January 9, 2023 at 8:09 a.m.
RHS wrestlers drop duals, 19th in Merrill
RHS wrestlers drop duals, 19th in Merrill
The Hodags were short-handed once again for the matches. Though the team was able to fill nine classes for Thursday's duals, they fell to Medford 70-12 and to Mosinee 36-30. Rhinelander had only five wrestlers compete in the varsity division Saturday in Merrill.
With low numbers, the point of emphasis has been quality over quantity, and coach Scottie Arneson said he continues to see incremental gains from his team.
"We thought it was our best day of competing and guys are starting to look like, either themselves again or what we thought they could," he said following Saturday's meet. "Each time we've gone out on the mat, we've looked more and more like what the coaching staff thinks we could. That's what we're trying to do. We're just trying to get better each time we step out on the mat."
GNC quadrangular
The Hodags dropped both of their matches on Thursday night in the first and only home meet of the season.
Medford, the favorite to win the GNC, dominated the opening dual against the Hodags, winning 70-12. The second match was much closer, with the Hodags falling by six to Mosinee.
Rhinelander and Mosinee split evenly the eight contested bouts, earning four pins apiece. Mosinee scored one more forfeit win than Rhinelander, which ultimately proved to be the difference in the dual. The Hodags were without typical 138-pounder Sean Boman due to injury.
"We're getting better with competing and our technique. It's just the fact that we can't fill all the weight classes," Arneson said. "If we fill all 14, we probably win seven and who knows what the outcome is. We're right there with some of the matches. Against Mosinee, we were right there, one match away from a six-point swing in a dual meet."
Junior Owen Kurtz won both of his matches on Thursday. He scored Rhinelander's lone contested win against Medford, stopping Max Dietzman 1 minute, 15 seconds into the heavyweight bout. He needed only 46 seconds to pin Mosinee's Teryn Walls.
"Owen came out and wrestled like he should. He's been wrestling a long time and everybody sees him as a leader because of the dominance he can put out there," Arneson said. "Even in his first match, his feet were a little lazy and he gave up a takedown, but I think that might have ignited a fire under him and got him to eventually get the fall in that match. If he starts fast, I don't see many people beating him."
Kurtz had one of four pins for Rhinelander against Mosinee. Aiden Ostermann recorded a first-period pin over Kory Resheske at 120, Kyle Wiese pinned Noah Nechuta at 132 and Logan Schwinger pinned Bruce Hintz at 170.
Anthony Boldt picked up a forfeit win at 113 for Rhinelander against Medford. Abby Swanson won, unopposed, for the Hodags at 195 against Mosinee.
Bluejay Invite
Kurtz once again led the Hodag contingent on Saturday in the 25-team Bluejay Invite. He scored a pair of pins to reach the semifinals at 285, before dropping a pair of matches and settling for fourth place. He was stopped in the third period by Wittenberg-Birnamwood's David Gauderman in the semifinals and then pinned in the first period by Crandon's Conner Lawrence in the third-place match.
"He wrestled really well. We had game plans for some of his opponents today and it ended up working out in our favor for the most part," Arneson said. "Just for Owen, it's sticking with the basics, but he wrestled completely different today than he did in that first tournament last week at Northern Badger. That's just getting in the groove again. It was one step in the right direction today."
The remainder of Rhinelander's five varsity wrestlers finished in the middle of their respective brackets. Wiese went 1-3 and took eighth at 126. Ostermann won his final three matches to take ninth at 120. Klaver went 3-2 and finished 10th at 138. Schwinger was 2-3 on the day, taking 11th at 170.
"Getting mat time is what our team needs," Arneson said. "We have good technique, it's just implementing it against other opponents now, rather than just the people in the practice room."
In the separate girls' division, Abby Swanson went 3-0 on the day to win her four-wrestler bracket in the 174-183 division. She pinned Menominee Indian's Jaycee Braddock-Madosin and Wausau West's Christiana Nordstrom before defeating Pulaski's Ellie Neosh by technical fall in the final round.
"One of Abby Swanson's goals this year was to get a tech fall and she did that today for the first time ever," Arneson noted. "She was all fired up about that. Writing down goals and being able to obtain those goals in something that we're really shooting for here at the end of the season."
Mya Swanson went 2-1 in a four-girl pool at 125-128 to take second. She pinned Lakeland's Moriah Lewis in the first round, was pinned by Pulaski's Leah Kapla in the second round and then stopped Nekoosa's Jadlyn Moravec in only 15 seconds in the final round.
"Three matches each and we ended up with a first and a second, which is nice," Hodag girls' wrestling coach Eric Gobin said. "It's good getting to see girls from other schools, especially down toward the Wausau area. There are a few new schools that we haven't seen yet. It's kind of nice to go a little further south and see some new competition."
The Hodags boys are back in action Thursday as they will face Lakeland and Tomahawk in a GNC quad in Minocqua. The Hodag girls have added another tournament to their schedule and will now compete in the Wausau East Invite Jan. 21.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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