A-C wrestling sending six to sectionals
By Nathaniel Underwood
A year after sending five members on from the regional tournament to sectionals, the Abbotsford-Colby wrestling program improved that number by one. Six members of the co-op team took fourth place or higher at the Division 2 tournament held in Medford this past Saturday, stamping their tickets to the sectional meet in Tomahawk.
The team took fifth overall, scoring a total of 162.0 points, putting them just behind Tomahawk’s 167.0 and Stanley Boyd’s 171.5. The Medford squad took first place overall with 259.0 points while the Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal conglomerate grabbed second place with 191.0 points.
Just as they did at the Cloverbelt conference meet a week prior, Tanner Halopka and Tristen Smazal grabbed the top spots in their respective brackets on Saturday. Matt Jakel and Jacob Hoppe were runners- up in their own competitions, Alix Colby placed third and Erik Martinez took fourth place. Alex Sundermeyer very nearly moved on as well, taking fifth place at the meet.
Halopka’s fifth tournament victory of the season started with two bouts with fellow Cloverbelt wrestlers in the 157-pound weight class, neither of which he had competed against at the conference tournament.
First up was Carson Kibbel of Spencer/ Columbus Catholic/Granton, whom Halopka quickly dispatched, pinning him in just over 20 seconds. Stanley Boyd’s Aaron Sturm did not last much longer on the mat in the semifinals. A quick takedown by Halpoka turned into an eventual first period victory by fall for the co-op senior, pushing him on to the championship match.
Meeting him there was Medford’s Gage Losiewicz. The Red Raiders’ junior held a 43-3 record heading into the final, having also pinned both his prior opponents to reach the finals. The two looked evenly matched, and through two rounds, they were tied at 2-2. Losiewicz opted to start on bottom for the third round, hoping to notch a quick escape or reversal to take the lead, but Halopka held off his early attempts to get away. Midway through the round, a surge from Halopka got Losiewicz on his back, and while the Abby-Colby senior was not able to finish off his opponent then and there, the three-point nearfall he earned from the maneuver turned out to be the decider. He took the 5-2 decision to earn first place and 28.0 team points.
It only took two victories for Smazal to win the 120-pound weight class. After earning two byes, Smazal’s day began in the semifinal. His opponent was Walter Hrobic from Tomahawk, who had defeated Mosinee’s Mason Fleming to make it to the penultimate match. Smazal dominated the affair, racking up 10 points in the first round before picking up seven more in the second to win a 17-2 technical fall victory and earn his place in the finals.
A rematch from the Cloverbelt conference championship match ensued, as Smazal once again faced off against Bloomer/Colfax’s Zeke Anderson. The bout was more lopsided than the previous meeting as the Abby-Colby sophomore held complete control over the contest from the onset. He held a 4-1 lead after the first period and that grew to an 11-2 lead after the second. While Anderson had managed to avoid the pin for the first two rounds, Smazal finished the job in the third, grabbing first place with a win by fall at the 4:15 mark. His championship performance earned the team 29.5 points.
Jakel went 2-1 in his wrestled matches on Saturday en route to his second place finish in the 126-pound weight class. After a first round bye, he took on Anthony Boldt (Rhinelander) in the quarterfinals. Jakel racked up 14 points over the first two rounds against Boldt before pinning him in the second round to advance.
In the semifinals, he matched up Troy Trevino of Stanley-Boyd, who had won the 126-pound bracket at the Cloverbelt conference tournament. Trevino took an early lead by recording the match’s first takedown, but Jakel managed to escape to notch a point for himself. The second period also saw Trevino earning a takedown, but a late escape by Jakel kept him within striking distance. Down 4-2 heading into the final round, the Abby-Colby sophomore elected to start on bottom and earned an early escape to pull within one. The two were deadlocked for the next two minutes, with Trevino on the defensive attempting to hold on to his slim lead as Jakel desperately looked for a takedown. As time expired on the match, Jakel managed to gain a controlling position, earning credit for a two-point takedown and defeating the Cloverbelt champion with a 5-4 decision in comeback fashion.
The win set him up against George Ahles of Mosinee in the finals. Two takedowns and an escape had Jakel leading 5-1 at one point, but Ahles used a reversal in the third period to eventually pin the Abby-Colby wrestler. Since Trevino won his third place match, Jakel earned second place and 22.0 team points.
Hoppe had a similar path in the 175-pound bracket. His day started the same as it did the week prior, matched up with Noah Krueger of Osseo-Fairchild/ Augusta/Fall Creek. He pinned Krueger once again in the first round and moved on to the semi-finals, where he faced off against Mosinee’s Andrew Nevienski.
A hard-fought and back-and-forth match ensued. Nevienski took an early lead, earning two first period takedowns, but Hoppe
See WRESTLING REGIONAL/ Page 16
FACE OFF - Matt Jakel and his opponent, Troy Trevino, circle each other while looking for an opportunity to strike in their semifinal match.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
NEARING THE WIN - Christian Satay puts the finishing touches on his victory over Cyrus Leisure in the first round of the WIAA regionals in Medford.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
NO ESCAPE FOR YOU - Erik Martinez made sure that his opponent had no chance of coming back by pinning him during his tourney run in Medford. The senior had five wins by fall on Saturday. STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Wrestling regional
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escaped from both. Another escape in the second period made the score 4-3 heading into the third, where Nevienski elected to start in a neutral starting position. Hoppe took advantage, briefly grabbing the lead with a takedown, but a reversal from the Mosinee wrestler turned the tables once more. Hoppe managed a mid-period escape to tie things up and a final takedown led to the pin that would push him on to the finals.
There he faced off against Medford’s Logan Kawa, who had breezed past his own semifinal opponent. Kawa earned the first takedown, and while Hoppe was able to escape the initial rush, the Red Raider’s second takedown led to a first round pin. However, Hoppe’s day was not yet finished, as he needed to still face off against Mondovi/Eleva-Strum’s Ethan Odegard in a second-place bout. Hoppe was largely in control of the match, earning five points in the first period before ending things at the 3:15 mark by pinning his opponent and securing the runner-up position. He ended the day with 26.0 team points.
Alix Colby’s third-place performance in the 132-pound bracket started off with a win over Mosinee’s Zach Nechuta. A first round takedown by Colby led to an early pin of his opponent and the freshman moved on to the semifinals.
There he faced off against fellow freshman Adam Kautzer (Neillsville/Greenwood/ Loyal). Colby struggled to find a way to put up points against his fellow Cloverbelt wrestler and while he was able to force a decision, Kautzer moved on with a 7-0 victory.
Pushed to the third place match, Colby faced off against Tomahawk’s Fletcher Baumann. In his final bout of the day, the Abby-Colby freshman held control of the first period, earning a takedown. After Baumann elected to start with top position in the second, Colby forced a reversal and then used it to eventually pin his opponent at the 3:37 mark. His third-place finish earned 19.0 team points.
Martinez had the longest journey of any of the Abby-Colby wrestlers on Saturday, wrestling in six matches total in the 190-pound bracket. The senior went 5-1 in those matches and none of them went to a final decision, all being decided by fall.
He started his day with a pin of Brody Mathison (McDonell/Elk Mound) but then faced off against eventual second-place finisher Logan Schwinger of Rhinelander in the quarterfinals. Schwinger was able to earn a quick victory by fall, relegating Martinez into the consolation bracket.
Martinez then began the grueling challenge of battling his way through back half of the bracket to try to earn the final sectional spot. Pins of Kolten Burgess (Bloomer/Coflax), Alex Coffey (Mondovi/ Eleva-Strum), and Dylan Seitcher (Stanley-Boyd) set up a meeting with Tomahawk’s Blake Younker for the fourth-place match. Just as he had in the matches leading up to his final bout, Martinez controlled the affair. A takedown in the first round earned him an early 2-0 lead and a nine-point second period pushed the match significantly in his favor. Martinez then pinned Younker in the third, securing his spot in the next round of the WIAA playoffs while earning 21.0 team points.
Sundermeyer found himself in a similar position as Martinez after a quarterfinal loss to Tomahawk’s Zander Zehner in his first match of the day relegated him to the 144-pound consolation bracket. He then defeated Noah Nechuta (Mosinee) with an 18-3 technical fall and Mason Liermo of Mondovi/Eleva Strum with a first round pin in the fifth place match to potentially earn a spot in the fourth place match. Unfortunately for Sundermeyer, Zehner was the one that would have been his opponent, and since Zehner had earned the win between the two earlier in the day, he was given the no contest victory.
Also wrestling for the A-C squad at the regional tournament, were Christian Satay, who went 2-2 in the 150-pound bracket after earning victories over Cyrus Leisure (Rhinelander) and Brock Stendahl (Mondovi/ Eleva-Strum), Ayden Michlig, who suffered two defeats in the 138-pound bracket, and Aiden Burt, who fell in both his wrestled matches in the 215-pound weight class.
Those who advanced will take part in the individual sectional tournament held in Tomahawk this Saturday, Feb. 17. The first match is scheduled for 10 a.m.
BATTLING IN MEDFORD - Alex Sundermeyer fends off his opponent in his first round bout.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
