January 21, 2021 at 8:38 a.m.
Hodag Dome set to host GNC wrestling meet
Hodag Dome set to host GNC wrestling meet
The WIAA eased restrictions on how many teams can gather at one site, pushing the limit from four to six teams this week, and up to eight teams next week, allowing the Great Northern Conference to host its usual conference tournament. The event has been moved to Rhinelander's Hodag Dome to give the participants more of an opportunity to spread out when they're not on the mat.
The meet takes place on Saturday and Rhinelander coach Paul Ellenbecker said he cannot wait for the opportunity.
"I'm excited for it. It's been a long time since we've had a real tournament and kids get to compete for first place," he said. "It's about them now and I think our kids are going to be excited about that. It's going to be kind of bringing back some normalcy. That's going to be the big thing."
Earlier this month, the GNC put the framework in place to move the conference tournament from Medford to Rhinelander, but the conference still needed to go-ahead from the WIAA to be able to have all six of its teams in one place at one time. When the WIAA finally green-lighted the increase last Friday, that set off a whirl of activity trying to get the dome ready for the meet.
Saturday's meet will be only the second wrestling competition staged inside the new 128,000 square-foot facility. The first was a dual meet between Rhinelander and Lena Dec. 30. Ellenbecker said there are a lot of logistics to figure out between where to space the mats, securing workers for each mat and making sure teams have designated spaces inside the dome to maintain physical distancing when not on the mat.
"We have a lot of figuring to do, a lot of things to try to work out yet and try to get squared up by then," he said." A lot of it's going to be Brian (Paulson) doing it, because he's the athletic director, but overall I know he needs help with some of that stuff.
"It's a lot easier to run a tournament in the high school is what I'm learning. The dome's new yet. We don't have everything in place. It's the first time doing it. It's a good little dry run to see how things go."
As for the meet itself, Rhinelander currently finds itself tied for fifth in the conference standings with Mosinee, but is only two points behind Antigo and Lakeland, which sit tied for third following dual meet play. Should Rhinelander finish third or better in the conference meet, it would secure a third-place finish in the conference standings. Ellenbecker said his team, which has struggled to fill weight classes for the dual meet portion of the schedule, is better suited to a multi-team tournament format that is less dependent on individual matchups in determining the team score.
"We have a lot kids getting down to their weight classes and it's an individual sport now," he said. "In the beginning of the year we tried to fill all the weight classes the best we could. We had kids wrestling up all year long. Now all the kids are at the weights they should be, our top competitors that have been around awhile. We're going to put the best kids at each weight classes and if we forfeit a couple weight classes, it's OK."
Ellenbecker pointed to his three seniors - Tim Fox, Hugh Wiese and Ben Sinclair - as those with the best chance on Saturday. Fox is the reigning conference champ at 113 pounds and will likely find a home at 120 for the conference meet. Sinclair was the runner-up last year at 285, but will likely grapple at 220 and Wiese will likely drop down to 126, looking for make the all-conference list for the first time.
"I really believe that them guys could win the conference this year," Ellenbecker said. "That would be a really good way for them to go into the tournament. I think the stars are going to align for them guys this week and we have a really good chance to get all of our seniors first-team all-conference."
Junior Cayden Neri is the only other Hodag who has previously finished in the top three at the conference tournament, placing third at 152 last year.
The meet will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Rhinelander will be allowing two spectators per athlete to attend the meet and facemasks will be required for all spectators. Admission will be $5 per fan.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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