Hodag wrestlers go 2-1 in Phillips Quad

The Rhinelander High School wrestling team doubled its number of dual meet wins on the season, going 2-1 in a quadrangular meet in Phillips on Tuesday. 

The Hodags defeated Flambeau 60-6 and Athens 48-17 before falling to Phillips in the final round, 52-27.

“Any time you can get dual wins, it’s awesome. Especially when you’re a young team. I know our kids competed hard in the first couple of duals,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “I don’t know if we were just tired or if we were outmatched in the Phillips match, but I feel like we could have competed harder in that dual. But when you get two duals, it’s always a good thing. Just getting those two duals and seeing the kids fight hard even if they were losing and trying to conserve team points, it’s a good thing.”

Availability helped the Hodags in the first two matches. Rhinelander scored five forfeit wins against Flambeau, but also went 5-1 in contested bouts. Logan Schwinger started the night with an injury default win at 175 pounds while Gavin Dotter (190), Reid Schultz (285), Anthony Boldt (126) and Cyrus Leisure (144) all earned pins. 

There were only three contested bouts against Athens — and the Bluejays won all three — but the Hodags scored eight forfeit victories to win that dual. 

After dropping the first three bouts against Phillips, the Hodags went ahead 22-16 in that dual thanks to pins by Kurtz and Schultz, a forfeit win for Gavin Liebherr (106) and a 4-0 decision for Hoyt Dantoin over Journee Wood at 113. Rhinelander won only one more match the rest of the way, as Robert Schramke picked up a forfeit win at 138.

Kurtz and Schultz both finished 3-0 on the night for Rhinelander. Kurtz benefited from a couple of forfeit wins as he moved to 32-1 on the season and picked up his 99th career victory. He was on pace to score win No. 100 on Thursday during a home triangular against Tomahawk and Wausau East that concluded after press time for this edition. 

Liebherr, Dantoin, Boldt, Leisure, Aiden Ostermann, Schwinger and Dotter all picked up two wins on the night. 

“If you look at the match scores, the kids that competed hard, it will show on their scores,” Arneson said. “Our freshmen did a really good job keeping matches closer than maybe they should have been. Seeing that fight out of the younger high school wrestlers was awesome to see. It shows that they care and they want to be successful.”

The Hodags (4-5, 1-3 Great Northern) are looking for at least one more dual meet victory to finish with their highest win total in a season since 2017-18. The team also had four wins in the 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2021-22 campaigns.

Tuesday’s meet was part of a busy end to the regular season for Rhinelander. In addition to last night’s triangular, the Hodags head to Wausau East for an invite on Saturday and will travel to Three Lakes for a triangular meet this coming Tuesday. From there, the Hodags will have a break in their schedule leading up to the Great Northern Conference tournament in Antigo Feb. 3.

“This is going to be a tough stretch, especially for our kids that are losing a little bit of weight. But, at the end of the day, it’s going to work out. Then we have a 10-day window of just practices (before conference),” Arneson said. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].