Hodag wrestlers advance three to sectionals

Three members of the Rhinelander High School wrestling team are moving on to sectionals as the Hodags took eighth place in a 13-team WIAA Division 2 regional Saturday in Medford.

Senior Owen Kurtz was the regional champion at 215 pounds for the Hodags. He’ll be joined in the next round by junior Logan Schwinger, who was the runner-up at 190 and junior Aiden Ostermann, who took third at 144.

“It was a really good day for us,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “We had a great week of practice and even the guys that weren’t in the wrestleback round or the fourth-place match, we wrestled hard all day. I think that just goes to show that any given day you can show up. It’s an attitude and our guys showed up today.”

Kurtz (43-1) won his third straight regional title for Rhinelander, and his first in Division 2 as the Hodags dropped down a division this year, based on enrollment. He pinned Neillsville’s Damian Sampson in the first period in the quarterfinals and controlled Mosinee’s Bruce Hintz in a 10-3 decision in the semifinals. In the finals, he needed only 1:20 to pin Medford’s Braxton Weissmiller after the two wrestled into overtime last week in the Great Northern Conference tournament.

“Owen capitalized on his season so far and wrestled more free today,” Arneson said. “Last weekend he was a little hesitant, but just went out there and let it fly today and got two pins. That’s what he should be doing. He opened up a lot today.”

Schwinger (36-12) started his day with a first-period pin over Abbotsford/Colby’s Erik Martinez before reprising his GNC championship-clinching win with a second-period pin of Medford’s Evan Wilkins. Schwinger fell in the championship match to Neillsville’s Dane Luchterhand by a 7-4 decision but locked up second automatically after Wilkins won the third-place match.

“Logan ended up beating the same kid that he beat last week in the conference finals. That wasn’t a fluke,” Arneson said. “We beat the kid by more than we did last week. We put both of his shoulders in the mat this time. Hopefully we get another shot at the person we lost to today and get a different result.”

    Rhinelander’s Aiden Ostermann looks to turn Medford’ Parker Lissner during a WIAA Division 2 regional wrestling tournament in Medford Saturday, Feb. 10. Ostermann finished third at 144 pounds to advance to sectionals. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Ostermann (21-13) split his first two matches on the day but clinched a top-four finish and a sectional berth with a 17-4 major decision over Tomahawk’s Zander Zehner in the third-place match. He did not get a chance to wrestle back for second by virtue losing to Medford’s Parker Lissner, who lost the championship match, earlier in the day.

“Aiden went down to 144 and really capitalized and had his best day of competing,” Arneson said. “I think we left some points out on the mat in the match that we lost, but I really think he’s in a good space, mentally, going into next week. If we just fine-tune a few things, he could make some noise next weekend.”

The Hodags’ hopes for another sectional qualifier, and perhaps regional champion, went by the wayside last week in practice as junior Reid Schultz (16-4), the GNC champion at heavyweight, suffered a knee injury and was unable to compete Saturday.  

“He was wrestling really well. I don’t want to say that he would have qualified (for state), but I think we would have had another regional champion, just the way that he wrestles free and the explosiveness that he has,” Arneson said. “Injuries suck but, at the end of the day, we hopefully get another year out of Reid and he’ll come back better than ever.”

The Hodags had three seniors narrowly miss out on advancing, taking fifth in their respective weight classes. Gavin Liebherr was pinned in the fourth-place match at 106 by Neillsville’s Chase Linder. Exchange student Maxi Singhammer was stopped by Mosinee’s Andrew Nevienski in the final seconds of the second period in the fourth-place match at 190. Robert Schramke recorded two pins in the consolation bracket to wrestle back to fifth at 138. He did not get a chance to wrestle for fourth after Tomahawk’s Fletcher Baumann, who pinned Schramke earlier in the day, lost the third-place match. 

Dresden Klaver went 2-2 on the day, but was knocked out short of the placement rounds at 138. Anthony Boldt (126), Cyrus Leisure (150) and Dominic Hakala, who took Schultz’s spot at heavyweight, all went winless on the day.

“We lost some other matches today that it was our kids’ best matches as a whole and we lost, but it was fun to watch the kids go out there and compete,” Arneson said.

The three Hodags who advanced will have a chance to punch their ticket to the state tournament in their own backyard this Saturday as Tomahawk hosts the D2 sectional. The top three finishers in each weight class will advance to the individual state tournament Feb. 22-24 at the Kohl Center in Madison. 

In addition, Rhinelander will have two girls competing at sectionals — Mya Swanson and Taylor Dahlquist. There was no regional competition in the girls’ tournament and only the sectional champions in each weight class are guaranteed a spot in Madison.

“Hopefully next week we get as many as one, two or even three down to the state tournament,” Arneson said. “I think if we just take hold of the opportunity, that’s not unfeasible for the three boys that we have going and the two girls. We’ll have five wrestling. That’s an improvement from last year having one boy and two girls wrestling. We’re growing and, hopefully, in the near future, we have even more than that.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].