Krizan, Duellman named two of Lakeland Conference’s top wrestlers

ALL-LAKELAND CONFERENCE WRESTLING

Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe wrestlers Julian Krizan and Troy Duellman were named to the 16-man All-Lakeland Conference wrestling team for the 202021 season.

Krizan and Duellman were part of a three-man crew from Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe that joined two wrestlers from Turtle Lake-Clayton to compete in dual meets throughout the unusual wrestling season. Braeden Person was the other Wolfpack representative. All three Wolfpack wrestlers this year are students at Gilman High School.

The Lakeland Conference did not have a league tournament this season. With the Wolfpack and Turtle Lake-Clayton wrestling together and Flambeau not fielding a team, the conference had six squads this season that faced off in duals, exhibition matches and, eventually, multi-team duals to get their participants as many matches as possible before the WIAA tournament began on Jan. 30.

Overall, the Wolfpack/Turtle Lake-Clayton co-op went 2-6 in the dual meets it was able to schedule with wins over conference foes Bruce and Unity. The co-op lost to Clear Lake, the Luck Co-op twice, Shell Lake and to Chequamegon and Ladysmith in non-conference duals.

Krizan, the 152-pound conference champion last year, was credited with a 12-2 record in his junior season that included a fifth-place WIAA Division 3 sectional finish at 170 pounds. He wrestled at 160, 170 and even 182 pounds this winter.

One of his season highlights came in his opening match when he got a takedown as time expired to beat Clear Lake’s All-Lakeland wrestler Lukas Paulson 3-2. He earned notable conference wins over Gunner Schumacher (pin in 1:02) and Donovan Johnson of Unity (15-0 technical fall) and beat Chequamegon’s Dominic Schmidt (18-4 major decision) and Ladysmith’s Matthew Roach (pin in 3:10).

He won the 170-pound WIAA regional championship with a pin in 2:32 over Thor Sather of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/ Prairie Farm and a 7-2 win over Roach.

Krizan pinned Boyceville’s Kyle Lipke in 1:28 at the sectional meet in St. Croix Falls before getting pinned in the third period by Stratford’s Logan Rueth, the eventual champion, and Roach, who finished third.

Duellman, a freshman, was credited with an 11-5 record wrestling at 132 or 138 pounds.

Among his regular-season wins were a pin in 4:32 over Bruce’s Harold Garcia, a pin in 3:21 over Zeke Franks of Chequamegon, a 5-0 victory over the Luck Co-op Cory Popham, a pin in 3:58 over Unity’s Ashten Christensen and a big 3-1 win over Ladysmith’s Derek Vollendorf.

Duellman put up good fights in losses to Clear Lake’s All-Lakeland wrestlers Shane Larson (2-0) and Tyler Sunday (70). He lost 6-3 to Shell Lake’s 2020 state qualifier Tyler Schunck, 4-0 to Clear Lake’s 2020 state qualifier Dominic Leintz and 12-3 to the Luck Co-op’s 2020 state qualifier Taeden Nichols.

Duellman went 2-1 in the regional tournament hosted by Cornell, pinning Garcia and Jackson Ernst of Chequamegon. He went 2-2 at the sectional meet at 132 pounds, earning revenge wins over Larson (pin 3:59) and Justin Fowler of Chetek-Prairie Farm/ Weyerhaeuser (3-1). Fowler had beaten him 4-3 at the regional. He lost a close 5-2 match to Schunck.

Clear Lake leads the All-Lakeland list with four representatives. Shell Lake and the Luck Co-op had three representatives each. The conference sent three wrestlers to state competition. The Luck Co-op’s Nolan Johnson placed fifth at 106 pounds in Division 2. Sunday was fifth at 138 pounds in Division 3 and Shell Lake’s Blake Flach was sixth at 182 pounds in Division 3.