Kurtz, Swanson voted Hodags’ most valuable wrestlers

Senior Owen Kurtz and sophomore Mya Swanson took home top honors for the Rhinelander High School wrestling team this year, having been voted the team’s most valuable male and female wrestlers. Awards were voted on by team members and presented Saturday during the team’s banquet held at the Crescent Town Hall.

The two had the strongest numbers of the season for their respective squads. Kurtz went 44-3 on the season, winning the Great Northern Conference title at 215 pounds as he took home co-wrestler of the year honors from the conference. He made it to the semifinals of the WIAA sectional tournament in Tomahawk, where he finished fourth — missing the WIAA state tournament by one position. 

Swanson went 14-11 on the season for the Hodag girls and was eliminated in the first round of the sectional tournament. 

“Owen and Mya, they did a really, really good job of being leaders. Being most valuable, you’re probably going to have a lot of wins. Both of them made that happen this year,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson told the River News after Saturday’s banquet. 

Swanson and junior Logan Schwinger were named the team’s most dedicated wrestlers, headlining the list of other award winners. 

“The ones I care about the most are the most dedicated and there were actually quite a few names that got voted on, which is awesome,” Arneson said. “A lot of the times it is the kids that are most successful being the most dedicated, but I really love giving the most dedicated award. Those two are very deserving. The wins that they put together throughout the last couple of years really shows they have been dedicated and it’s really awesome to see.”

Schwinger, who was also named one of the team’s most improved upperclassmen, posted a 36-13 record on the season and won the GNC title at 190 pounds before advancing to the sectional round of the WIAA tournament. 

“Logan just continues to get better and better and better,” Arneson said. “He’s already gone to one tournament after the season already and he’s going to another one next week. It just goes to show he cares and he wants to get better at the sport of wrestling. That’s why he’s won the most improved underclassman last year and most improved upperclassman this year. The proof is in the pudding. If you put in work, you’re going to get better at the sport. That’s important for the younger kids to see and be able to watch and see those kinds of things happening.”

Junior Reid Schultz shared the most improved upperclassman award with Schwinger. Freshmen Gage Anderson and Taylor Dahlquist were named the most improved underclassmen. Freshman Avrom Barr and senior Lillian Badgley earned Rookie of the Year honors. 

Schultz went 16-4 on the season and won the GNC title at 285 pounds, but suffered a knee injury a few days later that cost him the opportunity to wrestle in the postseason. 

“Reid didn’t wrestle last year (as a sophomore), but the amount of improvement that he made from day one of practice this year to the end of the year, I think if he wouldn’t have gotten injured, we might have been able to have another sectional qualifier,” Arneson said. “If all the stars aligned, maybe have been able to get through to the state tournament.”

Anderson and Barr wrestled only a handful of varsity matches for the team this year, and were not in the lineup for either the conference or regional competitions. Dahlquist as 0-6 on the girls’ side while Badgley did not register any matches on the year. Regardless, Arneson credited his rookies of the year and most improved underclassmen for their work at practice in the wrestling room. 

“They were putting in work after practice everyday and the kids really saw the importance of doing that,” he said. “They wrestled each other during the season and it was really fun to watch. You could see the stuff they were working on in practice is what they were doing in their matches.”

Additionally, Barr, Anderson and sophomore Cyrus Leisure were presented with Extra Mile awards for completing post-practice objectives aimed at improvement. The team also voted on its future class leaders. Schwinger, Schultz and Aiden Ostermann received the nod for the junior class, Leisure and Anthony Boldt where honored as sophomores. Barr and Anderson represented the freshman class.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].