On The Mat: Raiders win pair of duals at BRF quad

The Arcadia boys wrestling team put together a pair of convincing dual victories and tied in another at a quadrangular event last week, then followed it up with a fourth-place finish at a tournament over the weekend.

The Raiders’ last action on the mats prior to Christmas will be as part of an invitational in Whitehall on Friday starting at 4 p.m.

BRF Quad

Arcadia dominated two of its duals and tied the other this past Thursday in Black River Falls.

The Raiders romped to a 53-16 win over the host Tigers in their first dual of the evening, with senior Matthew Badillo (138 pounds), junior David Aguilar (175), junior Austin Fernholz (190) and Kriss Vazquez (285) all earning pinfall victories. Junior Logan Breska (144) also had a win by technical fall.

Arcadia’s second dual yielded a 65-18 win over Independence/Gilmanton, highlighted by Badillo, senior Adalberto Ortiz (157), Nicolas Esteban (165), Fernholz (215) and Keven Luna (285) each tallying wins via pinfall while Aguilar notched a tech fall win.

I/G junior Grant Klimek notched a pinfall win over Arcadia junior Raymundo Hernandez in their 150-pound bout and the Indees also had two forfeit victories.

The Raiders tied Glenwood City 39-39 in their final dual of the day. That included six total wins via pinfall by junior Landen Pehler (120), Breska, Esteban, Aguilar, Fernholz (190) and Vazquez. The other three points came courtesy of Ortiz defeating senior Ben Standaert in an 18-12 decision.

The Indees earned a 40-24 win over BRF in their dual, featuring pinfall wins by sophomore Mason Severson (138) and senior James Carrillo Taylor (285). They also had victories via tech fall courtesy of senior Preston Solberg (190) and Klimek.

Glenwood City handed I/G a 64-15 dual defeat in the opening round of the evening. Klimek and Carrillo Taylor each had a pinfall win and sophomore Blake Slaby won a 6-3 decision against junior Corey Strong.

La Crosse Invite

The Raiders came away with a solid showing at an invitational last Saturday at Logan High School in La Crosse, placing fourth out of 14 teams with 148.5 points. Only Saint Croix Central (279), St. Charles (MN) (189) and Hudson (175) were ahead of them in the team standings.

Arcadia had a trio of wrestlers finish in second in their respective weight classes: Matthew Badillo (138 pounds), David Aguilar (165) and Krizz Vazquez (285). That was matched with three more Raiders taking third: Landen Pehler (120), Nicolas Esteban (165) and Keven Luna (285).

Rounding out the top finishers for the Raiders were Ony Zaragoza and Adalberto Ortiz in fourth at 126 and 157 pounds, respectively, and Logan Breska in fifth in the 144-pound bracket.

Sobotta places third at Eau Claire Memorial invite

By Zach Rastall

Times Staff

Arcadia junior Kalyce Sobotta was the headliner for the Raider girls wrestling team in tournament action last weekend.

Sobotta placed third in the 126-pound bracket at an invitational hosted this past Friday by Eau Claire Memorial. That made her the highest-finishing Arcadia wrestler on the day.

Sobotta picked up wins in her first two matches, defeating Somerset junior Madalynn Simonet in an ultimate tiebreaker in the round of 16 and pinning Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln junior Addison Morin in the quarterfinals.

After suffering a pinfall defeat to Somerset freshman Cora Bighley in the semifinals, Sobotta rebounded for a pinfall win of her own against La Crosse Logan/Central junior Emylie Vang in the third-place match.

Arcadia senior Amarissa Fernando also put together a solid showing by going 3-1 in her matches and registering a fifth-place finish in the 107-pound bracket.

Fernando pinned Hartland Arrowhead junior Serena Melter in the round of 16, followed by a quarterfinal loss via technical fall to Saint Croix Central sophomore Ayda Miller. Fernando bounced back with two more pinfall victories, beating La Crosse Logan/Central freshman Sophia Biundo in the consolation semifinals and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption freshman Eleanor Graumann in the fifth-place match.

Arcadia finished 11th out of the 36 teams present with 142 points. The top five in the team standings were Holmen (380 points) in first, La Crosse Logan/Central (228) in second, Stanley-Boyd (222.5) in third, Eau Claire North (206.5) in fourth and Hudson (185.5) in fifth.

The Raiders girls will take part in one more meet before Christmas, competing at the BRF Girls Scramble on Thursday at the Black River Falls Fieldhouse starting at 5 p.m.

Titans take fifth at Duals in the Dells

By Zach Rastall

Times Staff

The Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro wrestling team had plenty to be happy with coming home from Wisconsin Dells last weekend after winning four of their five duals on the day.

The Titans placed fifth at the annual Duals in the Dells event, held last Saturday at the Woodside Wisconsin Dells Center Dome.

Their first-round matchup pitted them against Kimberly, who the Titans easily turned aside 54-15 by winning 11 of the 14 matches contested. They followed that up in the round of 16 with a 41-26 win over Muskego where five of their eight wins came via pinfall.

The Titans’ winning run was halted with a 46-29 loss to Marshfield in the quarterfinals, though they bounced back with a 41-36 victory against Cumberland in the consolation semifinals. In the latter dual, senior Koda Purney’s win via an 11-7 decision over senior Caleb Hile at 120 pounds in the dual’s penultimate match proved pivotal in the final result.

The Titans followed that up with another tight win in the fifth-place dual, defeating Oconomowoc 39-37. Purney, this time at 126 pounds, had another key victory for three points in the penultimate match of the dual, this time defeating freshman Charles Schweizer via a 12-5 decision.

Junior Aaron Dunigan was the lone Titan wrestler with a perfect record on the day, winning all five of his matches at 190 pounds in the five duals.

In the girls’ 126-pound bracket — which was separate from the team duals — Titan junior Payten Craig went 4-2 in her matches (all six of which were decided by pinfall) to place fourth in her weight class.

Last Thursday, the Titans defeated Caledonia/Houston 44-22 in in their dual matchup in Caledonia. Match results for that dual were not available at the time of publication.

G-E-T/Mel-Min host a triangular against Mauston and Cadott in Galesville on Thursday starting at 5:30 p.m., then take part in a weekend tournament in Richland Center on Saturday at 9 a.m.

B-T boys wrestlers lose two, girls split in home triangular

By Andrew Dannehy

Times Editor

The Blair-Taylor boys wrestling team struggled in a pair of dual competitions at home last Thursday. 

The Wildcats won a combined three matches in losses to Eau Claire Memorial and Mondovi/Eleva-Strum and lost several by forfeit as B-T had just five wrestlers competing.

B-T lost five matches — totaling 30 points — in its 50-6 loss to M/E-S. B-T’s only win came when Billy Miller pinned Ivan Berger in the second period at 165 pounds. That gave B-T a 6-0 lead, but M/E-S won the next two matches as Bill Jardine defeated Jonathan Aguilar, 17-1, and A.J. Loscheider pinned Ethan Sweno in 1:58, giving M/E-S an 11-6 advantage.

The Buffaloes then scored 30 straight points via forfeit. That followed three double-forfeits before Mondovi won the next two matches with Tyson Greiner topping Austin Clemens, 16-10, and Nicholas Wright beating Anthony Haas by pin. 

Clemens was the only B-T wrestler to record a win on the mat in the dual against Eau Claire Memorial. He pinned Caden Vincent in the first period to put B-T ahead 6-0. ECM tied the match with a pin by Harvey Dayton over Haas, but B-T reclaimed the lead when Miller received a forfeit. 

Those were the last points B-T would score, however. Nick Louris pinned Aguilar before Caysen Martinek stuck Sweno. ECM won two matches by forfeit and there were seven double forfeits in the dual.

B-T girls earn split

The B-T girls wrestling team was able to split with ECM and M/E-S, with both duals ending in 12-6 scores. 

Maryjane Flynn picked up B-T’s only win against ECM, pinning Mia Koehn in 1:20. Two other B-T wrestlers, Jayda Ristey and McKenzie Killian, both lost their matches by pin.

Flynn was a winner again against M/E-S, pinning Vienna King in 4:37. Ristey also won her match, pinning Mareesa Rehberg in 1:39. Killian fell in the first period by pin to Kyli Zahara. 

Wildcats 23rd at Tomah Scramble

With just three wrestlers competing, Blair-Taylor finished 23rd out of the 23 teams competing in the Tomah Scramble on Saturday. 

Austin Clemens was B-T’s top wrestler, taking ninth at 144 pounds. Jonathan Aguilar was 12th at 175 pounds and Ethan Sweno took 14th in the 190-pound bracket.

B-T scored 16 points in the tournament, which was won by Marathon’s 249. 

The Wildcats will be in action again on Friday as the team competes in the Norse Invitational in Whitehall. 

Norse finish 16th at Husky Invite

By Andrew Dannehy

Times Editor

The Whitehall wrestling team finished 16th out of 28 teams at the Eau Claire North Husky Invitational on Saturday.

The Norse scored 133 points in the tournament, which featured several high-level teams from large divisions including champion Kaukauna (533.5 points) and second-place Holmen (410). 

Frank Juresh was Whitehall’s top finisher, taking seventh at 113 pounds. After a first round bye, he lost in the quarterfinals and in his next match, then secured seventh place via medical forfeit.

Kivin Juresh and Devin Hutsell both finished ninth in their weight classes for Whitehall. Travis Smith took 10th, Mason Bautch and Evander Peterson took 12th, Brodie Garbers was 15th and Rawley Matejka took 16th. 

Whitehall will be in action again this Friday, hosting the Norse Invitational with several other area schools competing. That will be the team’s final competition until a Jan. 10 tournament at Cadott.