February 14, 2022 at 7:25 a.m.
Hodags send five wrestlers to sectionals
Hodags send five wrestlers to sectionals
The Hodags finished in the middle of the pack, placing fifth in an eight-team WIAA Division 1 regional at Marshfield High School.
Five of the 12 wrestlers Rhinelander fielded for the postseason event advanced to the sectional round next weekend in Eau Claire. Brothers Aiden and Gavin Ostermann won regional titles in their weight classes while Owen Kurtz, Cole Lehman and Joe Fugle also advanced by finishing in the top four in their brackets.
"I figured five or six (qualifiers) was a good day for us," coach Scottie Arneson said. "We had a couple of kids right in the mix, one that ended up losing in the wrestle back match that would have been our sixth person. Realistically, we met the expectation I had.
"I feel like one win was the difference between fourth place and fifth place. If we would have won one more match, we would have been in that fourth-place spot. Kudos to our team for fighting their butt off all day. It was just a good day of wrestling for us."
Both Ostermann brothers cruised through their brackets. Aiden, a freshman, received a first-round bye at 106 pounds. From there he pinned Merrill's Joey Jensen in the semifinals to secure a spot at sectionals. He then wrapped up the regional title with a 7-1 decision over Wausau West's Thai Yang in the championship match.
"He really did have his best day of wrestling," Arneson said. "We've been talking to him all year about just staying basic. It's the same exact thing every single time that's going to put him in the best positions to make sure he's successful. He followed the game plan perfectly for a very, very, very, very good Wausau West kid in the finals and we ended up walking out of there as a regional champion."
Gavin Ostermann scored a pair of second-period pins on his way to the regional title at 182. The senior stopped Wausau East's Christian Emerson at 3:05 in the semifinals and then pinned Wisconsin Valley Conference 182-pound champion Cody Weir of Marshfield at 3:42 in the championship.
"When you're pinning a conference champion, you're typically doing something right," Arneson said. "He's in a really good place, mentally. Luckily we get another week of wrestling with him."
All three of Rhinelander's seniors advanced to the second stage of the WIAA tournament. Both Lehman and Fugle got there with third-place finishes in different weight classes than they competed in at the Great Northern Conference meet.
Lehman, who dropped to 145 pounds to win a conference title last week, wrestled up at 160 on Saturday and clinched his spot in the sectional with a 11-3 major decision over Merrill's Austin Depies in the third-place match. Wausau West's Connor Calmes edged Lehman 11-6 in the semifinals and took second place over Lehman in a no-contest after losing to top-ranked Ryan Dolezal of Marshfield in the championship match.
"He was going to be back up at 152 and then we were looking at the matches and who was going to be back. Cole wrestling at 160 gave him the best opportunity to accomplish one of his goals, I believe," Arneson noted. "Cole had a really good tournament."
Fugle, the GNC runner-up at 220, pinned the GNC 195-pound champion, Lakeland's Leonard Chosa, in the third-place match to clinch his sectional spot. Fugle started the day with a first-period pin over Wausau East's Elijah Parker-Coleman before falling to eventual regional champion Joseph Berens of Wausau West in the semifinals. Fugle lost the second-place match to Merrill's Wyatt Bathke by major decision, 13-3.
"Joe wrestled an awesome tournament. He ended up beating the guy that won our conference at 195. Joe put together a really good tournament," Arneson noted.
Kurtz was the runner-up at 285. He got there by avenging a loss that cost him a spot at sectionals last year, defeating Wausau West's Athan Somers in the semifinals. Kurtz lost the championship match to second-ranked Jaren Rohde of Stevens Point but bounced back with an overtime victory over Marshfield's Adrian Kruger in the second-place match.
"Owen had a really good day. It's weird to say, but I think his best match came from a loss, but Rohde from Stevens Point, he's wrestled a very, very long time and put in a lot of time and he was better than us," Arneson noted. "If Owen wants to place at the state tournament, that's the kind of guy we want to learn how to beat. The score may not have looked like we were in the match, but I could just tell that Owen was confident, moving his feet and doing the things we've been working on in practice, and it was fun to watch. I saw him open up and start to believe in himself."
Kyle Wiese narrowly missed out on becoming Rhinelander's sixth sectional qualifier. The junior was pinned by Wausau West's Chi Meng Xiong in the fourth-place match. Dresden Klaver placed fifth at 138 but did not receive a wrestle back four fourth after falling to fourth-place finisher Charlie Heikkinen earlier in the day in the quarterfinals.
Tanner Schmidt, a sectional qualifier for the Hodags last year, was unable to make a return trip, placing sixth in the 126-pound bracket. Robert Schramke (132) and Joey Evenson (145) also recorded sixth-place finishes. Logan Schwinger (170) and Reid Schultz (220) did not reach the placement rounds after losing their first two matches.
The sectional round will be held this Saturday at Eau Claire North. Wrestlers must finish either first or second in their brackets to qualify for the WIAA state meet Feb. 24-26 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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