Raiders pick up a beneficial trip to Shawano tournament

MEDFORD WRESTLING

Thaddeus Sigmund went 4-0 to capture the 113-pound championship, while Jude Stark and Gage Losiewicz won third-place matches Saturday to lead the Medford Raiders to an eighth-place finish in the 29-team Shawano Holiday Wrestling Classic.

The tournament was a welcome addition to the schedule for the Raiders who lost the Dec. 11 Eau Claire North Invite and Thursday’s highly-anticipated dual meet with Tomahawk due to winter storms. Instead of being the Great Northern Conference opener, the Tomahawk matchup will now close the dual-meet portion of the season on Tuesday, Feb. 1.

“I couldn’t be happier with where in the season we got it in and I couldn’t be happier with the tournament that we were able to get in,” Medford head coach Brandon Marcis said. “There was some good competition, a lot of good teams. I think that’s normally a 16-team tournament, but there were a lot of teams looking after losing tournaments.”

Sigmund remained undefeated for the young season, improving to 11-0 with his unbeaten run through the 113-pound bracket. The Raider junior pinned Valders freshman Jack Wendling in 4:56, pinned Marshfield sophomore Jace Kelnhofer in 42 seconds and earned a 10-1 major decision over Stratford’s Trenton Cournoyer to reach the championship, where he outscored Freedom freshman Peter Tomazevic 8-4.

“Thaddeus had an outstanding day,” Marcis said. “He did a really great job on the top. He was riding well. He got his bars and halves well and was jumping from side to side. He was taking his shots and was fluid on his feet. I just think the one thing we need to improve upon with him is we need to expand his repertoire on the bottom. If we do that, he could be deadly come state tournament time.”

At 138 pounds, Losiewicz won his first two matches handily, earning a 14-0 major decision over Valders senior Thane Harrington and a 10-3 decision over Peshtigo sophomore Ethan Brissette to reach the semifinals. There he was beaten 11-2 by eventual champion Keagan Cliver of Marshfield, but Losiewicz ended his day with a win by injury default at the 1:31 mark over Stratford senior Logan Gliniecki.

“Gage had a great day,” Marcis said. “One thing I see with him is he’s a good chain wrestler. He’s working move after move, combination after combination.”

Stark drew a first-round bye at 126 pounds and then pinned Dylan Bramstedt of Valders in 2:40 to get to a semifinal matchup with Marshfield’s Caleb Dennee. Dennee outscored Stark 10-7 and went on to win the weight class championship. Stark finished his day on a high note, pinning Brillion junior Garett Deiter in 3:31 in the third-place bout.

“If we do a couple of little things different, we’re in it and can win it” Marcis said of Stark’s match with Dennee. “Jude is one who has high expectations for himself. The one thing for him is we need to eliminate the high-risk maneuvers and keep working on fundamentals. He’s going to be there at the end of the season.”

Raider junior Matt Gebert won his placement match, beating Freedom’s Ben Wagner in the 120-pound fifth-place bout 12-11. That capped a 3-1 day for Gebert, who started with a pin in 1:05 over Appleton West’s Brian Voetberg. After getting pinned in 1:56 by eventual champion Treyton Ackman of Spencer-Columbus, Gebert pinned Oconto’s Tyler Beekman in 56 seconds to get his shot at fifth place.

“That was a very exciting match,” Marcus said of Gebert’s 12-11 win. “It was back and forth. It was a fun match to coach. I was proud of his effort.”

Freshman Rylan Zoellick earned eighth place at 106 pounds thanks to a first-round pin in 3:13 over Antigo’s Johnny Wissbroecker. After getting pinned by Shawano’s Brady Stomberg, Zoellick was defeated in the fifth- to eighth-place bracket by Freedom’s Landon Wautier and Bonduel’s Jaxon Bogacz.

Wyatt Johnson placed ninth at 195 pounds. After a tough 5-4 loss to Omro’s Xander Sowls put him on the consolation side of the bracket, Johnson responded by pinning Wausau East’s Andrew Olson in 1:43 and Clintonville’s Michael Michonski in 3:46. “Wyatt just got out of stance and they took us down late in that match,” Marcis said of Johnson’s loss. “But he came through the backside with pins. That’s what we want.”

Senior Oscar Hinderliter went 3-2 and placed 10th at 160 pounds. In an 18man bracket, Hinderliter was defeated in a preliminary match by Hortonville’s Ayden Needham that went to an ultimate tiebreaker with no score. Hinderliter stayed alive by shutting out Connor Reed of Two Rivers 7-0. That put him in contention for ninth. Hinderliter pinned Omro’s Trent Rosenthal in 1:38 and Appleton West’s Brady Cittadino in 5:07. His run, however, ended when he was pinned by New London’s Damien Stilen in 1:48.

“Oscar is a third-period guy,” Marcis said. “If I’m wrestling him I want to put him away early because in the second and third periods, I know he’s coming.”

Parker Lissner went 2-2 and finished 10th at 132 pounds. His wins were a 15-8 decision over Wausau East’s Noah Rhea and an 11-6 decision over Connor Lewandoski of Athens. Kayden Dassow was 11th at 145 pounds, going 2-2 with wins by pin over Jessie Haines of Peshtigo (2:14) and Ben Kortens of Shiocton (1:10).

Evan Wilkins was 11th at 152 pounds, earning an 8-4 win over Garrison Stockwell of Wausau East. Braxton Weissmiller took 11th at 220 pounds, earning a 6-1 win over Owen Hertel of Clintonville and a pin in 1:39 over Sebastiano Pepa of Hortonville. Marcis said Weissmiller perfected a bear hug move and slow squeeze on Pepa to get that final pin of the day.

Medford had success in some of Saturday’s JV brackets.

Christian Mahner was the 120-pound champion. He pinned Jack Bessette of Wausau East (3:02), Ashton Lubinski of Green Bay West (2:50) and Alex Montour of Shawano (23 seconds) to earn his title. Itsael Medina won the 132-pound A bracket by pinning Dalton Hagen of Marshfield (1:33), Elshadai Kalongi of Appleton West (1:54) and Cole Vargo of Marinette (1:03).

Nicholas Malchow went 2-1 to take second in the 106-pound A bracket. Tripp Reamer went 3-1 to take second in the 182-pound B bracket. Blake Schilling went 2-2 to take third in the 152-pound A bracket.

“Our JV wrestlers had a phenomenal day,” Marcis said.

Stratford won the team championship in Saturday’s tournament with 399 points. The Tigers distanced themselves from Freedom (339), Marshfield (333) and Brillion (321) to win it. Shiocton was fifth with 268 points, while Shawano (259.5), Hortonville (256.5), Medford (253), Appleton West (200) and Valders (157.5) rounded out the top 10.

Medford will see some tough competition next week when it returns to the Bi-State Wrestling Classic at the La Crosse Center Dec. 29-30. A total of 71 teams are expected to be represented in the tournament, which includes two separate sessions of wrestling each day.

As the season reaches the halfway point, and with a tough January schedule ahead, Marcis said the coaching staff is driving home the need for their young wrestlers to increase their intensity and understand how physical they need to be to find success as they work to improve daily.

“They’re always getting better, always improving and they’re great listeners,” Marcis said.