On The Mat: Titans return to mats with dominant dual wins

In their return to the wrestling mats for another winter of competition, the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro co-op got things started on a positive note with a pair of dominant dual victories.

The Titans bulldozed their way to lopsided wins over both La Crosse Logan and Tomah during their duals at a quadrangular held in West Salem last Thursday.

The G-E-T/Mel-Min matmen return to action with a dual at Caledonia Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by tournament action at the Woodside Wisconsin Dells Center Dome on Saturday starting at 9 a.m.

G/M 66 La Crosse Logan 9

The Titans lost only two matches during a thumping of the Rangers in their dual last week.

In addition to picking up 24 points thanks to forfeit wins, G-E-T/Mel-Min wrestlers had another four wins via pinfall: Colton Koss over Mason Welch at 132 pounds, Brock Kaz (285 pounds) over Ivan Ystenes, Aydan Stetzer (106) over Eli DeLap and Evan Johnson (113) over Zachary Navrestad.

Other Titans victories came courtesy of Jayce Stetzer (165) beating Nicholas Wanner-Holinka and Aaron Duigan (190) defeating Porter Wilson via technical falls, along with Brody Banse (144) getting past Emerson King and Layne Fry (150) turning aside Onesimus West in major decisions.

G/M 67 Tomah 4

No forfeits were necessary in the dual between the Titans and the Timberwolves, but G-E-T/Mel-Min turned the proceedings into a rout with wins in 13 of the 14 matches contested on the mats.

The Titans scored six pinfall victories: Koss (132) over Grayson Steen, Merek Windsor (175) over Tim Solaita, Kaz (285) over Caleb Urban, Stetzer (106) over Holden Foster, Johnson (113) over Elijah Simon and Gunnar Kremer (126) over Kael Finch.

They also tallied 20 total points thanks to four different technical fall wins, including Banse (144) over Wyatt Randall, Fry (150) over Cordell Iverson, Stetzer (165) over Chance Peterson and Dunigan (190) over Jack Newbury.

The Titans wrapped things up with Berg (157) and Koda Purney (120) defeating Xavien Wilson and Blake Champlin, respectively, in major decisions and Isaiah Ruesgen (215) eking past Landon Crego in a 2-1 decision.

Indee wrestlers second at Mondovi dual tournament

By Andrew Dannehy

Times Editor

The Independence/Gilmanton wrestling team lost only to the tournament champions, going 2-1 at the Beef River Brawl Duals in Mondovi on Saturday.

I/G’s loss came early as Mondovi/Eleva-Strum controlled the dual, 59-11. The Indees came back with a 36-35 win over Unity then finished the tournament with a 47-24 victory against Elk Mound. 

Grant Klimek, a state tournament qualifier last year, went 3-0 wrestling at 150 pounds to start his junior season. Klimek had little trouble dispatching all three wrestlers, scoring pins in the first period in each of his matches.

Mason Severson (138 pounds) also went 3-0 in the tournament. He opened with a technical fall then scored two pins in fewer than 45 seconds. 

James Carillo-Taylor also went undefeated for I/G, going 2-0 at 285 pounds. The senior pinned Unity’s Charles Livingston in the second period and received a forfeit. 

Two freshmen, Jonah Rombalski (106) and Jurgen Fankhauser (113) went 2-1 for I/G. Rombalski lost his first match by pin, then scored a pin and a technical fall. Fankhauser lost his first match, but received two forfeits. 

Blake Slaby (157), Landon Stamper (165) and Preston Solberg (190) all went 1-2 for I/G in the tournament.

The Indees are set to compete at Black River Falls on Thursday and in a tournament at La Crosse Logan on Saturday. The team will be in action again next Friday in Whitehall for the Norse Invitational. 

Norse wrestlers fifth at BRF tourney

By Andrew Dannehy

Times Editor

The Whitehall wrestling team had one champion and finished fifth overall at its first competition of the season on Saturday.

Ernest Peterson took the top spot in the 157-pound weight class at the Black River Falls Invitational, while several other Norse wrestlers cracked the top five. Whitehall scored 94 points, tied for fifth with Portage. Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal took fourth with 108.5 points and the tournament was won by Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, which finished with 187.5.

The Norse were in action again on Tuesday, competing in a triangular against Blair-Taylor and Arcadia in Arcadia. The team’s next competition will be the Norse Invitational in Whitehall next Friday.

BR Falls Invitational

Peterson only allowed his opponents to score two points as he went 3-0 to win his weight class.

Peterson began his 2025-26 sophomore campaign with a pin in the quarterfinal round. He followed that with a 6-0 win over Kobee DeYoung of the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro Varsity Reserve team to advance to the championship. 

The Whitehall sophomore got a takedown about 30 seconds into the championship match and another late in the second period, allowing only an escape and a penalty point in a 6-2 win over Mitch Ziegler of SP/WH. 

Whitehall also got a third-place finish from another sophomore, Kivin Juresh. Juresh won his first 132-pound match by technical fall, but lost in the semifinal round to Alex Mikunda of Ladysmith. The Whitehall sophomore rebounded with another technical fall, this time beating Zayden Killian of BRF, 16-1, for third place. 

Frank Juresh (113 pounds), Devin Hutsell (175) and Caden Hansche (215) all took fourth for Whitehall. 

Four other wrestlers, Jason Hinrichs (106), Rawley Matejka (144), Brodie Garbers (165) and Mason Bautch (285) did not place. 

Raider wrestlers take fourth at Island City Duals

By Zach Rastall

Times Staff

The Arcadia boys wrestling team kicked off another new season last week, placing fourth out of five teams competing at the Island City Duals.

At the event — held this past Friday in Cumberland — the Raiders went 1-3 in their four duals, competing against Hudson, Boyceville, Winona Cotter and host Cumberland. The final standings saw Cumberland in first, Hudson in second, Boyceville in third, Arcadia in fourth and Winona Cotter in fifth.

The upcoming schedule for Arcadia includes a road dual at Black River Falls on Thursday starting at 5 p.m. and a Saturday invitational hosted by La Crosse Logan starting at 10 a.m.

Hudson 40 Arcadia 36

A tight Raiders vs. Raiders dual came right down to the wire, with an imbalance in forfeits proving pivotal in the final result.

Arcadia outscored Hudson 24-16 on the mat, with the former getting pinfall wins courtesy of Derek Tamke at 157 pounds, Kriss Vazquez at 285 pounds, Matthew Badillo at 138 pounds and Logan Breska at 144 pounds.

However, Arcadia lost 24 points due to forfeits while Hudson only ceded 12 points via forfeits, allowing Hudson to tally the dual victory.

Boyceville 40 Arcadia 30

Despite again having better success than their opponent in the matches that were wrestled, forfeits loomed large in Arcadia’s dual loss.

The Raiders picked up their 30 points thanks to five different pinfall wins: Breska (144 pounds), Tamke (157), Adalberto Ortiz (165), Nicolas Esteban (175) and Landen Pehler (126).

The Bulldogs recorded 22 points in wins on the mat but racked up 18 points in forfeits to pick up the dual win.

Arcadia 44 Cotter 12

The Raiders finally earned a dual victory with another strong performance on the mat, picking up pinfall wins courtesy of Badillo (138) and Esteban (175) along with major decision victories by David Aguilar (190) and Zayden Sanchez (126).

Arcadia was the beneficiaries of forfeit points in that dual, earning four wins that way while Winona Cotter won two matches via pinfall.

Cumberland 48 Arcadia 28

Cumberland, the champions of the day, completed their 4-0 record at last weekend’s meet with five forfeit wins and three pinfall victories.

The Raiders had a trio of wins by pinfall thanks to Aguilar (175), Keven Luna (285) and Pehler (126). Sanchez (132) got Arcadia four points with a win via major decision, and the Raiders also won one match by forfeit.

Raiders seventh, Norse eighth at Mel-Min tourney

By Zach Rastall

Times Staff

The Arcadia, Whitehall and G-E-T/Melrose-Mindoro girls wrestling teams were each part of the field at an early-season invitational hosted this past Saturday at Melrose-Mindoro High School.

The Raiders finished seventh of the 13 teams with 53 points, led by freshman Marleni Blas (153.8-164-pound bracket) with a second-place finish in which she had both a pinfall win and loss.

Freshman Samantha Bustos (138.4-146.4) and junior Kalyce Sobotta (125.2-132.8) each won a pair of matches to register fourth-place finishes in their respective brackets as well for Arcadia.

The Norse were eighth as both Lucy Frei (189.4-232.8) and Hannah Pirk (153.8-164) were third in their respective weight classes. Jaydea Wells (189.4-232.8) took fourth while Lillian Estenson (115.2-121.2) and Sophia Knutson (147-153) had fifth-place finishes. Selena Hawley (138.4-146.4) was sixth and both Ivonne Rojas Ortiz (96.5-108) and Cira Davis (115.2-121.2) were seventh. 

The Red Hawks were 12th in the team standings with 22 points, as both junior Payten Craig (121.2-126.8) and sophomore Miakela Dixon (125.2-132.8) took sixth in their respective brackets.

Holmen and Lancaster tallied 183 and 180 team points, respectively, to finish in first and second in the standings on the day.

Both Craig and Dixon also competed for the Titans during the team’s quadrangular in West Salem earlier in the week. Craig went 2-0 in her matches at 126 pounds, pinning both Madi McCabe and Josslynn Buck of Tomah. Dixon had similar success against a pair of Tomah opponents that night, pinning both Mackenzee Perry and Alexis Berg in their 132-pound bouts.