Wrestling Roundup: Forfeits help Raiders pin Wildcats in dual

While the matches that were settled on the mat were close, the Blair-Taylor wrestling team didn’t have the depth to compete with Arcadia in the season openers for both teams last Thursday.

B-T won four of the seven matches that were actually wrestled, but Arcadia received seven forfeits for 42 of its points in a 60-24 win. 

The match was tied 12-12 after four matches. Arcadia’s Matthew Badillo (132) and Logan Conrad (138) received forfeits before B-T’s Billy Miller (144) and Ryan Flynn (150) pinned Arcadia’s Eduar Suares and Derek Tamke. 

That’s when the competition picked up. Arcadia picked up its first dual win when Adalberto Ortiz (160) pinned Easton Rogstad. B-T fired back with a pin by Ben Lien over Nicholas Esteban (170). Arcadia took the lead for good when Gery Lopez (175) pinned DaVonne Turner. David Aguilar (190) then received a forfeit to make the score 30-18.

B-T’s last win of the night came when defending state champion Jackson Shramek (215) pinned Juan Barrientos in the first period. 

Arcadia’s Keven Luna (285) received a forfeit before Ony Zaragoza (106) pinned B-T’s Juliann Doerr in the first period of the last match that was wrestled in the dual.

Zayden Sanchez (113), Landon Pehler (120) and Ivan Aguilar (126) all received forfeits for Arcadia. 

Titans sweep wrestling duals

By Benjamin Pierce

Times Staff

The Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro high school wrestling co-op is back to its winning ways.

The Titans opened its 2023-24 season last Thursday, sweeping a triangular with La Crosse and Tomah.

Coach Pete Peterson and the Titans are set to continue wrestling this week with a tournament at Wisconsin Dells on Saturday.

G/M 54 Logan/Central 15

Forfeits helped G-E-T/Mel-Min beat the La Crosse co-op in its first dual last week on a night the Titans lost only three weight classes.

La Crosse lost 18 points due to forfeits at 113, 144 and 150 pounds but won on opposite ends of competition—Shen Yang pinned G/M’s Jaden Page in the 106-pound match, and teammates William Rudolph (215) and Collin Wilson (285) took care of business in the heavyweight matches.

The Titans responded to Yang’s victory by winning 11 straight weight classes.

Koda Purney won by pin at 120 pounds, and the Titans also got pins from Gunnar Kremer (132), Jayce Stetzer (138) and Gunnar Jonson (157).

Multiple matches were won by decision against La Crosse—G/M’s Brody Banse won 14-8 over Justus Mueller in the 126-pound match, and teammate Jeron Hansen took the 165-pound win by an 8-4 decision.

Other Titans winning by decision included Braden Peterson (175) and Aaron Dunigan (190).

G/M 54 Tomah 21

The Titans collected six pins and 10 individual wins to take down Tomah on Tuesday.

The Red Hawks swept the higher weights against Tomah, getting pins from Dunigan (190 pounds) and Cisco Jimenez (285) while getting a major decision win from Alex Wieczorek at 215 pounds.

Other Titans to secure pins included Colton Koss (113), Purney, Kremer, Jayce Stetzer (138) and Johnson while Purney won by an 11-9 decision at 120 pounds.

Wildcats fifth at Royall tournament

By Andrew Dannehy

Times Editor

With three second-place finishes, the Blair-Taylor wrestling team finished fifth in the team standings at the Royall Invitational on Saturday.

Ryan Flynn (150), Ben Lien (165) and Jackson Shramek (215) all finished second for B-T.

Shramek, a defending state champion, won his first three matches by pin — two in the first period. After he pinned Trenton Frye of Royall in the third period to advance to the championship, Shramek was pinned by Teige Perkins of Richland Center in the championship match.

Lien also had three pins — one in the first period and two in the second. He went to the final buzzer against Nasiah Holland of Amherst, but lost the championship match, 8-0.

Flynn only had to win once to get to the championship match and he did so, topping Mauston/Necedah’s Mason Romanelli by pin in the third period. However, he lost to Ashton Meister of Poynette by technical fall, 16-1, in the championship. 

Billy Miller (144) took third for B-T. He split his first two matches before rebounding with two pins, including a first-period win over Eli Muckler of Richland Center in the third-place match.

Easton Rogstad (157) won his first match for B-T, but lost the next two and did not place. 

Mauston/Necedah won the 14-team tournament with 189.5 points, followed in the top five by Royall (152.5), Richland Center, (134), Westfield (109) and B-T (86).

Norse 16th at BRF tournament

By Andrew Dannehy

Times Editor

Two Whitehall wrestlers placed individually as the team finished 16th out of 21 teams at the Black River Falls Invitational on Saturday.

Frank Juresh (106) and Nolan Thompson (126) both finished sixth for the Norse. 

Juresh received two byes sandwiching a loss then pinned Mitchell Blackhawk-Link of BRF to earn the chance to wrestle for fifth place, but he was pinned in the final match by Case Lindner of Neillsville.

Thompson had a similar run with two byes and a loss in his first three matches. He then pinned Josh Reis of Neillsville to advance to the fifth-place match, which he lost, 6-0, to Onan Casteel of Pardeeville. 

Oriah Anderson (138) and Broc Coburn (175) both won two matches for the Norse, but weren’t able to place. Ashton Hansen and Luke Matejka both won one match in the tournament.

Corbin Larson (215) and Theo Mikesell (157) also wrestled for the Norse, but did not place. 

Sparta won the tournament with 169.5 points, ahead of Auburndale’s 143.5 while Pardeeville (129.5) and Onalaska (124) finished third and fourth. Whitehall’s 38 points was just better than Stratford (35) and behind Viroqua (47).

Indees win three matches at Beef River Brawl

By Andrew Dannehy

Times Editor

The Independence/Gilmanton wresting team got its season off to a strong start, winning three of four matches at the Beef River Brawl in Mondovi on Saturday.

The Indees came away with wins over Mondovi/Eleva-Strum, 54-23; Unity, 42-34 and Osseo-Fairchild Co-Op, 66-6. The lone loss was to Chetek/Prairie Farm, 52-24.

Grant Klimek (132) was undefeated for the Indees, winning all four of his matches by pin. Gracie Rombalski (106), Owen Gierok (138), Sam Marsolek (150) and Drew Bragger (285) all won three matches in the tournament. Gavin Konter, Alex Johnson, Kevin Rodriguez, Chase Back, Landon Stamper and James Carillo Taylor all had two wins. 

There weren’t any I/G wrestlers who were winless in the tournament as Preston Solberg and Ethen Strada also won matches. 

The Indees were scheduled to host Onalaska on Tuesday of this week before wrestling in a tournament at La Crosse Logan on Saturday. They’ll wrestle in a tournament in Whitehall next Friday.