February 7, 2022 at 12:55 p.m.
RHS takes 3rd at GNC wrestling meet
Lehman, Gavin Ostermann, Kurtz take individual titles
RHS takes 3rd at GNC wrestling meet
The Hodags had three individual conference champions, had nine of their 12 wrestlers earn all-conference honors by placing in the top three of their weight classes and finished third in the meet at Mosinee High School.
Seniors Cole Lehman and Gavin Ostermann claimed their first individual conference titles, as did sophomore Owen Kurtz. Overall, the Hodags garnered 359 points - only 61 behind tournament champion Tomahawk and 57 behind runner-up Medford. Rhinelander finished tied for third with Lakeland in the final conference standings.
"Overall, today we competed hard. We avenged some losses. When that kind of stuff happens, it's usually a pretty good day," Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. "We scored team points when we could. There were points left out there but just about everybody did, but kudos to Medford and Tomahawk, they were the better teams today."
Lehman, wrestling in a four-man bracket at 145 pounds, pinned all three of his opponents en route to the title. He stopped Tomahawk's Hudson Mattake at 2:55 in round one, pinned Medford's Cory Lindahl in 52 seconds in his second match and secured the title with a second-period pin of Antigo's Jayson Arrowood.
Arneson said Lehman's decision to shed some pounds from the football season to get down to 145 paid off with a conference title.
"We looked at where we thought we could be the most successful and where he could have the best practices. He's done that," Arneson said. "That was awesome to see. He was all pumped up. He tried psyching himself out with every single guy that he was wrestling. I said, 'Cole, you're better than all of these guys. You've just got to start believing in yourself.' He put together really good matches today and he's starting to believe in himself. I think the sky's the limit from here on out."
Gavin Ostermann cruised on Saturday, pinning all four of his opponents at 182 in the first period. That included stopping Mosinee's Logan Johnson in 1:45 in the championship match. Ostermann had a much easier time against Johnson than he did in a dual meet at Mosinee Jan. 25. Ostermann trailed in that match before getting a third period takedown and pin.
It was the first conference title for Ostermann, who placed third at 170 as a freshman but then switched to swimming for the Hodags his sophomore and junior seasons.
"When you take two years off, it takes some time, but we're starting to have really good practices and we're starting to peak when we should and the results are speaking for themselves," Arneson said.
Kurtz went the distance in two of his three matches at 285, but was always in command. Kurtz took care of Mosinee's Zach Owens 15-2 in his first match and pinned Lakeland's Esaube Brown in the second. Kurtz then knocked off Antigo's Brady Vanderweerd, ranked No. 8 in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling Online Division 2, 285-pound rankings, 13-3 in the championship match.
"Owen, I think he put together his best day of competing," Arneson said.
Aiden Ostermann, Tanner Schmidt and Joe Fugle all recorded runner-up finishes for Rhinelander. Aiden Ostermann pinned his first three opponents at 106, but was stopped by Tomahawk's Presley Gutbrud in the first period of the championship match. Similarly, Fugle started the day with three pins at 220 before losing by technical fall to Tomahawk's Marcus Matti, who was later named the conference's wrestler of the year. Schmidt was second in a three-man bracket at 126. He lost to Medford's Jude Stark in his first match before pinning Tomahawk's Andrew Tollefsen.
Sean Boman (132), Robert Schramke (138) and Reid Schultz (195) added third-place finishes for Rhinelander to receive honorable mention in their respective weight classes.
"We had some good showings. We were competing hard and avenged some losses," Arneson said. "We taught some different techniques this week and we actually saw some of our athletes that don't like to use real moves, they were using real moves today and it was paying off today. We were avenging some losses with techniques that we learned just this week."
The Hodags begin postseason play this coming Saturday in a WIAA Division 1 regional meet at Marshfield.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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