Hodag wrestlers take 9th in Rebel Invite

The Rhinelander High School wrestling team had three placewinners among the nine wrestlers it had competing on Saturday as it tied for ninth in the 22-team Rebel Invite hosted by Laona/Wabeno/Three Lakes at the Forest County Potawatomi Community Center in Crandon.

Six of those nine wrestlers won multiple matches on the day as the team finished even with Lena with 77 points and wound up only four points behind GNC rival Tomahawk for eighth.

“Team scores can be whatever they are at individual tournaments. Our biggest focus is just making sure our kids are competing hard and I think the competition levels were even higher than they were at Antigo, for not only our kids but the tournament as a whole,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “We won a lot of matches, which is why we were in the hunt to be in the top seven teams. I really believe we’re one or two weeks away from being a very, very competitive team.”

Senior Owen Kurtz improved to 9-0 on the season and won his second straight tournament at the 285-pound weight class. His day began with three first-period pins as he marched to the championship round, where he controlled Crandon’s Connor Lawrence in a 12-0 major decision.

“There was no time in that match where we were almost getting scored on. Owen stayed in good, disciplined position all match and ended up with another tournament victory,” Arneson said. “Owen’s been going back and forth with the Crandon wrestler the last four years … Last year we got pinned by the Crandon kid two different times and we were winning in both of those matches. Just the small adjustments Owen was able to make from last year to this year was able to almost get him a technical fall. That just goes to show the competitive spirit of him this year.”

It was nearly an all-Rhinelander final at 285 for the second week in a row. Junior Reid Schultz was leading Lawrence in the third period of the other semifinal match before he got turned and pinned in the final minute. Schultz rebounded with a second-period pin over Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Dominic Weso to take third in the bracket. 

“We were very, very close to having a 1-2 finish again this week, but it just didn’t happen. I talked to Reid after the (semifinal) match about some small improvement and he’s confident in himself and the next time they get to wrestle,” Arneson said. “If both athletes stay healthy we should have three more matchups with the Crandon team. Reid will get another stab at him. Finishing up and getting third place is just a testament to who he is as an athlete. It’s the next best thing with him.”

Junior Aiden Ostermann added a runner-up finish for the Hodags at 150 pounds. Ostermann pinned his first three opponents to reach the finals but was stopped by Lena’s Max Peterson, who is undefeated on the year, in the championship match.

“He’s coming into his own,” Arneson said. “Sometimes it just takes a couple extra weeks to get guys back into the competitive spirit and I think Aiden’s in a really good spot right now. He’s a hammer on top. What I mean by that is when he gets on top, not many people get away from him and he puts their shoulders into the mat when he gets on top. We’ve got to get a little better on finding a way to get to the top position but, for us to be seventh at the Antigo tournament and second at this one, I think just shows the confidence that Aiden’s growing as the season goes on.”

Anthony Boldt (126 pounds), Dresden Klaver (138) and Logan Schwinger (175) all went 2-2 on the day, and finished one win shy of making it through the wrestleback into to the placement rounds. Only the top six finishers in each weight class were awarded places. Arneson noted that the 175-pound bracket was particularly strong at the tournament.

“For Logan to wrestle well and not be on the podium is just a testament to how well-balanced that bracket alone was,” he said.

Robert Schramke went 1-2 in the 144-pound class and Maxi Singhammer, a foreign exchange student from Germany, picked up his first career win with a second-period pin of Kingsford’s Bailey Moore in the 190-pound bracket.

“It’s just fun,” Arneson said. “Some kids that were off for the weekend are like, ‘Coach, can I come with so we can watch Maxi in his first match?’ The kids are really excited for Maxi and just excited to be around the sport of wrestling right now.”

Freshman Gavin Snider-Dotter went 0-2 in his matches at 215. Junior Gus Porter took fifth in a six-man JV bracket at 144 pounds. 

The Hodags will be busy at the end of the week with some wrestlers competing in three events in three days. The team will be in Medford Thursday to open up the Great Northern Conference season. Rhinelander will face Mosinee and Medford as part of a GNC quadrangular. The team heads to Amherst for another quad on Friday and will send a handful of athletes, including both of its girls’ wrestlers, to the Shawano Holiday Tournament on Saturday.

“Hopefully we get a bunch of matches in, a bunch of mat time and then we come back and it’s time for the holiday tournaments,” Arneson said. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].