AND THEN THERE WERE 10

WIAA DIV. 2 OSCEOLA SUPER REGIONAL

Wrestlers to be well-represented at Amery

What turned into a three-team battle for two team sectional berths Saturday went right down to the final matches at the WIAA Division 2 Osceola super regional where the Medford Raiders got just enough wins to get one of those spots at Tuesday’s St. Croix Central team sectional.

The Raiders pulled off a bit of an upset, getting by state-ranked Amery for second place 240-232. St. Croix Falls won the regional team title with 267.5 points.

Medford wound up falling to Baldwin- Woodville 44-27 in the semifinals at Tuesday’s team sectional (see page 7).

Even better, with top-four finishes in their weight classes, Medford qualified 10 wrestlers for this coming Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 individual sectional at Amery, where the top three finishers in each bracket will qualify for the state tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison Feb. 23-25.

“It was an awesome day,” Medford head coach Brandon Marcis said. “All the kids wrestled hard all day. Everybody kind of leveled up and came together for the team. It was super awesome. All day it was a nail-biter because it was razor thin between the top three teams. Earlier in the day I told the kids you don’t need to worry about the team scores, don’t be looking at it. All you have to do is go out there and worry about your job and wrestle one match at a time and let the chips fall as they may. It was a total team effort.”

Juniors Jude Stark and Logan Kawa and sophomore Gage Losiewicz claimed regional championships at their weights, while Thaddeus Sigmund and Max Dietzman were second in their brackets. Parker Lissner, Cory Lindahl, Evan Wilkins and Braxton Weissmiller all advanced with third-place finishes and Owen Higgins kept his individual season going with a fourth-place finish in the WIAA’s new super regional format.

The champs

The closest title match for the Raiders came at 145 pounds, where Losiewicz battled Griffin Marko of St. Croix Falls in a matchup of 2022 state qualifiers.

Losiewicz (37-10) drew first blood with a second-period escape, but two stalling calls late in the third as Losiewicz tried to ride Marko out, went against him, tying the match at 1-1.

Losiewicz nearly got a takedown in the minute-long sudden victory period, but the match went to the ultimate tiebreaker periods. Losiewicz kept a firm grip on Marko (31-4) in the first 30-second period and kept him scoreless. In the next 30-second period, Losiewicz escaped and got a takedown as time expired for a 4-1 win.

Prior to that, Losiewicz pinned Osceola’s Tristan Campeau (17-24) in the quarterfinals in 1:03 and pinned Spooner-Webster’s Pierce Schroeder (24-16) in 2:11 in the semifinals.

“Gage did a real good job of keeping his head, keeping it under control,” Marcis said of the title bout. “He was never really in jeopardy of losing that match in my opinion. He outworked him, outhustled him, outmuscled him, out techniqued him. You name it, he did it.”

At 126 pounds, Stark (35-8) began the day as the top seed and went out and proved it, pinning Rice Lake’s Bailey MacDonald (10-24) in the quarterfinals in 20 seconds, outscoring Isaac Briggs of St. Croix Falls (20-19) 11-7 in the semifinals and then pinning Northwestern’s Logan Jones (26-19) in 1:10 in the final.

At 160 pounds, Kawa (43-9) was seeded second but pinned Northwestern’s Charlie Landwehr (14-16) in 1:12 in the quarterfinals and edged Osceola’s Addison Uddin (38-13) 4-3 in the semifinals, getting a couple of second-period reversals and riding out the third. He knocked off top-seeded Connor Melton of Spooner-Webster (38-7) 6-2 in the final to win regional title, taking the lead with a couple of second-period reversals and then riding Melton hard throughout the third period, ending it with a two-point near fall.

“Jude was picked to win and he showed why,” Marcis said. “For Logan to make it to the big show, he has to continue to work on what we call the short offense. Just moving guys, doing low-risk, high-reward things.”

In Amery Saturday, Losiewicz will open against Ellsworth sophomore Levi Nelson (28-18). Baldwin-Woodville senior Austin Schmidt (31-9), Marko and Neillsville Co-op sophomore Hudzon Sebesta-Opelt (43-8) are among the other contenders.

Stark gets Baldwin-Woodville senior Cole Braasch (29-13) first. The bracket includes Ellsworth junior William Penn (35-5), St. Croix Central junior Teague Holzer (30-2) and Luke Dux of the Neillsville Co-op (30-0) as title contenders.

Kawa will start with Abbotsford-Colby freshman Jacob Hoppe and could get a rematch with Uddin in the semifinals. St. Croix Central’s Owen Wasley (34-1) is a bracket favorite.

More qualifiers

Sigmund (42-7) fell just short of the 120-pound regional title, falling 9-7 in overtime to Amery’s Lane Anderson (3810). He caught a leg and got Anderson to the mat for five points right off the bat but Anderson fought off the potential pin and worked his way back, getting the tying takedown as time expired in regulation and the winning takedown 29 seconds into overtime.

In a six-man bracket, Sigmund had just one other match, pinning Kody Fleck of St Croix Falls (32-11) in 4:51.

“Thaddeus wrestled super tough,” Marcis said. “He was aggressive all day.”

Sigmund will start out with Bloomer-Colfax’s Theo Hovde (35-11) Saturday at Amery. Colton Hush (38-2) of Baldwin-Woodville could await the winner in the semifinals.

Two pins got Dietzman to the 285-pound final. He stuck Conner Tollefson of the Luck Co-op (5-13) in 53 seconds in the quarterfinals and Noah Bradley (15-16) of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm in 5:56 in the semifinals. Top seed Kasey Johnson (36-5) of St. Croix Falls pinned him in 4:53 to win it. Dietzman fought off a second-place wrestleback, pinning Northwestern’s Andrew Bourque (18-22) in 2:28.

“He’s just getting better every day,” Marcis said. “He’s like a sponge. He just soaks every little technical thing up and retains it. He’s smart, he’s motivated and he’s athletic. I know he started as a junior, but he’s got a bright future in wrestling.”

Dietzman’s sectional bracket starts with St. Croix Central’s Jacob Berends (37-14) with Neillsville Co-op standout Gunner Hoffman (23-1) likely awaiting the winner in the semifinals.

Lissner (35-15) got to the 138-pound championship before settling for third. He got a 9-4 win over Amery’s Bradyn Penard (20-20) in his first 138-pound match and routed Tomahawk’s Ryan Larson (27-11) in a 17-3 semifinal major decision. Kaden Clark (38-5) of St. Croix Falls won the title bout with a pin in 2:29. The Luck Co-op’s Cory Popham (30-14) got a quick 17-second pin in the second-place wrestleback.

Lissner has drawn Baldwin-Woodville senior Hunter Gartmann (34-8) in his first sectional match. Clark and Regis-Altoona’s Chase Kostka (46-4) are among the bracket favorites.

Weissmiller (31-17) will make his first sectional appearance after getting two wins at 220 pounds. He pinned Brock Noll (35-12) of the Luck Co-op in 3:38 in a key quarterfinal matchup before getting pinned by Ashland’s Gunner Crowe (339) in 3:16 in the semifinals. Weissmiller finished with a pin in 1:01 over Mayson Utgard (18-11) of St. Croix Falls in the third-place match.

“It was basically a mind over matter, total attitude thing,” Marcis said of the third-place match. “They were in a 50-50 position on their feet and Braxton was like, ‘no I’m just going to pin you now.’” Evan Wilkins (14-9) also is headed to his first sectional. At 182 pounds, the sophomore, pinned the Luck Co-op’s Phillip Brinkman (15-16) in 1:56 before getting pinned by eventual champion Wyatt Ingham of Amery (40-4) in 57 seconds in the semifinals. Wilkins edged Peyton Steffen (5-3) of St. Croix Falls 5-3 in the third-place match to get a rematch with Great Northern Conference rival Samson Smith of Antigo in a secondplace wrestleback. But for the second straight weekend, Smith (29-13) was too much with a pin in 2:32.

Weissmiller will start the sectional against Stanley-Boyd freshman Willy Graham (31-17) with unbeaten Koy Hopke of Amery (47-0) likely next for the winner. Wilkins has a tough opening match with Regis-Altoona’s Brayden Albee (46-3) Ingham and Ellsworth’s Anthony Madsen (36-3) also are favorites in the weight class.

Lindahl’s third-place finish at 152 pounds started with a quarterfinal pin in 2:29 over Maverick Goulet of Amery (1617). Lindahl (26-12) was pinned by Spooner- Webster’s Ethan Melton (28-13) in 4:07 in the semifinals, but he bounced back by pinning Ashland’s Laken Villeverde (2815) in 5:07 in the third-place match.

At 132 pounds, Higgins (21-12) opened with a 14-1 quarterfinal major decision over Ashland’s Justin Defoe (23-15). Amery’s Hunter Beese (29-11) pinned him in 1:31 in the semifinals and Rice Lake’s Brody Lammers (16-11) got him 11-6 in the third-place match. But Defoe was the one who wrestled his way back to fifth, meaning Higgins did not have to face him in a wrestleback.

Lindahl will start sectional competition against Mondovi/Eleva-Strum senior Cody Wagner (35-2). Higgins has a tough opener against Baldwin-Woodville senior Tyler Fink (32-6).

Valuable team points

While they didn’t advance, four more Raider wrestlers competed Saturday and gained valuable team points in the tightly- contested tournament. Nick Malchow (8-19) was seeded seventh out of eight wrestlers at 113 pounds, but he won two matches and placed fifth while picking up 13 team points. He pinned Spooner-Webster’s Hunter Christner (10-17) in 44 seconds and upset the Luck Co-op’s Aidan Johnson (2922) with a big pin in 1:10 in consolation competition. He got to the fourth-place match, but lost a close 6-3 decision to Tomahawk’s Jack Derleth (23-17).

At 170 pounds, Paxton Rothmeier (24-11) pinned Sean Graf of Amery in 45 seconds, which was big in the battle for second place with the Warriors. He was pinned in the semifinals by 40-7 Lucas D’Jock of the Luck Co-op in 39 seconds and eliminated by Bryce McCurdy (11-9) of St. Croix Falls in a 10-6 decision.

At 195 pounds, Jonathan Bartnik (9-24) picked up four points with a first-round pin in 49 seconds over the Luck Co-op’s Dillan Roatch (13-17). Amery’s Grant Cook (41-7) pinned Bartnik in 42 seconds and he was eliminated by Thor Sather (19-23) of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm by a pin in 4:49.

Broden Schilling (6-14) went 0-2 at 106 pounds, losing by pin to Barron’s KC Zurn (11-9) and Rice Lake’s Michael Sirek (17-15).

“Nick Malchow was the second-tolast seed and he ended up going 2-2 on the day,” Marcis said. “He scored points that, on paper, he wasn’t supposed to get. Paxton and Jon, even though they didn’t have great days, they did big things for the team. Without those two wins, Jon’s win and Paxton’s win, we wouldn’t have had it.”

Northwestern finished a distant fourth in the team standings with 166.5 points. The Tigers were followed by the Luck Co-op (112), Osceola (101.5), Spooner- Webster (101), Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/ Prairie Farm (97.5), Tomahawk (79), Antigo (77.5), Rice Lake (62.5), Ashland (46) and Barron (12).

Medford’s Evan Wilkins battles Baldwin-Woodville’s Elliott Anderson during the first match of Tuesday’s WIAA Division 2 team sectional semifinal at St. Croix Central. Wilkins lost this match 10-3, but his season will continue at Saturday’s individual sectional at Amery.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS