Hodag girls finish sixth in first GNC/WVC Challenge

The Rhinelander High School girls’ wrestling team got its first taste of conference competition on Tuesday as it took part in the first round of the Great Northern/Wisconsin Valley Conference challenge series in Wausau.

Nine of the 14 teams in the two conferences were in Wausau East on Tuesday and the Hodags, with five wrestlers, took sixth place on the night. 

Team scores weren’t the primary focus in the event. Rather it was about getting all who attended a chance to compete. The schools didn’t use the WIAA’s 12 defined weight classes verbatim, instead splitting the field into 20 separate classes based on weight and skill level. 

“The idea was to just try to get two girls that are of equal skill level to compete against each other. So, it worked out well,” Hodag girls’ wrestling coach Caleb Radtke said. “I think it’s great for girls wrestling, especially in the Great Northern Conference. I think we had 60 girls there tonight between the two conferences, the (GNC) and the Valley. All around great event, went really well. I think the girls like being able to wrestle at their own conference meet. And I think it’s I think it’s good for the sport.” 

Junior Cassidy Lindner improved to 10-1 on the season with a pair of wins on the night, starting with a first-period pin over Wausau West’s Ella Fabry before earning a technical fall in the second period over D.C. Everest’s Julie Vang.

“Another stellar performance for her. She beat that Ella Fabry from Wausau West. She had a couple of pretty close matches with her last season, and this one, she put it away in the first. So it was good to see the improvement from last year,” Radtke noted.

Freshman Katie Hazelton and junior Shyanne Hueckstaedt both split their matches on Tuesday, earning second place in their three-wrestler pools. Hazelton started her night with a pin over Wausau West’ Makayla Stieber but was stopped in the second period by Merrill senior Adison Clark. 

“She’s been competing really hard lately,” Radtke said. “Yeah, she’s scrappy. She’s young, she’s raw, but she’s scrappy, really fun to watch. I’m really excited to see what her future holds.” 

Hueckstaedt, a wrestling rookie, scored her first career victory by pinning Wausau West freshman Alexis Byers 57 seconds into their bout. Hueckstaedt was later pinned by Wausau East’s Brynnly Seefeldt. 

“It was her first match due to injury, and she won her first one ever. I know she was ecstatic about it. She’s really excited, ready to compete on Friday,” Radtke noted.

Skylar Leitl and Miranda Daab both went 0-2 on the night. Leitl took third at 148-151 while Daab lost twice to Lakeland’s Kady Lohoff and took second at 216-228.

Tuesday was the first of three GNC/WVC Challenge matches during the course of the season. The other two will take place next month preceding the GNC/WVC championship Feb. 6 in Medford.

Rebel Invite

No team scores were kept on Saturday, Dec. 13, but the Hodags had five wrestlers take part in the Rebel Invite in Crandon. 

Multiple weight classes were combined in the event in an effort to give more wrestlers more matches. Because of that, there nearly ended up being an all-Rhinelander final at 126-132. 

Lindner took the bracket. After holding off Negaunee’s Meah Kaye in an 11-10 decision in the preliminary rounds, Lindner reeled off three straight pins — including one over Kaye in the first period of the championship rematch — to take the title.

“Cassidy was actually up by, I think, seven points at one point in that match, and the girl, she was just bigger,” said Hodag boys’ coach Scottie Arneson, who filled in for Radtke on Saturday. “I think Cassidy’s on the small end of 126 and that girl is definitely on the, on the bigger side of 132. It was probably a 10- or 12-pound difference, and I think that size just kind of surprised Cassidy and once Cassidy realized that size doesn’t really matter if you have really good technique, she was able to pick her apart in that second match.”

Lindner nearly had to battle Hazelton in the championship match after she went 4-1 on the day — her only loss coming against Kaye in the semifinals. Hazelton pinned her other four opponents in the first period, including a fall over Menominee Nation’s Angel Sanapaw in just 25 seconds in the third-place match. 

“She’s a freshman. She comes to practice every day, has a great attitude, puts a big smile on her face. I know we don’t practice together, but that’s what Caleb would say,” Arneson said. “She comes and she’s ready to work. She doesn’t care how hard practices are, what the technique is. She going to give it her best go and,  it showed today on the mat. She’s exciting to watch.”

Rhinelander did have one intrasquad bout on the day as Leitl and senior Nevaeh Anderson grappled in a five-wrestler round robin at 152-165. Leitl pinned Anderson midway through the second period as part of a 2-2 day which was good enough for fourth in the bracket. Anderson placed fifth. 

Daab went 0-2 on the day, taking third in a three-wrestler bracket at 235.

Up next

The Rhinelander girls are back in action today as they host the Hodag Scramble in the Hodag Dome. Twenty-three girls teams are scheduled to take part in the meet, which gets underway at 9 a.m.

“Girls are excited. A lot of excitement around Friday right now. I think we have 22 or 23 girls teams there,” Radtke said. “So hopefully we can have some pretty full brackets, and there can be some good, good matches for the girls there.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].