Hodag grapplers take down Medford in home finale

The Rhinelander High School boys’ wrestling team had a bright spot Thursday night in its final home appearance of the season. 

The Hodags won five on nine contested bouts, and received forfeit victories in three others, as they defeated the Medford Raiders 46-24 in GNC dual meet play.

It was the first dual meet win of the season for Rhinelander, and a high point on the year for coach Scottie Arneson.

“I think that was, as a whole, the best night that we’ve wrestled in probably years,” he said. “I don’t know if that was the level of competition, but sometimes, just being able to go out there and open up, makes it look like, we’re outmatching people. I think our kids went out there and fought really hard.

“It was really good to see. It looked like we weren’t going out there and planning wrestling moves. We were just going out there and executing, which is what you want it to be.”

Rhinelander (1-3 Great Northern) made its hay in the middle weights, winning five straight matches between 126 and 157 pounds, with only a double forfeit at 150 pausing the run. 

    Rhinelander’s Michael Tredupp gets his arm raised after pinning Medford’s Xander Cynor during a GNC boys’ wrestling dual meet at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Thursday, Jan. 22. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

First-year wrestler Michael Tredupp started the run for the Hodags, controlling the 126-pound bought over Medford’s Zander Cynor. Tredupp led 9-2 before finishing off a pin with 12 seconds remaining in the first period. 

“He is one of them that has been asking a lot of questions at practice and wants to get better. Came out as a junior, so you’re always wondering how much success they can really have, but he watches wrestling when we’re not at wrestling and he’s really starting to pick up on it really quickly,” Arneson said.

Ivan Loka followed with a pin 59 seconds into the 132-pound match, despite surrendering the opening takedown to Medford’s Ayden Tyznik. Hoyt Dantoin also found himself trailing after a period, 5-3. to Medford’s Corey McVicker at 138. Dantoin chose to ride in the second period, never let McVicker off the mat and finished the fall at the 2:52 mark.

“(Ivan) usually gives up a first takedown right away, but finds a way to put himself in positions and he’s starting to set stuff up where he knows if he gets in certain situations he can capitalize on them,” Arneson said. “Hoyt put together a really nice match, got a quick takedown in a front headlock, which is a position that he wants to get in more often. He rushed a crossface cradle, tried to take it over too quickly and gave up a reversal, but just stayed disciplined and found a way to get the pin.”

Avrom Barr broke open the only match that went the distance as he defeated Medford’s Levi Zuleger by major decision 12-1 at 144. That was a 3-1 match until Barr scored a takedown with two seconds remaining in the second. Barr fought off the bottom in the third, and got a reversal with 53 seconds remaining and had Zuleger on his back as time expired. 

“He just stayed, stayed disciplined. He capitalized on positions that he’s good at and he had some really good mat returns,” Arneson said. “You can really demoralize somebody if they get to their feet and you just keep bringing them back down instead of giving them an escape.”

The Hodags bumped senior Anthony Boldt up from 150 to 157 to give him a match in his final home meet. He made short work of Medford’s Evan Rinehart, getting the fall at the 1:37 mark. Arneson said it was worth passing up the six free points for a forfeit win at 150 to ensure Boldt got a match on senior night. 

“If you make it through the program, and there’s an opportunity to wrestle on senior night where it’s maybe not gonna affect the team score all that much, I’m always going to try and get those seniors a match on their senior night,” he said.

Gage Anderson (165), Dawson Sachse (190) and Brock Sternitzky (285) all received forfeit wins for the Hodags. Both teams forfeited at 113 and 150. 

Hunter Lageman (106), Korbyn Schultz (120), Ashton Noland (175) and Jackson Mayer (215) recorded pins for Medford, defeating Juan Diego Grage, Noah Monk, Brayden Krieg and Pedro Mata, respectively. 

Thursday marked the first time this season that the Hodags did not give up any points via forfeit in a dual, as they filled 12 of the 14 classes.

“That’s obviously the plan is to get a team that can fill all of them,” Arneson said. “I think we would have had all 14 this year, but that recipe just wasn’t there for us this year. We’re gonna still try and fill as many as we can and wrestle as hard as we can for the remaining matches.”

The Hodags were back in action Saturday at the Wausau East Invite, which concluded after deadline for today’s edition. Visit RiverNewsOnline.com for a recap of that match and read a full report in Friday’s River News. 

Rhinelander travels to Mosinee for a GNC dual meet on Tuesday and heads to Antigo this coming Thursday where it will wrestle the Robins in a conference dual and also face Clintonville as part of a triangular.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].