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A/C wrestlers drop home duel with N/G/L

A/C wrestlers drop home duel with N/G/L A/C wrestlers drop home duel with N/G/L

The Abbotsford/Colby wrestling coop took some lumps last week, falling in their first home dual meet of the year against the Neillsville/Greenwood/ Loyal co-op on Thursday. Abby/Colby was dropped by the same co-op just two days later at the Neillsville Team Tourney, along with dropping matches Menomonie and Chetek/Prairie Farm.

49-23

After weeks of being on the road for weekend tournaments, the Abbotsford/ Colby wrestling co-op finally enjoyed a rare home meet. Unfortuantely, while it was nice to compete in front of friends and family, the end result did not go as planned as the Neillsville/Greenwood/ Loyal co-op proved the better team.

First year varsity head coach Steven Wozniak cited a slow start, as well as illness, for Thursday’s loss, and wants to see the co-op bring more energy to matches in the future.

“I think they did start out slow,” Wozniak said. “We started out slow and didn’t have the intensity going into some of the matches, and you can’t do that against a tough team.”

The co-op split the first two matches, with Angel Diaz suffering first round pin in the 182 weight class at the hands of Dan Polzin. Abby/Colby’s Andrew Jeske made it 6-6 as he pinned Joe Polzin in the second period for six points in the 195 pound division.

SophomoreCarterGrewfacedhismost difficult opponent yet, going toe to toe with Gunner Hoffman in the 220 weight class. Hoffman, the second ranked wrestler in Division 2 in his weight class, escaped from Grewe’s clutches with a 5-3 decision.

Abby/Colby forfeited the heavyweight match, and then lost the next three matches, with Grady Steinman losing by pinfall in the first period in the 106 weight class, followed by losses from Lucas Baumann in the 113 weight class and a loss by Jose Rodriguez via major decision in the 120 weight class.

The Abby/Colby co-op forfeited the 126 weight class, but got more points as River Halopka moved up a weight class, and defeated Keeghan Anding via pinfall in under three minutes in the 132 pound division.

The co-op forfeited the 138 weight class, and then won the next two matches. Talon Severson was victorious over Tucker Bethea via technical fall in the 145 weight class, and David Vicente defeated his opponent in just under two minutes in the 152 weight class for five and six points.

The co-op dropped the final two varsity matches of the meet, with Xavier Digman losing in the 160 weight class, and Brandon Vicente suffering a loss to seventh ranked Nathan Buchanan in the 170 weight class.

Joe Hawthorne competed in the junior

WRESTLERS varsity 160 weight class, and won his match via pinfall.

Neillsville Team Tourney

The Abbotsford/Colby wrestling co-op was back on the mats two days later, taking part in the six team Neillsville Team Tourney, competing against three different schools in dual action.

The co-op fell to Menomonie 64-18, with River Halopka in the 126 weight class, Brandon Vicente at 170 and Talon Severson in 145 the lone winners, with all three picking up wins via pinfall.

The co-op lost had their second meeting with Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal in as many days, falling 56-24. Devin Thums and River Halopka picked up points with forfeits in the heavyweight and 126 weight class.

Carter Grewe won his match in the 195 weight class with a pin in 3:28 over Joe Polzin. Talon Severson was the only other wrestler to taste victory against Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal, defeating Tucker Bethea for the second straight time with a pin.

The Abby/Colby grapplers earned their only victory of the day with a 60-18 decision over the Chetek/Weyerhauser/ Prairie Farm co-op that was the result of six forfeits from their opponents.

Devin Thums won his match in the heavyweight class, pinning his opponent in under 30 seconds. Halopka won his match in the 126 weight class in under a minute via pin, followed by victories from Severson in the 145 weight class and Brandon Vicente in the 170 weight class, both coming by way of pinfalls.

The co-op will look to build off this experience, and continue to improve, says head coach Steven Wozniak, but needs to bring energy to each and every match.

“We’ve had tournaments on the weekends, and now our first home dual, and I like that our guys are continuously learning and improving throughout the school year,” Wozniack said. “But we have to be ready to go and wrestle from the whistle, and not in the second or third period of a match.”

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