February 10, 2022 at 10:05 a.m.
Hodag wrestlers eager to go toe-to-toe with WVC foes at regionals
Hodag wrestlers eager to go toe-to-toe with WVC foes at regionals
As has been the case of the last decade-plus, the Hodags will say goodbye to most of their GNC rivals and hello to some old foes from the Wisconsin Valley Conference on Saturday as they compete in a WIAA Division 1 regional in Marshfield.
Rhinelander is one of the smallest teams, based on school enrollment, in D1. The Hodags and Lakeland will be the only GNC schools in the field while the rest of the conference competes in three separate D2 regionals on Saturday. Six of the seven teams from the Wisconsin Valley fill out Saturday's eight-team field. Traditional wrestling power Wisconsin Rapids is the only Valley school not in the field.
After finishing a close third to Tomahawk and Medford at last weekend's GNCs, first-year coach Scottie Arneson said his team is ready for the challenge - the first step on the road to the Kohl Center in Madison for the WIAA individual state tournament.
"I don't know where we match up with the Wisconsin Valley or anything like that, but I think our top-end wrestlers would compete with the middle of the pack or the high end of the pack of the Wisconsin Valley Conference," he said. "That goes to show that there's good wrestling all around the state. Win or lose, we're going to learn and improve and we'll see what happens next week."
The top four finishers from each weight class on Saturday will move on to the sectional round the following Saturday in Eau Claire, where only the top two in each weight class will advance to the WIAA state tournament.
Arneson said he's excited for his seniors, who will get one last crack at the postseason. Two of them -Cole Lehman and Gavin Ostermann - come in off of conference championship performances last weekend while the third, Joe Fugle, was runner-up to conference wrestler of the year Marcus Matti of Tomahawk in the 220-pound class.
Assuming Ostermann stays at 182 pounds he may have one of the clearest paths to sectionals. No one in the regional was ranked at 182 in last week's Wisconsin Wrestling Online Division 1 rankings - not even Ostermann, who received honorable mention at 195.
Lehman potentially faces a tougher bracket at 145 that could include fifth-ranked Brett Franklin of Marshfield and sixth-ranked Gabriel Ramos of Wausau West, who won the WVC title in the weight class last weekend.
Fugle could also face a tough draw at 220 where D.C. Everest's Mitch Danielski (ninth) and Wausau West's Colton Geurink (honorable mention) are ranked. But both lost out on the WVC title to unranked Ryder Depies of Merrill.
"My big thing is I want us to be at our very, very best at the end of the year but, more importantly we want to be our very, very best at the end of our senior year," Arneson said. "This week we have the opportunity to show that we've gotten better throughout the course of the year and I have three seniors that are going to be competing. Hopefully we have a good showing and we get to compete over in Eau Claire North the following Saturday."
Tanner Schmidt was a surprise sectional qualifier for the Hodags last year, and might have a shot again this time around if he stays at 126. D.C. Everest's Easton Cooper (sixth) is the only ranked wrestler in the regional at that weight class, but Cooper wrestled down at 120 last weekend to claim the WVC title. Unranked Grayden Rode of Marshfield placed second at 126, the high finisher in the regional field from last week's WVC meet.
Freshman Aiden Ostermann, a GNC runner-up last week, potentially faces a bracket devoid of any ranked wrestlers at 106, while sophomore Owen Kurtz, a GNC champ at 285 pounds, potentially has only one ranked wrestler in his bracket - second-ranked Jaren Rohde of Stevens Point.
On paper, the toughest brackets could be 138 and 170, which both had three ranked wrestlers in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling Online rankings. The 120-pound class could also see three ranked wrestlers if Cooper stays down at that weight class. Based on last week's GNC lineups, Kyle Wiese (120), Robert Schramke (138) and Anthony Barnett (170) would be slated to wrestle in those brackets for the Hodags.
"I think we have a good shot to send quite a few people to Eau Claire North," Arneson said. "Only time will tell. We've competed against a lot of the schools at some point during this season, but we have people changing weights and everybody else does as well. We'll get a lot of familiar faces, but we'll also see some new faces and see where we match up."
Exactly who will wrestle where was still a bit of an unknown as of deadline. Teams had until 11:59 p.m. Thursday to submit their lineups, and brackets will not be made public until just prior to Saturday morning's opening round.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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