Schwinger punches ticket to state wrestling tournament

Rhinelander High School senior Logan Schwinger made the most of his final chance to punch a ticket to the WIAA state wrestling tournament.

Schwinger needed only 34 seconds to stop Ellsworth’s Sawyer Van Horn in the third-place match at 190 pounds to earn his spot at the Kohl Center in Madison during a WIAA Division 2 boys’ sectional Saturday in Amery. 

Schwinger finished third in his bracket as the top three wrestlers advance. He became Rhinelander’s first boys’ wrestler since Gavin Ostermann in 2022 to make it to the state tournament.

“After I pinned the guy I got pretty hyped,” Schwinger told the River News following his match. “I jumped up and was shouting and yeah, I was pretty pumped up. I don’t normally do that. I kind of felt bad cause like I don’t want to seem like unsportsmanlike and everything, so I kind of like to do that, celebrate, off the mat. But, I don’t know, just the joy hit me pretty quick.”

The Hodags had the broad spectrum of joy and agony in a pair of sectionals spread across the state Friday and Saturday. While Schwinger advanced, senior Reid Schultz fell one win short of qualifying Saturday in Amery. Meanwhile, sophomore Cassidy Lindner also lost in a match with a trip to state on the line Friday in a girls’ sectional tournament in Shawano.

“There’s always highs and lows at the sectional tournament and today, we got to experience both of them,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “We went out there and competed really hard today and I’m really proud of our competitors.”

Schwinger (41-13), who advanced to sectionals with a runner-up finish in the Hayward regional last week, pinned Baldwin-Woodville’s Trevor Murdock to open Saturday’s tournament. His first crack at a state berth came against St. Croix Central’s Brock Swenson, but the eventual sectional champ pinned Schwinger just 1 minute into their semifinal bout.

A third-period pin in the wrestleback over Spencer/Columbus Catholic’s Jacob Soback gave Schwinger one more crack at the state tournament —and he made short work of Van Horn to advance. 

“I got a double overhook. I feel really comfortable in that position and I bumped him with my hip. He tried to hip down, and I just kind of drove into him and got him on his back and pinned him,” Schwinger said, describing his state-qualifying victory.

“He competed really hard today, put himself in positions where he likes to be in and capitalized on those positions,” Arneson said.

Schwinger lost a regional final rematch with Hayward’s Deangelo Sardina for second on Saturday. Schwinger led 6-3 late in the second period before Sardina got the tying takedown and eventual pin.

Schultz (35-8) was looking to join his fellow senior at state, but back-to-back losses ended his chances. After a second-period pin in the quarterfinals, Schultz ran into St. Croix Falls’ Logan Brockman in the semifinals and was unable to manage a late takedown in a 4-2 defeat. 

“He wrestled a really smart match in the semifinals and put himself in a really good position to win the match and we weren’t able to capitalize on it,” Arneson said. “We shot on a really nice sweep single with about 25 seconds left in the match and couldn’t finish it. That was a shot we’ve been able to finish on a lot of people this year. Today we weren’t and that was the difference between qualifying for the state tournament and not qualifying.”

From there, Schultz was upset by Lakeland’s Tyrone Moore in the wrestleback — a wrestler who Schultz had beaten multiple times this season. Arneson said he didn’t believe there were any lingering effects from the Brockman loss, but one mistake left Schultz in a position from which he couldn’t escape as he was pinned by Moore with 34 seconds left in the first period.

“When you get a full 285 pounds on top of your face in a headlock position, you run out of air when you’re trying to fight off for a minute,” Arneson said. “Any given day anybody can be beaten. It is really difficult to beat somebody four or five times and in a single season and today we were just a little bit short.”

    Rhinelander’s Cassidy Lindner wrestles Shawano’s Willow Goercki during a WIAA Division 2 girls’ wrestling sectional in Shawano Friday, Feb. 21. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

In Shawano on Friday, Lindner also made it one match away from the state tournament, placing third in the 120-pound weight class. Only the top two finishers from girls’ sectionals advanced to Madison.

Lindner (24-14) was pinned by Marinette’s Jazleen Fong-Baake in the second period with a trip to state on the line.

“It was a match from start to finish. I think both wrestlers had opportunities to walk away with that match. Marinette just ended up on top but very, very competitive, very, very tight match,” Hodag girls’ wrestling coach Caleb Radtke said.

Lindner started the tournament with a 4-0 win over Shiocton’s Aubrey Hess. She was pinned by eventual sectional champion Anna Behling of Bay Port in the semifinals and won a wrestleback over Seymour’s Willow Gorecki to earn the chance to wrestle for a state berth.

Though she finished one match short, Radtke said Lindner’s accomplishments this season, as a first-year wrestler, have been outstanding.

“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,” he said.

Hodag junior Mya Swanson (22-10) also competed at sectionals, but lost her opening round match to Bonduel’s Hailey Berg.

“The girl was very tough and very experienced. Mya wrestled tough through the first period there, but she’s pretty good.”

For Schwinger, the state tournament will begin Thursday night in Madison. He was set to learn his first-round opponent Sunday after press time for today’s edition. 

“I assume we’re just going to go in hard drilling Monday, Tuesday. Wednesday and then Thursday we’re just going to let her fly,” he said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].