February 16, 2018 at 12:45 p.m.
Hodag wrestlers seek big day at sectionals
Hodag wrestlers seek big day at sectionals
State is not out of the realm of possibility for Rhinelander's three other sectional qualifiers either, but they will have to get through some of the toughest wrestlers around to get there.
"Basically we're going to do what we do," a confident RHS wrestling coach Paul Ellenbecker said. "A lot of teams are scouting and trying to get ahead of the curve. In the past we tried to do more of that stuff and it just psyched the kids out. So (the attitude is) like, 'Let's do what's got us this far and have them adjust to us.'"
In theory, Rhinelander's seniors should all have a pretty clear path to state. The five - Reuben Guzik, Tyler Olson, Jacob DeMeyer, Alec Kurtz and Colton Krueger are all regional champs. All five are either the highest-ranked wrestler in their weight class or defeated the highest-ranked wrestler at last Saturday's regional tournament in Wisconsin Rapids.
"On paper it looks good, but paper doesn't get you to the state tournament. You have to go out and compete," Ellenbecker said.
As regional champs, the five will face the fourth-place finishers from the New Richmond regional in the opening round. Guzik will face New Richmond's Tyler Harris (4-16) at 113, Olson gets New Richmond's Cayden Herring (15-12) at 120, DeMeyer gets Eau Claire Memorial's Brady Guibord (12-5) at 145, Kurtz draws Hudson's Alonzo Madsen at 195 (10-21) and Krueger gets New Richmond's Ryan Mueller (20-13) at 220.
The quarterfinals are win-or-go-home matches. Only the top two finishers in each weight class advance to state and only the semifinal losers get put in the wrestleback for the second spot.
"I think all our champions really positioned themselves well to have first round success. They all have, on paper, very winnable matches, which basically makes it a four-man bracket after that," Ellenbecker said.
On paper, Olson, Kurtz and Krueger have the easiest brackets, with only one other ranked wrestler to compete against. Olson, DeMeyer and Krueger all beat the only other ranked wrestlers in their bracket (D.C. Everest's Freddy Lehrke, Marshfield's Nolan Hertel and Marshfield's Alex Brost, respectively) in the regional finals last Saturday.
Guzik knocked off seventh-ranked Gabe Pugh of Marshfield in last week's regional, but River Falls' junior Bennet Cernohous, who was honorable mention at 106, has joined the 113 bracket and comes in as the New Richmond regional champ. Twelfth-ranked Chance Kamrowski of River Falls is the only other ranked wrestler in Kurtz's 195-pound bracket.
DeMeyer is looking for his fourth state tournament berth and is coming off a fourth-place finish at state last year. Guzik and Kurtz are looking for their second trips to state while the rest of Rhinelander's sectional qualifiers are seeking the first state meet appearance.
One of those grapplers, freshman Tim Fox, enters with a favorable first-round draw despite finishing third at regionals at 106 last Saturday. Fox will face New Richmond's Matt Harle (12-24) in the quarterfinals. Should Fox advance, he'll likely meet second-ranked Justin Groshek of Stevens Point again but, after that, there's not another ranked wrestler in the bracket with Cernohous moving up to 113.
"He's one move away, finishing a six-minute match away from advancing to the WIAA state tournament," Ellenbecker said of Fox's chances of becoming the first Hodag freshman to qualify for state since DeMeyer three years ago. "We've talked to him about how big of a deal that is. You only get four chances and he has a golden chance this year to get down there. We think he can do it, but he's got to wrestle six full minutes."
As for Rhinelander's two other sectional qualifiers, both would need to pull off monumental upsets right out of the gate to have a chance to make it. Freshman Walker Hartman will face top-ranked Mason Phillips of Eau Claire North in the 138-pound quarterfinals while Eric Grulke draws third-ranked Jacob Anderson of Hudson in the quarterfinals at 160.
"They're both going to be in the situation where they have an opportunity to wrestle one of the elite wrestlers in the state," Ellenbecker said. "I look at that like those guys have nothing to hang their head about this year. Both are right around .500 and now they can put a feather in their cap and say they wrestled Mason Phillips and Jacob Anderson."
Initially, Ellenbecker thought heavyweight Trevor Knapp may join the group at sectionals as an alternate but, as of press time none of the qualifiers from the Wisconsin Rapids regional had withdrawn from the tournament, which would be required for Knapp to take their place.
Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. at Wausau West High School.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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