February 11, 2019 at 1:44 p.m.
Hodag wrestlers send eight to sectionals
Hodag wrestlers send eight to sectionals
The Hodags held their own against the Wisconsin Valley Conference Saturday, sending eight of their 11 wrestlers to sectionals and placing fifth in an eight-team WIAA Division 1 regional at Merrill High School.
Sophomore Walker Hartman recorded Rhinelander's best finish, with a runner-up showing in the 152-pound weight class. Tim Fox, Eric Grulke, Gavin Ostermann, Ben Sinclair and Trevor Knapp all advanced with third-place finishes. Hugh Wiese and Connor Lund qualified with fourth-place finishes. The top four in each weight class advanced to this coming Saturday's sectional round in Menomonie.
"It was a very, very good day," Piasecki said afterward. "On the whole, the hard work for these guys is starting to pay off for them, going up against a lot of the Valley teams we certainly held our own. I think we surprised them with how well-conditioned we were and how hard the guys fought. That was really cool to see.
"I asked them to step it up 5 to 10 percent, which is hard to do because we wrestled pretty well at conference, and they stepped it up at least 5 to 10 percent, which is just so cool to see. That was our best performance of the season as a team, no doubt about it."
Hartman had the biggest win of the day, upsetting seventh-ranked Gabe Carter of D.C. Everest with a pin with 11 seconds remaining in their semifinal match. Hartman lost to second-ranked Nolan Hertel of Marshfield by technical fall in the finals, but still secured Rhinelander's best finish on the day.
"Walker, he hit a nice throw, put the guy on his back with less than a minute left and pinned him," Piasecki said of Hartman's semifinal win. "It didn't surprise me. I knew it was going to be a tough match for him, but he battled really hard. That's been our motto all season, to fight and battle, to get the guy into the third period and that's when we win our matches. That was a really cool win for him."
Rhinelander started the day strong, going 8-2 in the opening round to go along with a first-round bye for Sinclair. Rhinelander went 1-10 in round two but responded by going 5-5 in the placement rounds.
"Our first round was amazing," Piasecki said. "We had nine guys in the semis. That was a tough round, but there were a lot of really good teams there. We battled really good in the second round, I thought.
"All the kids, they turned it on in the last round. I kind of let them be. I didn't say much to them and they kind of did it on their own and surprised me a little bit. From having such a tough round in the semis to come back and have a boatload of wins to make it to sectionals was huge. To be in that third-place slot, that puts you in the hunt for sectionals to try to find a way through and make it to state."
Fox (106 pounds), Grulke (160), Ostermann (170), Sinclair (182) and Knapp (220) all won their third-place matches and were done for the day as the wrestlers who defeated them in the semifinals all lost in the championship, giving them second place by rule.
Lund got a mid third-period escape in the first round against Stevens Point's Fred Van Tiem at 195, which proved critical later in the day. Lund lost to top-ranked Sam Mitchell of Marshfield in the semifinals and 11th-ranked Orion Boe in the third-place match, but did not have to fight for fourth in the bracket when Van Tiem made it through the wrestleback to finish fifth.
It was a similar story for Wiese, a first-year wrestler, at 113. He pinned Wisconsin Rapids' Allister Greening in the first round and wound up winning fourth place, by rule, after Greening fought back to take fifth in the wrestleback.
"He's really worked his tail off all year. He's consistently getting better and better," Piasecki said of Wiese. "He's got a super strong heart and a very, very good will to win. He hates to lose. He's wrestling a very tough Wisconsin Rapids kid who's a senior and has been wrestling many years. (Hugh) pushed the pace on him, got him tired. The match was really close and he hit a wonderful throw in the third, put him square on his back and pinned him. To get to the semis as a first-year wrestler is pretty amazing in this regional."
Heavyweight Alex Olson won his first match of the day, but lost his final three bouts to end up one spot shy of sectionals. Will Swanson and Tyler Olson lost both of their matches at regionals.
Marshfield edged perennial power Wisconsin Rapids by 33 1/2 points for the sectional title. Stevens Point was third followed by D.C. Everest. Rhinelander edged Wausau West by a half point for fifth.
Individual sectionals take place this Saturday in Menomonie, combining the qualifiers from the Merrill and Chippewa Falls regionals. Regional champions will take on fourth-place finishers from the opposite regional and second-place finishers will face third-place finishers from the opposite regional. The top two in each weight class at sectionals will advance to the WIAA state tournament Feb. 21-23 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
"I think they're all excited. We're going to have a couple really good, hard days of training, work on a couple of things, technically that we know we need to do to beat certain guys, but we're going to lift and we're going to train extra hard for a few days and then take it easy at the end of the week and let them peak (at sectionals)," Piasecki said. "I'm excited for them. I think we're going to do just fine."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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