March 30, 2015 at 1:07 p.m.
Hodag youth grapplers compete at state
Ostermann places fifth
Hodag youth grapplers compete at state
Four of the five won at least one match in the tournament, led by fifth-grader Gavin Ostermann, who placed fifth in the Boys Born 2004-05 95-pound weight class.
Ostermann won his first two matches guarantee a spot on the podium and advance to the semifinals. He lost in the semis by a 6-2 decision, then dropped a 4-1 decision in the consolation semis before earning a second-period pin in the fifth-place match.
"Gavin will be moving on to the junior high next year. I think this will help him moving up to the higher level," coach Mark Steinmetz said. "He wrestled very tough in the first two matches, beat some really good kids - kids that were previously state placewinners. After that first loss, he didn't rebound real quick and lost to a kid I think he could have beat, the same kid he lost to in the regionals (T.J. Schierl). But he rebounded for his fifth-place match and wrestled just phenomenally, beating the kid that placed third (Carter Friend) last year."
The Hodags nearly had a second placewinner as eighth-grader Eric Grulke (Boys 2000-01, 130) rebounded from an opening-match loss with a pair of wins, but he was stopped one win short of the position matches, beaten by Harry Narwot via a technical fall in the third round of the consolation bracket.
"Tough draw for Eric, wrestling against some of the top-tier kids in the state, kids I'm sure that will be placing at the high school level," Steinmetz said. "Eric's right there with them. I think we're just a couple steps away from sparring with these elite kids."
Fourth-grader Wyatt Wilson (Boys 2004-05, 63) and seventh-grader Walker Hartmann (Boys 2002-03, 100) each went 1-2 in the tournament and were knocked out in the second round of the consolation bracket.
"Wyatt Wilson (had) kind of a tough draw and wrestled really well," Steinmetz said. "Probably a winnable first match and kind of got caught in a headlock, gave up five points and wasn't able to crawl back out of the hole. (He) wrestled very well otherwise.
"Walker is showing signs of greatness. It's too spurty at this point though. For 15-20 seconds he'll look just unbelievable and then he'll shut it off for 15-20 seconds. The main thing with Walker moving forward into his eighth-grade year will be being more consistent."
Sixth-grader Tim Fox (Boys 2002-03, 70) went winless, but was in both of his matches, losing by decision 8-2 and 5-3.
"Timmy Fox was right there, losing a (two)-point match," Steinmetz said. "Timmy made a couple more strides this year. With a couple more strides he'll be close to placing also."
Overall, Steinmetz said he was pleased with how the Hodag wrestlers performed
"I was very happy with how we did," he said. "I think it was pretty much as expected. Getting one kid to place, obviously, was a plus."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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