Raiders led GNC with 10 award winners at conference tournament

ALL-GNC WRESTLING

Despite an always-changing lineup, the Medford Raider wrestlers went a perfect 5-0 in Great Northern Conference dual meets this winter, which allowed them to share the Great Northern Conference title with tournament champion Tomahawk and gave them their fourth GNC team trophy in five years under head coach Brandon Marcis.

For the second straight season, 10 Raiders finished the year with All-Great Northern Conference honors. Those awards are based on performances during the league tournament, which was held at the Hodag Dome in Rhinelander on Saturday, Jan. 23. Medford finished with 382 points in the meet. Tomahawk won it with 425. Both teams finished with 20 total conference points for the season.

Medford earned two weight-class championships, three second-place finishes and five thirds at the GNC meet to land first-team, second-team or honorable mention awards.

Sophomores Thaddeus Sigmund and Ty Sova won their first GNC championships. Sova was the 106-pound runnerup last year and captured the 113-pound title this time around with a perfect 4-0 day on the mat in the GNC tournament. He got three pins and beat third-place finisher Addison Peissig of Tomahawk 4-0. In GNC duals, Sova went 3-1 with all his matches coming at 120 pounds. He got three pins and lost 6-1 to Mosinee’s Kade Kmosena, who was unable to wrestle in the GNC meet.

Sova finished third at the WIAA Division 2 Regis-Altoona regional at 113 pounds and was 10-3 overall.

Sigmund went undefeated in conference competition at 106 pounds. In the duals, he got two pins and two forfeits. At the GNC meet, Sigmund won both of his matches, pinning third-place finisher Daniel Livermore of Antigo in 59 seconds and shutting out runner-up Presley Gutbrod of Tomahawk 9-0.

Sigmund went on to win the 106-pound regional title and finished his year at 12-0 after being unable to wrestle at the sectional meet in Neillsville Feb. 6.

Seniors Emett Grunwald and Carson Church were gunning for back-to-back conference championships, but both fell short and landed on the All-GNC second team.

At 138 pounds, Church lost the championship match to Mosinee’s Chase Kmosena 3-2. Kmosena won his fourth straight GNC title and was named the conference’s Wrestler of the Year. Kmosena went on to place fourth at 132 pounds in the WIAA Division 2 state tournament. Church’s 5-2 win over Kmosena on Jan. 7 was a highlight of his season. Church went 5-0 in GNC duals with three pins and a major decision and had three pins in the GNC meet before his loss to Kmosena.

Church was the regional runner-up at 138 pounds and took fifth in the weight class at the sectional meet. He finished 13-4.

Grunwald also finished the year 13-4 overall and was the fourth-place finisher at 145 pounds at the Neillsville sectional. In GNC competition, he was second at 152 pounds, falling to Tomahawk’s Logan Bishop in a third-period pin in the title bout. Before that, he had pinned Mosinee’s Andrew Nievinski and earned his second 7-2 win of the year over Lakeland’s Zane Grams. Grunwald was 5-0 in GNC duals with two pins and a thrilling ultimate tiebreaker 3-2 win over eventual 145-pound champion Mason Evans of Tomahawk.

Freshman 170-pounder Logan Kawa was Medford’s third second-team wrestler. He went 4-0 in GNC duals and won his first three GNC tournament bouts before losing 6-1 to Antigo’s senior two-time state qualifier Joshua Heuss 6-1. Kawa beat third-place finisher Jerry Goselin of Lakeland 8-5. He pinned Tomahawk’s Ethan Trayes twice during the season and earned a tough 3-1 win over Antigo senior Gideon Sass during the duals.

Kawa finished the year 9-3 overall after a fourth-place finish in the 160-pound regional bracket.

Senior Dalton Krug earned his first All-GNC wrestling award with his thirdplace finish at 195 pounds at the conference meet. He went 3-2 on the day, pinning Zach Owens of Mosinee in 1:09, Jacob Dettman of Antigo in 32 seconds and Leonard Chosa of Lakeland in 2:36. His two losses were to two outstanding wrestlers, champion Kade Wenninger of Tomahawk (pin 3:30) and Rhinelander’s Ben Sinclair (pin 1:20). Krug also went 3-2 in the GNC duals while wrestling in the 195-, 220- and 285-pound weight classes. His losses were to Sinclair and Tomahawk’s GNC 285-pound champion Eric Decker.

Krug was the regional runner-up at 195 pounds and took fifth in weight class at the sectional meet to finish 10-7.

Junior Kayden Dassow, sophomore Wyatt Johnson and freshmen Cory Lindahl and Jude Stark also are first-time All-GNC award winners.

Lindahl was part of a three-way tie for first place at 132 pounds in the GNC tournament, but the tie-breaking criteria dropped him to third. He pinned the eventual runner-up, senior Logan Edwards of Antigo, in 4:29 and also stuck Robert Schramke of Rhinelander (1:02) and Hudson Mattke of Tomahawk (1:03). His loss came by pin to Lakeland’s Brady Abb in 3:20 in the final match of the day. Abb was later crowned the weight class champion.

Lindahl got two wins during the GNC dual, one by pin over Tomahawk’s Blake Felser and one by forfeit. He finished 8-3 after taking fourth in his regional bracket.

Johnson, wrestling at 220 pounds, got his GNC tournament off to a strong start with pins over Mosinee’s Teryn Walls (2:42) and Rhinelander’s Conner Jensen (2:12) before a 9-4 loss to runner-up Landon Saglin of Lakeland and a loss by pin to champion Marcus Matti of Tomahawk. Johnson won three of four matches in GNC duals. He was a sectional qualifier after a second-place finish at the regional meet and ended the year 8-4.

Dassow and Stark both went 1-2 in four-man brackets at the GNC meet. At 145 pounds, Dassow finished with a 57-second pin over Antigo’s Ezekiel Fobes after falling to standouts Mason Evans of Tomahawk and Logan Johnson of Mosinee. Dassow earned a forfeit and a 16-4 major decision over Tomahawk’s Micah Arnott in the duals. After wrestling at 113 pounds during the duals and going 4-1 with two pins, Stark bumped up to 120 pounds for the tournament. He pinned Tomahawk’s Ryan Larson in 2:38 after getting pinned by champion Tim Fox of Rhinelander and losing a hard-fought 8-5 decision to runner-up Ben Nemcek of Lakeland.

Under GNC Coach of the Year Bob Garrou, Tomahawk had a league-high five conference champions and won a WIAA Division 2 regional championship on Jan. 30. Medford’s 10 award winners topped the six-team conference. Tomahawk and Antigo both had nine award winners. All six schools had at least one champion.

The conference sent three wrestlers to the WIAA Division 2 state tournament in Adams-Friendship Feb. 13. Along with Chase Kmosena’s fourth-place finish, Heuss was sixth at 170 pounds and Mosinee’s Gage Coppock was sixth at 160 pounds.

Thaddeus Sigmund First Team 106 pounds

Carson Church Second Team 138 pounds

Emett Grunwald Second Team 152 pounds

Logan Kawa Second Team 170 pounds

Dalton Krug Hon. Mention 195 pounds

Kayden Dassow Hon. Mention 145 pounds

Wyatt Johnson Hon. Mention 220 pounds

Cory Lindahl Hon. Mention 132 pounds

Jude Stark Hon. Mention 120 pounds