Hodag wrestlers finish in middle of pack at home invite

With closer to a full lineup on Friday, the Rhinelander High School wrestling team finished in the middle of the pack in the Hodag Scramble held in the Hodag Dome.

The Hodag boys finished 11th out of 25 teams in the field while the Hodag girls were ninth out of 17 teams. 

On the boys’ side, it was a sheer numbers game for the Hodags, who had 14 wrestlers compete in 10 separate weight classes on varsity. Three of those wrestlers — seniors Reid Schultz and Logan Schwinger, and sophomore Hoyt Dantoin — ended up in the top bracket in the scramble-style format that included pool play in the preliminaries and placement rounds late in the day.

“The results they always take care of themselves in these scramble tournaments,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “It allows us to compete at the level that we’re currently at. At the beginning of the day, you either have easier matches and then as the day goes on, you get more of your level. Or you get your butt kicked the first two rounds, and then you get put in a bracket (with) more like-skilled individuals. Then you can work on some of the technique that you’ve gotten to work on during the week. When you’re going against like-skilled individuals, it’s a lot easier to see growth rather than just going and getting your butt kicked for two matches and then not getting to compete again (in a traditional bracket-style tournament), because then you don’t really learn a whole lot unless you watch the film.”

Schultz was back in the lineup after missing the previous week’s Rebel Invite in Crandon due to illness. Schultz pinned his way through the preliminaries and the top bracket at heavyweight until he got to the finals. There he ran into Hayward’s Micah Butler and was stopped 51 seconds into the championship match.

“I know Reid’s disappointed about his last match getting caught and but what would rather have it happen now than in six weeks, and we’ll have plenty of opportunities to make small adjustments,” Arneson said, noting Hayward is a team in Rhinelander’s Division 2 regional and sectional. 

    Rhinelander’s Logan Schwinger looks to turn Marathon’s Jace Ostrowski during the Hodag Scramble wrestling meet in the Hodag Dome Friday, Dec. 20. Schwinger went 4-1 on the day and finished fifth in the boys’ 190-pound weight class. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Schwinger went 4-1 on the day and finished fifth in the 190-pound weight class. Schwinger earned pins in his two preliminary matches before losing to eventual bracket runner-up Niko Kleinschmidt of D.C. Everest in the quarterfinals. Schwinger bounced back in the consolation rounds with two more pins to end the day in fifth. 

“Logan finishing fifth today, and looking better than he did last weekend, it’s good to see him working on the good stuff that we’ve been working on in the practice room,” Arneson said. “We’ve been sick, and it’s coming. It’s coming along.” 

Dantoin also made it through to the top bracket at 132 thanks to a pin of Phillps’s Caiden Boudreaux in the preliminaries. Dantoin lost his final three matches to finish eighth but, at 7-7 on the year, Arneson said he’s seen plenty of growth from Dantoin, who won only three matches as a freshman. 

“A lot of the people up in the lunchroom were talking, if you’re in the top eight, realistically you’re probably a sectional qualifier,” Arneson said. “And those are the steps that we want our kids to take. I think we have seven wins now, so, obviously something’s working and something’s clicking, whether it’s work ethic or just focus.” 

Trevor Denton took 13th at 113 for Rhinelander, Ivan Loka was 11th at 126, Avrom Barr was 19th at 138, Noah Leisure was 16th at 144, Anthony Boldt took 18th at 150, Dresden Klaver was 11th at 157 and Gavin Dotter took 13th at 215. Rhinelander had extra entries in a few weight classes. Gage Anderson and Brayden Krieg were 16th and 22nd, respectively at 150, Shayden Hylleberg was 18th at 215 and Brock Sternitzky was 17th at 285.

Swanson takes girls’ 126 title

    Rhinelander teammates Mya Swanson (bottom) and Cassidy Lindner (top) grapple during the Hodag Scramble wrestling meet in the Hodag Dome Friday, Dec. 20. Swanson won the match, 6-3 and eventually won the girls’ 126-pound bracket while Swanson finished fourth. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

On the girls’ side, junior Mya Swanson walked away with hardware from her home invite, taking the title in the 126-pound weight class. 

Swanson (7-2) went 4-0 on the day and won the title by pinning Cameron’s Reyanna Ladd in the second period of the championship match. 

“Mya had a really good day,” Hodag girls’ coach Caleb Radtke said. “That last the finals match, I felt like that was the first time she’s really opened up all year. I mean, she was getting after it shooting shots, being aggressive, attacking and, ultimately, she ended up scoring off of those and getting the win.”

As it turned out, Swanson’s toughest competition all day — at least in terms of the final score — came from teammate Cassidy Lindner. The sophomore, and first-year competitive wrestler, went toe-to-toe with Swanson in the opening round, with a late takedown eventually helping Swanson earn the 6-3 decision. Lindner went 2-2 on the day to finish fourth in the 126-pound bracket. She had a pin over Cameron’s Adalynn Fawley and received a medical forfeit over Wautoma’s Cecilia Flores to make it to the third-place match, where she lost to Merrill’s Kendell Klug by major decision, 15-7.

“Cassidy, she had another really great day too. I think she ended up 1-2 (plus a forfeit), but that didn’t I don’t think showed how she wrestled,” Radtke said. “I mean, she wrestled really tough all day. She fought the entire time start to finish in the match. She had a little bit better competition to wrestle today, including her own teammate. She’s been a fun one to coach, is really aggressive in the room (and) gets after it.”

Miranda Daab finished fifth in a five-wrestler bracket at 235, losing by pin in all four of her matches. 

Up next

The Hodags are bringing a handful of wrestlers to River Falls this weekend for the Northern Badger Invite, which runs today and tomorrow. Arneson said the boys’ plan to bring six upperclassmen to the tournament while Radtke said Swanson and Lindner are scheduled to travel for the Hodag girls.

“We’re taking (them) River Falls to hopefully get some really good mat time. Our younger kids are staying back and getting some practice time in,” Arneson said.

The full squad won’t return to action until Jan. 11 when the boys’ squad competes in an invite at Valders while the Hodag girls travel to Merrill.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].