WOLFPACK WRESTLING PREVIEW - Person takes over six-man squad; Duellman aims for big finish
WOLFPACK WRESTLING PREVIEW
Saturday can’t come soon enough for the Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe wrestling co-op, who will be the last of the area’s prep sports teams to start its winter season when it makes its annual trip to the Barron Invitational.
The Wolfpack starts the 2023-24 season slightly deeper than last year with a roster of six wrestlers, four of whom bring a fair amount of wrestling experience at the varsity and youth levels.
The program is under new leadership this year with Wolfpack wrestling alum Zach Person taking over. Person, a 2018 Gilman graduate, finished his prep wrestling career on the state mat and was a highly-respected student-athlete in his time there. Person is in his first year teaching in the Cornell School District after spending last year in the Medford School District.
He takes over for Greg Sonnentag, who coached the Wolfpack for 10 seasons before moving on to a new job at his alma mater, Cadott.
“It’s been a big learning experience, but I feel like being that it wasn’t that long ago I relate with the kids and some of the mindsets they have and can help them through some things, like cutting weight,” Person said Friday. “The season does get long, so I feel like, being that I’m not too far from just doing it, I can relate to the kids and give them things that worked for me.
“I like it quite a bit. It’s new that’s for sure.”
Justin Fredrickson, an assistant coach the past several seasons for the Wolfpack is back in that position again this year.
The team has been practicing since Nov. 13 and Person said the guys are more than ready to test themselves in Saturday’s 18-team tournament.
Tournaments are again where the Wolfpack expects to have the most success due to their low numbers.
“We might not be able to win a lot of duals, but we’re going to focus more on the individual aspect of the meets to make sure we’re taking care of that aspect,” Person said.
Cornell-Gilman-Lake Holcombe returns two wrestlers from last year’s squad, which went 1-5 in Lakeland Conference duals and placed seventh in the league’s eight-team season-ending tournament.
Troy Duellman is the most prominent name wrestling fans will recognize. The senior from Gilman is aiming for his third straight WIAA Division 3 state appearance. He went 30-9 last year, placed second in the conference and finished on the awards podium at the Kohl Center by placing sixth at 152 pounds. The WIAA is debuting some new weight classes this year with Duellman figuring to wrestle in the 150- to 157-pound range in most cases. “He’s trying to chase after that state championship,” Person said. “He’s coming in super motivated. He’s working hard. He’s putting everything out there for it this year. It’s good to see.” Five of Duellman’s nine losses last year came to Clear Lake’s Tyler Sunday, including the fifth-place match at state which Duellman was a couple seconds away from winning. Those two are both seniors this year, and it will be interesting to see if they lock horns at times again this year or if they wind up in different weight classes.
“We’ve talked about that,” Person said. “Troy has said he wants to wrestle him one more time.”
The other returnee is junior Preston Fredrickson, who went 17-19 last year, including a fourth-place finish in the conference at 132 pounds and a sixth-place finish at the WIAA super regional.
Fredrickson could start this year in the new 144-pound weight class.
“Preston is looking good so far,” Person said. “He’s motivated. He looks good this year. He’s really filled out it looks like compared to last year. We’re excited to see what he’s going to do this year.”
Two freshmen who bring exciting credentials into the program are Gilman’s Taydyn Angell at 215 pounds and Lake Holcombe’s Kadyn Jones, who Person said is looking at the 138-pound weight class. Both have had success at the youth levels with Angell finishing third in the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation’s state tournament last March and Jones also having been to state. Now they’ll try to successfully make the transition to high school wrestling.
Gilman freshman Frank Weir and Cornell senior Zach Schurtz are new wrestlers to the program. Weir could be looking at a 150-pound spot while Schurtz could slide into the lineup at 126.
Person said one advantage of having the six wrestlers the Wolfpack does is that the weights, for the most part, are similar enough to create some good live wrestling in practice, but the team thinks it will be able to spread those wrestlers out in meets, especially in dual meets.
“It’s nice because all of those guys are around kinda the same weight but they’re still spread out enough for our duals,” Person said. “We can get them doing different looks against each other. With Taydyn we have me and Justin who work with him quite a bit.”
Dual meets in the Lakeland Conference won’t start until January. They’ll be contested in a series of quads throughout the month. The Wolfpack will host one on Jan. 11 with the Luck Co-op, Unity and Bruce. The Wolfpack will be at the Bruce Quad on Jan. 4 and the Clear Lake Quad on Jan. 18. Turtle Lake-Clayton will host this year’s conference meet on Feb. 3.
The Wolfpack will attend their typical slate of invitationals, including Auburndale, Cadott, Ladysmith, St. Croix Falls and the two-day Northern Badger Invitational in River Falls during the holidays.
Post-season competition starts with the 13-team regional meet at Auburndale with the top four finishers in each weight class advancing to the Feb. 17 sectional meet in Edgar.
