ALL-GNCWRESTLING - Big tourney effort clinches honor for Rothmeier; 7 Raiders get awards

ALL-GNC WRESTLING

A rare rebuilding year for Medford wrestling came with some growing pains, but the Raiders still managed to make some impacts in the Great Northern Conference with seven team members earning All-GNC awards with their performances in the GNC tournament hosted Feb. 8 by Lakeland.

The biggest award went to senior Paxton Rothmeier. After a huge tournament where he pinned two eventual state qualifiers to win the 175-pound championship, Rothmeier was named the 2024-25 Co-GNC Wrestler of the Year with Mosinee senior George Ahles. Ahles won the 138-pound title.

Medford had three conference champions with senior Parker Lissner taking the 144-pound title and sophomore Jordan Lavin earning the 126-pound championship. Senior Nick Malchow and sophomore Ayden Tyznik got All-GNC second-team honors and freshman Ashton Noland and Ian Stickney got honorable mention.

The Raiders, who were dealt a tough break before the season even started with a football knee injury to defending 157pound state champion Gage Losiewicz, were 2-3 in GNC dual meet and took third in the tournament to finish third in the overall standings behind champion Tomahawk and Mosinee.

Rothmeier earned his second career GNC title with his first coming as a freshman at 132 pounds. He was second the past two years at 165 and 170 pounds.

He went 4-1 in the duals this winter with three forfeits, a pin over Tomahawk’s Tanner Wanta and a 15-4 loss to Antigo’s Nolan Kielcheski. But in the tournament, Rothmeier was at his best. He pinned Tomahawk’s Kaiden Kapellusch in 1:58. Then after two byes, he pinned Rhinelander’s Logan Schwinger in 1:51. Schwinger was the defending GNC champion at 190 and moved down a weight class for the tournament. In the final round, Rothmeier got his revenge against Kielcheski, pinning him in 2:00. Kielcheski also had beaten Rothmeier in last year’s GNC tournament to win the 165-pound title.

Rothmeier went on to take second in the WIAA Division 2 regional meet at Hayward and finished the year 28-6 after losing his lone match 12-9 in overtime to Baldwin-Woodville’s Drew Stark at the sectional meet in Amery. Kielcheski placed fifth at the state tournament in Madison and Schwinger qualified for state at 190 pounds.

Lissner also earned his second GNC championship. He was the 138-pound champ two years ago and placed second at 144 pounds last year. This year, he mainly wrestled at 150 and 157 pounds. The GNC tournament was the only time he dropped down to 144. He was 4-1 in the duals for Medford with a forfeit and three pins. At the tournament, he drew a first-round bye and then won four matches decisively. He defeated runner-up Zander Zehner of Tomahawk 11-5, got an 18-3 technical fall over Lakeland’s Seth LaBarge, got another technical fall over Antigo’s Seth Medo, 172, and the shut out Rhinelander’s Anthony Boldt 5-0.

Lissner was the regional runner-up at 150 pounds and finished 35-18 after losing his only sectional match to eventual state qualifier Isaac Dunnom of Osceola.

Lavin, a sophomore, is two for two in GNC tournaments. The 120-pound champion a year ago, Lavin took the 126pound title this year. He went 4-1 in the duals with three pins and an 8-6 decision over Tomahawk’s Harmon Hoffman. His only loss was to Mosinee’s 120-pound GNC champion Jackson Nechuta. In the tournament, Lavin beat Hoffman again, 75, dominated runner-up Charlie Ernst of Lakeland with a 17-2 technical fall and pinned Mosinee’s Mason Fleming in 45. He was upset by pin in 4:24 by Rhinelander’s Ivan Loka, but Lavin’s wins over Hoffman and Ernst gave him the nod in a three-way tie at the top of the day’s standings.

Lavin wound up 28-22 for the season. Malchow, a senior, moved up to the second team after earning honorable mention last year at 113 pounds. At 120 pounds, he went 5-0 with five pins in the duals, including a memorable win over eventual state qualifier Kory Resheske of Mosinee. He trailed 13-1 but wound up pinning Resheske in 3:05 and that made all the difference in Medford’s 36-35 win over the Indians at Lakeland on Jan. 30.

In the tournament, he started with wins by pin over Grady Debay of Rhinelander, Zack Larson of Tomahawk and Mason Walrath of Antigo. He was pinned by Lakeland’s Evan Hastreiter and lost by a 16-0 technical fall to Nechuta. In a threeway tie for second for the day at 3-2, Malchow won the tiebreaker over Larson and Hastreiter.

Malchow finished 21-24. Another loss to Hastreiter in the consolation semifinals at the regional tournament kept him from getting a shot of advancing to the sectional.

Tyznik did get to the sectional after taking second at the GNC tournament at 113 pounds. The sophomore went 3-2 in the duals, including a 20-5 technical fall over Hastreiter on Jan. 16. After a firstround bye, he pinned three straight opponents in the tourney, Rhinelander’s Trevor Denton, Lakeland’s James Stelzel and Tomahawk’s Dawson Jones. Resheske moved down to 113 and was a winner over Tyznik in the final with an 18-0 technical fall.

Tyznik was fourth at the regional and finished the year 20-21 after two sectional losses to state qualifiers Kaiden Hahn of St. Croix Falls and Aaron Olson of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm.

Noland’s third-place finish at 190 pounds was impressive considering he went 0-5 in the GNC duals. But at the GNC tournament, he got revenge for two of those losses by pinning Antigo’s Caleb Vandenlangen in 5:21 and Lakeland’s Kenny Thompson in 2:53. Thompson had beaten him by technical fall on Jan. 16, while Vandenlangen was a 4-3 winner over Noland in Rhinelander on Jan. 23.

Stickney was 3-2 in the GNC duals with two pins and a forfeit. At Lakeland in the tournament, he got two byes and pinned Lakeland’s Zac Amershek in 20 seconds to get third place behind Tomahawk’s Blake Younker and Antigo’s Jordy Pregler, both of whom also beat Stickney in dual meets.

In tough weight classes for freshmen, Stickney finished the year 15-19, while Noland was 16-20.

Mosinee had the most weight class champions in the GNC with six. Medford and Tomahawk won three each, while Antigo and Rhinelander each had one champion. Antigo’s Jayson Arrowood, the 150-pound champion, qualified for the state tournament. After winning the GNC’s 138-pound title, Ahles dropped to 126 pounds and finished fourth at the Hayward regional and lost two matches at the Amery sectional to finish 35-12.

Tomahawk’s Bob Garrou was named the GNC Coach of the Year. The Hatchets won their first outright GNC title since 2012-13. Tomahawk shared titles with Medford in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Parker Lissner First Team

Jordan Lavin First Team

Nick Malchow Second Team

Ayden Tyznik Second Team

Ian Stickney Hon. Mention

Ashton Noland Hon. Mention