Hodag wrestlers take 18th in Merrill

After an unplanned and extended holiday layoff, the Rhinelander High School wrestling team finally got back on the mat Saturday, finishing 18th in the 26-team Bluejay Challenge in Merrill.

It marked Rhinelander’s first competition in more than two weeks, after the team’s trip to the Northern Badger tournament in River Falls over the holiday break was nixed due to a spate of illnesses among the team members. Coach Scottie Arneson said the Hodags were eager to get back to competition.

“It was really awesome. We had four really good practices going into Saturday, so we were all excited to see what we were going to get out of them, competition-wise,” he said. “I think our team met expectations, if not exceeded a little bit.”

Arneson said the extended layoff had its positives and negatives. 

“I think, naturally, having a 20-day hiatus from exterior competition is always going to be a setback but you’ve got to learn how to roll with the punches, especially in a combat sport like wrestling,” he said. “Sometimes it allows injuries to heal up from people that are a little bit bumped and bruised but, at this point in the season, everybody’s a little bit bumped and bruised. I think we’re going to be ready to rock in a little bit here.”

Owen Kurtz (22-1) did not miss much of a beat off the layoff, though a couple of extra pounds over the holidays forced the senior back into the 285-pound weight class on Saturday after wrestling the last few times out at 215. Kurtz rolled through the preliminary rounds with three pins, earned a 10-1 major decision over Edgar’s Harrison Graveen in the semifinals and a 9-1 major decision over Crandon’s Connor Lawrence in the finals.

“I think having that experience at 215 wrestling the little bit lighter guys and wrestling more like a little guy has only helped him as a wrestler,” Arneson said, noting that he hopes to have Kurtz back to 215 as early as this week. “Owen wrestled really well throughout the day. He put himself in some positions he doesn’t normally put himself in, and he still was able to capitalize and score a lot of points in those positions. He did a really good job today.”

Three other wrestlers ended up in the top half of their brackets on Saturday. Junior Logan Schwinger came home fifth at 175 pounds, Reid Schultz finished seventh as the Hodags’ second entry at 285 and Aiden Ostermann took eighth at 150.

Schwinger (15-8) split his matches in pool competition, and a loss to eventual runner-up Riley Johnson of Chetek-Weyerhauser relegated him into the consolation bracket. Schwinger earned a pair of pins from there to come home fifth. 

“He opened up in the last match, did some stuff we’ve been trying to work on in practice a little bit more and he really showed the hard work in the practice room is paying off,” Arneson said. 

Schultz had not competed for Rhinelander since a triangular at Amherst Dec. 15, missing the Hodag Scramble due to illness. He went 2-2 on the day, recording a pair of pins. 

“He had tough, six-minute matches for the first two and he really showed that he could withstand pushing and pulling on heavyweights for a long period of time, which is a positive thing,” Arneson said. “I think him not having those five matches (at the Hodag Scramble) definitely had something to do with the gas tank that he had today, but he’ll get those lungs back real quick.”

Ostermann won his opening match at 150 to get into the round of eight, but dropped three straight matches after that to finish eighth. 

The Hodags had four other wrestlers compete in varsity brackets on Saturday. Anthony Boldt was 10th at 126, Dresden Klaver took 15th at 138, Cyrus Leisure was 14th at 144 and Gavin Dotter was 21st at 190. Additionally, the Hodags had a number of wrestlers compete in junior varsity brackets. Shayden Hylleberg won his four-man pool at 215. Avrom Barr, Robert Schramke and Augustus Porter were all runners-up in their pools. 

“For our kids to mostly get five matches apiece, that’s awesome for our young, developing team,” Arneson said. “For young kids, it’s just getting mat time. At this point of the season, wrestling each other in practice, you almost get lackadaisical in a way, just because you know how the other person is going to respond when you do certain things to them. Just getting all those matches is important.”

The Bluejay Challenge featured a girls bracket as well. Rhinelander had only one girl compete, with Mya Swanson taking fifth in a six-wrestler bracket at 126 pounds. Swanson (11-6) was pinned in the third period of her opening match by Tri-County’s Brianna Garcia and came back to pin Tomahawk’s Reese Molitar in the consolation round.

Rhinelander was one of four GNC schools in the field, all of whom will see each other again on Thursday in a quadrangular meet in Tomahawk. Tomahawk finished 11th, Lakeland was 15th and Antigo took 19th. Rhinelander will battle Antigo and Lakeland as part of Thursday’s competition. 

“I think they’ll be two evenly-matched duals,” Arneson said. “The coaches, we’re all getting excited because we are very, very similar in age and experience. Just seeing who we compete against next week, we’re all really excited.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].