Schwinger bows out in second round of state wrestling tournament

Rhinelander senior Logan Schwinger went winless in his two matches at the WIAA individual state wrestling tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Schwinger was pinned in the opening round by Trei Udelhoven of the Belleville co-op Thursday night and then lost in the consolation bracket Friday afternoon to Hayward’s Deangelo Sardina.

Schwinger ended his senior season with a 41-15 record, closing out a career that showed tremendous improvement, according to Hodag coach Scottie Arneson.

“Logan, from the time he stepped foot in wrestling room — the high school practice room — to now, we’ve seen probably the most significant growth out of any of our kids that have gone through our system. Couldn’t be more proud. He went out there and he competed hard,” Arneson said after Friday’s loss. “I think the bright lights were a little surprise to him yesterday in his first one, but he went out there today and competed the best that he has against the Hayward wrestler. He had a couple different situations where he put himself in a position to win and we weren’t able to capitalize.”

Though Schwinger was the No. 8 seed in a 12-man bracket in the Division 2, 190-pound weight class, he faced a tough draw against the ninth-seeded Udelhoven, who came into the state tournament with only five losses. 

Arneson said, following an early injury stoppage, Udelhoven was able to make quick work of Schwinger, pinning him 1:23 into the first period. 

“We ended up accidentally poking the kid in the eye right away in the match and then there was a little bit of an injury time,” Arneson explained. “The kid shot in on a double leg right away finished on us really quick. Logan tried to hit the switch and I guess you could say caught on his back and wasn’t able to get off before the ref called the pin. It was a really quick sequence of events. If we tried I don’t think we could put ourselves in that situation two times in a row, even if we tried to put our self back in that situation.”

The loss set up another rematch with Sardina, who won three meetings against Schwinger this season — including a match for the regional championship and another for second place at sectionals. 

Sardina scored a late first-period takedown against Schwinger to lead 3-0 after a period. Sardina then got an escape to go up 4-0 after two period. Choosing to start neutral in the third period, Schwinger was not able to get the takedown and back points he needed to make a rally. Sardina got a takedown in the final seconds to secure the 7-0 decision, but Arneson said Schwinger had chances in the final period. 

“We ended up throwing a nice lateral out of bounds and I feel like if that was two feet closer to the center of the circle, we would end up getting a pin,” he said. “There’s a 28-foot circle for a reason and we were about six inches out of bounds. That’s the difference. Every sport is the game of inches but in the instance today, it was about six inches out of bounds and that’s the difference of getting the third match at the state tournament and going home after two.”

Despite the losses, Arneson said Schwinger was had a positive mindset after his run at state came to a close.  

“He’s in a good mood right now and he’s in good spirits. I think he realized that it would’ve been really tough to get onto the podium, but that this was a really good goal for him. The goal was to make it and he certainly did that so I couldn’t be more proud of him.

Schwinger was the Hodags’ first qualifier for the WIAA boys’ state wrestling tournament since Gavin Ostermann in 2022.

“He’s proud of himself and at the end of the day that’s what really matters, if you can look at yourself with 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 towards him. He’s a good leader for not only wrestling but the community Rhinelander.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].