Hodag wrestlers split matches in Mosinee

Able to fill the majority of the weight classes, the Rhinelander High School wrestling team split its two Great Northern Conference duals Thursday night in Mosinee.

The Hodags took advantage of seven Mosinee forfeits to get by the hosting Indians 42-30 before falling to Tomahawk 53-30.

Ivan Loka, Anthony Boldt, Logan Schwinger and Reid Schultz all had their hands raised twice during the night in the first two GNC duals of the year for the Hodags.

“We wrestled hard tonight,” Hodag wrestling coach Scottie Arneson said. “Couple of matches I thought we could’ve fared a little bit better, but sometimes our shoulder blades ended up finding the mat. But that happens both ways during dual meets and sometimes that’s the difference between winning and losing those dual meets is just finding a way to not get pinned.”

Though Rhinelander won only two of the six contested bouts against Mosinee, it took advantage of the holes in Mosinee’s lineup to secure 30 free points.

Trailing 18-0 early in the dual Loka, a sophomore, put the Hodags on the board with a first-period pin against Mason Fleming.

“Ivan Loka ended up getting the big pin for us at 126 against a like-quality opponent,” Arneson said. “I think they said their guy was a second-year wrestler and Ivan being a first-year wrestler. He was able to lock up a cradle in the first period and get a pin for our team was really big on the team score.”

Mosinee claimed wins at 132 and 157 pounds while Avrom Barr (138), Boldt (144) Gage Anderson (150) and Jeffrey Dupree (165) all received forfeits, tying the dual at 30. After neither squad sent out a wrestler at 175 of 190, it came down to the final two weight classes. Schwinger, a senior, got the job done for the Hodags, pinning Mosinee’s Bruce Hintz late in the first period at 215 to lock up the win. Schultz added a forfeit win for the Hodags at heavyweight to round out the scoring.

“Logan ended up wrestling he had a couple decent matches with Owen (Kurtz) last year, Owen won by points a couple times and Logan was able to get a first period pin. Stylistically, that was a good match for us,” Arneson noted.

Loka picked up his second win of the night, stopping Tomahawk’s Kenny Aleman in the third period of their bout to put the Hodags on the board in their dual against the Hatchets. 

“Ivan was in a really close match and ended up finding a way to capitalize on good position and force the other guy shoulders into the mat,” Arneson said. “He’s a pretty even-keeled kid. He doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low with his emotions. He just kind of bops around. I think he did a pretty good job tonight. I was like, ‘Yeah! You got two conference wins tonight.’ I would say that’s a pretty big deal. For a young kid, I wish he’s get a little bit more excited about his wins but again he doesn’t get too low with his losses. You win some, you lose some, it’s kind of how he approaches it but yeah, we’re pretty proud of him tonight.”

Boldt, Dresden Klaver (157), Schwinger (190) and Schultz all secured first-period pins for Rhinelander in the match. Tomahawk claimed seven of the 12 contested bouts as it was able to field a full lineup. The Hodags forfeited at 106 and 175.

“Our upperclassmen are doing a really good job. When they’re supposed to win, they find a way to do it,” Arneson noted. “Kids are wrestling hard right now. I’d like to see a little bit more grit out of them, but they’re wrestling hard and sometimes you are just outmatched. That’s what was a lot of the case in the in the Tomahawk match, (going against) kids with more experience.” 

In particular, Arneson said Klaver, a senior, picked up a quality win over Tomahawk’s Fletcher Baumann, a sectional qualifier from a year ago. 

“We came out and we missed on a big headlock off during the first period, but found a way to slow the match down and capitalize on another position in the front headlock where or we know that we’re good or able to lock up cradle and get the pin,” Arneson said.

Tomahawk won both of its duals on Tuesday, also defeating Antigo 48-29. Mosinee, despite forfeiting seven weight classes, was able to edge Antigo 41-36.

Rhinelander (3-1, 1-1 Great Northern) will host a GNC double dual this Thursday, which will be its only meet of the year at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Rhinelander will wrestle Lakeland in the annual Handrick Hammer dual to start the night before taking on defending GNC champion Medford. 

“(We’re) home next week (and) hopefully we can get a bunch of our youth kids there supporting, some community members to come out and support,” Arneson said. “I think we’ve got a good opportunity next week to have a couple good matches, and hopefully we can string together some more wins.”

Matches will get underway at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].