Cloverbelt tourney
Continued from page 9
win by fall at the 4:49 mark, earning him third place and 18.0 team points.
Junior Eyan Cortista took sixth on Friday in the 144-pound weight class. He suffered a defeat from Bloomer/Colfax’s James McElroy in the first round then faced off against Cadott’s Max Davis in the consolation bracket. Cortista was the first to take an advantage in the match, scoring a takedown of Davis 40 seconds into the bout, but the Cadott wrestler managed to work a reversal a few seconds later. Davis then used the position to pin Cortista at the 1:16 mark, forcing him into the fifth place match against McDonell/Elk Mound’s Ford Hay. The match ended with Hay winning by fall a minute into the bout after notching five points. Cortista earned 3.0 team points.
Izaac Sundermeyer also earned sixth place, doing so in the 165-pound category. He faced off against Cadott’s Brenton Faber in his first match of the day. Faber grabbed the lead with a late takedown in the first round and then went up with a four-point nearfall at the end of the period. Sundermeyer notched an escape in the second, but 10 more points for Faber earned him the 17-1 technical fall victory. Sundermeyer then went up against Regis/Altoona’s Nash Cullinan in the consolation bracket, but couldn’t get on the board after Cullinan controlled the pace after a takedown midway through the first. Sundermeyer once again made it to the second round, but another takedown from Cullinan would eventually lead to a pin at the 3:04 mark. A familiar face awaited Sundermeyer in the fifth place match in Faber, but another technical fall loss to the Cadott wrestler saw the A/C freshman earn sixth place and 3.0 team points.
Xavier Hoppe and Aiden Burt also wrestled for the boys varsity squad on Friday. Hoppe took seventh in the 157pound bracket, falling to Cadin Yeager of Stanley-Boyd in his first round matchup before taking on Gregory Toisi of Regis/ Altoona in the consolation bracket. Troisi earned an early takedown but Hoppe managed to get a point back by escaping back into neutral. Troisi kept up the pressure and earned another takedown and ended Hoppe’s day with a pin at the 1:00 mark. Burt fell to Cadott’s Anthony Glenz in his first match of the day and then faced off against Thorp/Owen-Withee’s Jordan Wulff in the 285-pound consolation bracket. Burt took the advantage with the first takedown of the match, but a late reversal by Wulff led to a pin of Burt in the final seconds of the period. Burt then had to forfeit his seventhplace match due to injury.
On the girls side, Makenna Herrmann went 2-1 in her matches in the 126-pound weight class, earning herself second place. In a round-robin tournament, Herrmann first faced off against Cadott’s Arianna Walker, a matchup that she held control for much of the bout. A takedown a minute into the contest earned Herrmann a lead and she expanded it with a four-point nearfall shortly after. After being awarded a penalty and escaping to start the second, Herrmann forced another takedown that she was able to convert into a pin of her opponent, winning by fall at the 2:34 mark.
She then faced off against Regis/Altoona’s Jaelyn Bowe. Herrmann remained on the attack early, grabbing a pair of first round takedowns to hold a 6-1 lead heading into the second. Bowe bounced back, however, forcing a takedown and four two-point nearfalls in the middle round to turn the tables. A pin for Bowe in the third completed the comeback effort.
Herrmann had a bounce back performance of her own in her final match of the day, going up against Stanley-Boyd’s Sierra Marten. Undeterred by the earlier loss, Herrmann made quick work of her final opponent, quickly notching a takedown before pinning Marten 30 seconds into the bout.
In a two-athlete 120-pound bracket, Romina Perez only faced one opponent on Friday, going up against Cadott’s Tess York. The A/C freshman could not find an opening to take advantage of, suffering a takedown and a four-point nearfall before York won by fall at the 1:40 mark. Kori Geiger also only had one match on Friday, taking third place after suffering a defeat by fall in the 285-pound opener against Mc-Donell/Elk Mound’s Hailey Pelkey.
In the girls 132-pound round robin bracket, Camila Meraz faced off against a trio of opponents. Her first two opponents, Lillian Fitzl of Stanley-Boyd and McDonell/Elk Mound’s Luca Burcaw, were able to turn early takedowns into pins, defeating Meraz by fall at the 0:35 mark and the 0:13 mark respectively. In her final bout of the day against Cadott’s TaliAnn Donahue, Meraz got on the board with a reversal of her opponent, but ultimately Donahue was able to get the win with a first round pin. The loss gave Meraz a fourth place finish.
Both teams will be back in action for their first postseason tournaments of the year this coming weekend. The girls will be traveling to Merrill for their regional meet on Friday, Feb. 14 while the boys will travel to Hayward for their Division 2 regional on Saturday, Feb. 15. The girls tournament is set to begin at 4 p.m while the boys first session is scheduled for 10 a.m.
THREE-PEAT - Tristen Smazal makes a move against Regis/Altoona’s Cillian O’Connell during his semifinal match at the Cloverbelt conference tournament on Friday evening. Smazal went on to win his third conference title in as many years, taking first in the 126-pound bracket. STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
