RHS girls grapple in Marshfield, Merrill

The Rhinelander High School girls’ wrestling team took part in its final two tune-ups prior to championship season over the past several days. First, the Hodags were 18th in the 31-team Queen of the Mat Invite in Marshfield on Saturday, Jan. 31. The Hodags followed that up with an eighth-place performance in invite at Merrill on Tuesday.

Saturday’s meet in Marshfield featured 31 high school teams and hundreds of youth wrestlers in an all-girls format. Hodag Caleb Radtke called the event “an awesome thing for girls’ wrestling” as the sport continues to grow in participation and popularity.

“I think the vibes are great. I mean, you got all levels of wrestling there on the same day. You had youth kids that were there able to watch the high schoolers wrestle and vice versa. Just a great event all around,” he said. 

Junior Cassidy Lindner ran into some tough competition, falling to a pair of wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in the state at 120 pounds as she finished fourth on the day. Lindner had a pin and two technical falls to her credit, but was pinned by undefeated Daelin Cody in the semifinals and then dropped a 7-2 decision to Megan Schuenemann in the third-place match. 

“She had a tough day. Obviously, she’s a little bit disappointed in her third-place match. I think she would agree with me when I say she was better than that girl, but just couldn’t piece it together. She had some opportunities late in the third period there. That girl got pretty tired, and we were just unable to capitalize on some of them,” Radtke said. “Other than that, she beat a pretty good girl from Janesville (Haley Zimmerman). I mean, there was a lot of highlights. She looked really good on bottom, moved well. She was able to get out a couple of times and so that was positive to see.”

Freshman Katie Hazelton made the top eight in the 132-pound bracket, taking eighth as she had two pins to her credit on the day. 

“Katie wrestled really well. She was very aggressive. We have not seen that in previous tournaments, so this was a big improvement and a big step for her, I think,” Radtke said. “She was opening up quite a bit and taking some shots and getting some nice takedowns. So that was positive to see. Being a freshman at 132 pounds is I mean, there’s a very tough tournament so that’s really exciting to see. I think she’s got very bright future.”

Miranda Daab dropped all four of her matches as she finished fifth at 235 pounds while Skylar Leitl lost a pair of matches and did not place at 152. 

CWWWL Finale at Merrill

Lindner (37-5) got back to her winning ways Tuesday night in Merrill, going 3-0 with three pins to cruise to the win at 120 pounds. 

Her night included a second-period pin over Merrill’s Kendall Klug in the championship match, which could be a precursor to a rematch tonight in the conference tournament. 

“I think it was good for her to see Klug tonight again,” Radtke said. “I think we will see her again. She’s a very, very good opponent. She’s a state qualifier last year. She’s got some experience. It’s gonna be a tough match. It should be exciting to watch next Friday again.”

Leitl finished third at 152, going 1-2 on the night. She pinned Somerr Ridgeway of the Laona/Wabeno/Three Lakes co-op late in the second period in her final match of the evening. 

“I think it was good confidence boost for her,” Radtke noted. “She looked tough. She battled. She actually got scored on first and then came back and was able to put it away.”

Daab went 0-4 on the night and finished fifth at 235.

Conference ahead

Teams in the Great Northern and Wisconsin Valley conferences head to Medford tonight for the inaugural GNC/WVC meet. For the first time, the Hodags will have a chance to compete for individual conference titles.

“I think the girls are really looking forward and excited to wrestling Friday night in Medford for conference,” Radtke said. “I think it’s a good thing for the GNC to finally be able to crown a girls’ conference champion. So I think our girls are excited to go fight for that title.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].