Team review: RHS wrestling

The Rhinelander High School wrestling team ended up in fourth place in the Great Northern Conference this season, but the fact that it had a legitimate chance to finish second entering the conference tournament proved two points — first, that the GNC has as much parity as ever and second, that the Hodags are making their way back into the mix following a few lean years. 

Rhinelander went into the GNC tournament tied for second in the conference standings but a fifth-place finish there dropped the Hodags to fourth in the final standings. Still the Hodags went 6-3 in dual meets this season, had six all-conference wrestlers, a total of four wrestlers between the boys’ and girls’ programs qualify for sectionals and their first boys’ state qualifier since 2022 in senior Logan Schwinger.

“I think that that’s a big improvement from where we were just two years ago,” coach Scottie Arneson said last Sunday at the team’s banquet. 

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.

Dual success

The last few years the Hodags seemed to have more success in tournaments than dueling teams head-to-head. That narrative flipped this season as the Hodags posted a winning record in the Great Northern Conference, and notched a few key wins along the way. 

Availability proved to be Rhinelander’s best ability as it took advantage of seven forfeits in a 42-30 victory at Mosinee. A week later, the Hodags came home and notched their two biggest victories of the season.  

First the Hodags knocked off arch rival Lakeland 42-27 to reclaim the Handrick Hammer. Then the Hodags stunned defending GNC-champion Medford 41-36. The wins were a significant milestone for Arneson in this fourth season at the helm of the program. It marked Rhinelander’s first dual meet win over Lakeland since 2021, and the team’s first win over Medford since its last GNC title back in 2018.

“There’s matches tonight that we could’ve lost and we ended up pulling out wins and matches that we lost that we could’ve won ... tonight was a good night for us,” Arneson said. “Anytime that you can get some conference wins, it’s a good thing and our kids are really excited.”

Rhinelander also scored a pair of non-conference wins over Phillips and Merrill’s varsity reserves in a triangular Jan. 3 and split a triangular in Three Lakes Jan. 30, defeating Iron Mountain, Mich., before falling to Laona/Wabeno/Three Lakes.

Late season lumps

The Hodags hoped to carry that momentum into February as they sought their best finish in conference since 2018. However a 46-27 loss to Antigo in the dual meet finale was followed by a fifth-place showing at the GNC tournament. Ultimately a lack of depth cost the Hodags in both cases. Rhinelander forfeited four weight classes in the loss to Antigo and again had four classes open at conference. The Hodags finished only two points behind Lakeland at the conference tournament, which proved to be the difference between finishing fourth overall in the GNC and tying for third. 

“Two or three more wins probably would’ve got us in the third place today which is how close the team race was for that second place spot today,” Arneson said. “I think that the conference is very balanced in the aspect of team points and where everybody’s abilities are.”

The Hodags had some individual highlights at conference as senior Reid Schultz repeated as conference champion at 285 pounds and was one of six Hodags who received all-conference honor by placing in the top three at conference. Senior Logan Schwinger was the runner-up at 175 and the Hodags had four other wrestlers take home third in their brackets and receive honorable mention — Avrom Barr (138), Anthony Boldt (144), Dresden Klaver (157) and Jeffree Dupree (165).

Team success was also hard to come by for the Hodags at regionals. While Schultz and Schwinger finished as the runners-up in their brackets, there were the only of the 10 wrestlers the Hodags sent to Hayward who advanced to sectionals.

“Definitely wasn’t our best wrestling,” Arneson said. “I kind of figured that two would be the worst day that we could have in the aspect of sectional qualifiers and that’s exactly what we had. I thought five would’ve been a really like almost perfect day with who was at what weight classes but two’s what we got.”

Schwinger at state

Schultz’s bid at a state tournament trip came up short at sectionals where a 4-2 loss in the semifinals to St. Croix Falls’ Logan Brockman followed by an upset loss to Lakeland’s Tyrone Moore in the wrestleback ended his chances. 

Schwinger however was about to get through, working his way through the wrestleback after a loss in the semifinals. He needed only 34 seconds to stop Ellsworth’s Sawyer Van Horn in the third-place match at 190 pounds to earn his spot in Madison.

Schwinger lost both of his matches at state — the last one to Hayward’s DeAngelo Sardina, who also beat Schwinger at regionals and sectionals — but it was a capper to a career that began with only eight wins as a freshman and ended with 41 wins on the season, more than 100 for his career, and a trip to the Kohl Center. 

“He’s proud of himself and at the end of the day that’s what really matters, if you can look at yourself in the mirror and say ‘Hey, I finished it out right,’” Arneson said. “I really hope that’s how all of our seniors end up their career. He’s going to continue doing good things. He smiles a lot, he jokes around a lot and people gravitate toward him. He’s a good leader for not only wrestling but the community of Rhinelander.”

Girls’ season

    In this Jan. 11, 2025 file photo Rhinelander’s Cassidy Lindner looks to gain control over Wisconsin Rapids’ Elia Nyquist during the Bluejay Challenge wrestling tournament in Merrill. Lindner, a sophomore, went 24-14 as a first-year wrestler and finished one win away from qualifying for the WIAA state tournament. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

2024-25 marked the second year of separate girls’ program for the Hodags. Rhinelander ended up with three wrestlers this year, one of whom nearly made an improbable run from newbie to state qualifier. 

Sophomore Cassidy Lindner took to the sport quickly, posting an impressive 24-14 record as a rookie. She made it through regionals and ended up one win away from qualifying for the WIAA state tournament. She was pinned by Marinette’s Jazleen Fong-Baake in the second period with a trip to state on the line.

“I mean she was obviously upset after the last match but after I said three months ago, we’ve never stepped on a mat. We didn’t know how to stand and we had two cracks at making it,” Hodag girls’ coach Caleb Radtke said.

The lone returning wrestler with varsity experience, junior Mya Swanson, went 22-10 on the year and qualified for sectionals before bowing out in the first round of that tournament. Freshman Miranda Daab went 5-16 and was eliminated in regionals.

Despite the low numbers, Radtke said the Hodags were able to fare well this season in tournaments thanks to a number of high finishes by Lindner and Swanson. 

“We had a pretty successful season, I would say, with only three girls scoring points,” he said during the team’s banquet. “We consistently placed in the top half of teams and tournaments.”

What’s next

Recruiting and retention were key words for both teams at last month’s banquet. The Hodag boys are slated to lose five seniors — including all-conference recipients in Schwinger, Schultz and Klaver along with another former all-conference honoree, Aiden Ostermann, who was unable to compete this year due to injury. 

That will take a toll on the upper half of the Hodags’ lineup. Arneson said, from a numbers standpoint, the team hopes to recoup the losses through wrestlers moving up from the middle school ranks. 

“We do have five boys that were on the eighth-grade roster this year, and it’s very important to make sure that we get all five of them,” he said. We lose five seniors this year, so just replacing those five with five more is definitely important … We can really grow our team and hopefully have 25, 26, 27, almost 30 people between the girls’ and the guys’ teams.”

The Hodag girls are in the enviable position where all three of their wrestlers are due back. They, as well, have five girls slated to come up from the middle school and Radtke said the goal will be for the team to fill closer to a full lineup next season. 

“It would be a lot more fun if we had a full team of girls where we could be dueling other girls’ teams around the state,” he said. “Very optimistic about next season and I look forward to seeing you all back next year.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].