Co-op wrestlers take third in Antigo tourney

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Abby-Colby wrestling team traveled to Antigo for the 2023 John Roberts Scramble this past Saturday. In their first tournament of the season, the squad performed well, taking third place out of 16 teams in the boys tournament and eighth out of 15 teams in the girls tournament.

Despite the boys team fielding the fifth smallest team with nine wrestlers competing, they were extremely competitive in what weight classes they could fill. They came away with six top-three finishes and eight of their athletes scored in the double digits based on their performances, with their ninth wrestler only not doing so because Abby-Colby already had another wrestler score in that weight class. The boys team finished with 241.0 points, putting them only behind Marathon’s 305.5 and Hayward’s 263.5.

The girls’ team finished with 30.5 points with three athletes competing on Saturday. Wausau West, fielding 16 wrestlers, took first place with 86.5 points, Pulaski took second with 84.5 points and Ashland placed third with 82.0 points.

Senior Tanner Halopka picked up where he left off two years ago. After missing his junior season due to injury, the two-time state qualifier came back with a first place performance in Antigo, winning all four of his matches in the 165-pound weight class.

He quickly dispatched his first two opponents in the opening rounds, defeating Kai Wayka of Menominee Indian and Fisher Ferkett of Waupaca by pin in under twenty seconds. The victories placed Halopka in the championship bracket, where he was matched up with Ashland’s Connor Kaseno in the first round. While Kaseno managed to hang on longer than Halopka’s first two opponents, it was still a first round victory for the Abby-Colby senior, who won by fall in 1:16.

The first place match with Antigo’s Nolan Kielcheski lasted three rounds, but Halopka still dominated the affair. He racked up a 5-0 lead in the first round after getting a takedown and a nearfall. Nielcheski finally managed to get a point off of Halopka in the second round, escaping after another takedown, but that would be the only one earned off him all day. Halopka finished the second round with 10 more points, nearly pinning Nielcheski twice more. In the final round, things ended quickly as Halopka was able to secure a reversal in the first ten seconds, giving him a 17-1 technical fall victory. His first place performance earned the team 49.5 points.

Abby-Colby’s other returning state qualifier, sophomore Tristen Smazal, also had a solid day on the mat, going 3-1 in the 126-pound bracket and taking second place overall. Smazal picked up two opening round victories over Rhinelander’s Anthony Boldt and Naaman Stanley of Wabeno/Laona/Three Lakes, winning by fall over both of them. He then faced Charlie Ernst of Lakeland/Mercer in the first round of the championship bracket, a matchup that he dominated, earning 10 points before getting the pin in the second round.

In the final, he ran into Marathon’s Levi Krautkramer, who took an early lead with a takedown in the first round. Smazal tied things up in the second period with a reversal, but Krautkramer took the final five points of the match and came out with the 7-2 decision. Smazal’s second place finish earned 42.0 team points.

The co-op picked up four third place finishes, courtesy of Matt Jakel, Alex Sundermeyer, Erik Martinez, and Luis Nava Rojas.

Jakel went 3-2 in the 132-pound category, winning all three of his Pool A matches by fall in the first round. He then lost by major decision to Marathon’s Swayne Stencil and fell to a 7-0 decision against Brady Shepard of Wabeno/Laona/Three Lakes. His finish earned him 19.0 points.

Sundermeyer, wrestling in the 144-pound weight class, went 2-1 to take third place and earn 20.0 team points. He won his first match over Osawa Durant of Lakeland/Mercer, getting a pin in 13 seconds, but then fell to Marathon’s Tate Sonnetag in the second period. This placed him in the third place match against Clintonville’s Landon Robenhagen, who Sundermeyer pinned in the first period.

Martinez went 3-2 on the day in the 190-pound tournament, following a similar path as Jakel. He swept his pool play opponents, earning three victories by fall to move on to the first-to-third final pool. Deangelo Sardina of Hayward dealt Martinez his first loss of the day, pinning him at the 3:19 mark and eventual first place finisher TJ Mueller of Crivitz also claimed a win, pushing the Abby-Colby senior down to third place. He earned 19.0 team points.

Nava Rojas, competing for the co-op in the 285-pound category, went 4-1. He won his first three contests, pinning Clintonville’s Parker Phillips and Cameron’s Garrik Block before earning a 11-1 major decision over Ashland’s Gunner Crowe. Eventual tournament champion Owen Kurtz of Rhinelander handed Nava Rojas his only loss of the day, defeating him 9-3, but Nava Rojas bounced back in the third place match, taking a 6-3 decision over Hayward’s Micah Butler. He earned 36.0 team points.

Ayden Michlig took fourth in the 138-pound weight class, earning 32.5 team points for the co-op. He defeated Henry Dahle of Cameron by technical fall (172) in the first round before pinning Matt Schmidt of Waupace and Matt Grande of Lakeland/Mercer to move on to the championship bracket. He was bounced to the third place match after falling to Ashland’s Justin Defoe and was pinned in the second period by Kallen Betka of Crivitz in his final bout of the tourney.

Alix Colby took fifth place in the 126-pound category, going 4-1 on the day. His only loss was to eventual champion Levi Krautkramer, but he won by fall in all four of his other matches. He defeated

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Josh Defoe of Ashland in the first round of the consolation bracket and then pinned Cameron’s Lukas Simenson in the second period in the fifth place match.

Aiden Burt rounded out the boys’ team’s results by going 3-2 and earning 23.0 team points in the 215-pound tournament. He won his first match by pinning Ashland’s Jacob Place but fell to Bradey Gottwald of Hayward in his second bout. He bounced back with a pin of Ashland’s Ian Hasskamp but Rosholt’s Eli Lugo was able to get a close 6-5 decision to push Burt into the ninth place match. Burt pinned Owen Hertel of Clintonville in the second period to claim his final win of the day.

On the girl’s side, Makenna Herrmann earned herself a second place finish after going 4-1 in the 126-pound bracket. The junior pulled off four straight victories to earn a spot in the first place match, defeating Briana Leigh Gutowski of Wausau west by a 16-0 technical fall in her first match and then pinning Pulaski’s Reese Burich, Ashland’s Beatriz Matuse and Wausau West’s Eleni Prantalos all in the first period.

She then faced off against Mya Swanson of Rhinelander in the final. The pair went toe-to-toe for three rounds, but Swanson was able to capitalize on a dominant second period to win a 7-0 decision. Herrmann earned 27.5 team points.

Anay Espino also took second in the 235-weight class, going 1-1 in her two matches. She defeated Wausau West’s Phoebe Steele in her first match, earning a 21-13 major decision victory, but fell to Ashland’s Madison Burns in her other match.

Amelia Meier placed third in the 107-pound category, going 0-2 on the day after falling to Ashland’s Madilyn Martin and Jade Halvorson in consecutive matches.

The co-op will be looking to build on this success as they travel to Eau Claire North High School this coming Saturday, Dec. 9 for their next tournament. The competition is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.