berth at state.

Tyznik finished the year 20-23.

Medford’s Parker Lissner finds no way out from the bottom during his 9-0 loss to Osceola’s Isaac Dunnom at Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Amery sectional. PHOTOS BY MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Left: Medford’s Ayden Tyznik spins on his forehead for a brief moment as he scrambles with Aaron Olson of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm during their 113pound consolation match Saturday. Olson won by pin and eventually placed second in the weight class. Right: Raider Paxton Rothmeier tries to fend off Baldwin-Woodville’s Drew Stark late in their 175-pound quarterfinal. Stark rallied from an 8-3 deficit to win 12-9 in the sudden victory period.