Rhinelander’s Kurtz reaches 100-win plateau

For Rhinelander High School senior Owen Kurtz, there was never a question as to whether he had the talent to reach the 100-win plateau in his high school wrestling career. Three conference titles and two sectional final appearances have certainly proved his acumen. 

The only thing that could keep Kurtz from the century mark was time. 

Kurtz, wrestling in his final home meet, reached the milestone on Thursday as the Hodags dropped a pair of dual meets, first to Tomahawk 54-30 and then to Wausau East 48-24, at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

Kurtz had two seasons truncated due to circumstances out of his control. The scheduled was severely compacted in 2021, coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, he missed the first month of competition recovering from a shoulder injury sustained during the football season. 

“Between my shoulder and COVID, I basically lost a year,” Kurtz said. “That’s like 30-40 matches. My brother (Alec) got his junior year and I’m like, ‘I could get it senior year, but I’m going to have to win a lot.’”

Kurtz got win No. 100 to close the curtain on the Hodags’ opening dual against the Hatchets. He did it in the most convincing way he could, taking only 22 seconds to pin Tomahawk’s Skylar Harper Dalvig. 

“I was just kind of going out there to get a win, like usual,” Kurtz said. “I tried to keep it in the back of my head a little bit, just like, ‘hey, 100 wins is a milestone, but I’ve just got to go out there and wrestle and make sure I get it.’

“It was amazing. I’m so glad it landed on senior night in our only home meet. It really just made the experience a lot better,” Kurtz added.

“When you’re supposed to do that kind of stuff, that’s what you do,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “There are some people that toy around with kids that are less skilled. I think that’s bad for the sport of wrestling. If you’re supposed to go out there and pin somebody, go out there and do that. He did that and in a classy way. There was a mat return in that match that, if he wasn’t a decent kid, he probably would have put him down a little bit harder, but Owen, I like to call him our gentle giant. He’s a class act, win or lose with respect and hopefully we can just continue this ride into February — and, hopefully, late February.”

Kurtz (34-1) added win No. 101 later in the evening with a second-period pin of Wausau East’s Elmer Heard in a 215-pound bout. Kurtz led 4-3 midway through that period as the two grappled for control. A quick move ended with Heard in a headlock and Kurtz finished the pin moments later. 

“He was listening to the coaches and put a little pizazz in his moves at the end of the match to eventually get the fall,” Arneson said. “Sometimes it just takes a little bit longer. He did a good job of staying disciplined and doing what the should be doing.”

Kurtz’s victories were the highlight for the Hodags, who fell to 4-7 in dual meets on the year and 1-4 in the Great Northern Conference. Tomahawk raced away in the lightweights in the opening dual. Reid Schultz picked up a pin for Rhinelander at 285 pounds to start the event, but the Hatchets reeled off five pins and a forfeit win from 106 to 138 to take a lead it would not relinquish. 

Cyrus Leisure and Aiden Ostermann scored back-to-back pins for Rhinelander at 144 and 150 to stop the Tomahawk run, but the Hodags forfeited at 157 and 165 to clinch the dual for the Hatchets. Logan Schwinger earned a pin for Rhinelander at 175 prior to Kurtz’s milestone pin. 

“Against Tomahawk we wrestled hard,” Arneson said. “We’re sick. They’re sick. We’re a little bit beat up. They’re a little bit beat up but everybody is at this time of the year. I told the kids I was proud of how they competed that first round. I still think there were some matches that got away from us but, at the end of the day, that first dual meet we competed hard.”

Wausau East, fresh off of edging Tomahawk 39-36 in the second match of the night, carried that momentum into their dual against the Hodags. Again Rhinelander got the first points, with Hoyt Dantoin picking up a forfeit win at 113. However, following a double forfeit at 120, Wausau East went on a 36-0 run that included five straight pins to take control of the match. 

Schwinger and Kurtz were the only Hodags to win contested bouts in the dual. Schultz added a forfeit win for Rhinelander at 285. 

Wausau invites

    Rhinelander’s Mya Swanson looks to pin Wausau East’s Alyvia Steinke during a exhibition bout in a triangular meet at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Thursday, Jan. 18. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags had a light crew on Saturday as they traveled to Wausau for the Wausau East Invite. A number of wrestlers, including Kurtz, were scratched from the meet and the Hodags fielded only six entries as they placed 17th in a 20-team field.

Schwinger had the best day for Rhinelander, taking sixth in the 175-pound bracket. He went 2-2 on the day, recording a pair of pins. Leisure was the only other Hodag to win a contested bout on the day as he finished 13th at 144.

Dantoin took eighth at 113, Gavin Liebherr was ninth at 106, Anthony Boldt was 12th at 126 and Gus Porter was 13th at 138.

Meanwhile, Mya Swanson was across town, wrestling in the Wisconsin Challenge Series finals at Wausau West. She ended up going 1-2 in a 32-wrestler bracket at 126 pounds and was knocked out in the consolation round before earning a place. Swanson started the day with a pin over La Crosse’s Rachel Hang, but then suffered back to back losses by pin.

“Overall, that Challenge Series, you see a lot of wrestlers that later on you see at the state tournament,” Hodag girls’ coach Eric Gobin said. “It’s a good opportunity to see the caliber of wrestlers that hopefully we see later on and gives us some things to work on and try to refine before we get down to the sectional tournament here.”

Swanson also picked up an exhibition win on Thursday night, pinning Wausau East’s Alyvia Steinke.

The Hodags are back in action tonight in a non-conference triangular hosted by Laona/Wabeno/Three Lakes. Meanwhile the Hodag girls have picked up another tournament and will wrestle in Marshfield this coming Saturday.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@rivernewsonline.com.