Bulldog grapplers hungry for conference championship

By Cara L. Dempski

BOYCEVILLE — The Boyceville wrestling team have just not been able to get past the Spring Valley/Elmwood wrestlers the past three years despite being one of the Dunn-St. Croix’s perennial wrestling powerhouses.

James Palmer, Brock Schlough, Cody Frederick and Garrett Joles all won regional championships while brothers  Dyllon and Micah Johnson and Justin Malean finished second in their classes at regionals. With the exception of Malean, the others qualified for the state tournament. Schlough, Joles and Micah Johnson copped sectional titles while Palmer and Frederick placed second and Dylon Johnson was third.

The talented team sent six wrestlers to state and returned with three individual medals. Schlough won the 138-pound championship as a freshman, Joles took the silver for a second straight year and Micah Johnson returned with his third straight state medal.

While there were many individual accolades for last year’s Bulldog wrestlers, the team again failed to secure a team title, finishing second in the Dunn-St. Croix and regional meets for a third consecutive year behind Spring Valley/Elmwood, who won the Divsion 3 state title in 2015 and was the runner-up in 2014.

The Bulldogs will be a favorite to capture their 18th Dunn-St. Croix wrestling championship as well as regional and sectional titles.

But the Bulldogs will have to fill some holes in order to do that.

The team said goodbye to heavyweight wrestler Brandon Windsor, who was ranked number one in the state for most of last season before being upset in the regional semi-finals. Alex Schaffer also graduated in May 2016.

In addition to graduating seniors, coach Jamie Olson lost Dyllon and Micah Johnson. The brothers along with their family  moved to Indiana this past spring.

Olson’s team returns four of the six wrestlers who went to state last year.

Senior James Palmer, who qualified for state for a third time as a junior, returns as a letter winner with a 39-6 record. He wrestled at 132 pounds last season but did not bring home a medal from state. Palmer wrestled in the lower weight for the past three season but don’t be shocked to see the gifted grappler in the upper weights this years after grewing over five inches in just a four-month period

Trey Brinker (1-3), Tyler Krueger (8-17), Sam Retz (2-5) and Jerod Nelson (0-0) return as seniors and letter winners looking to make contributions to this year’s pack of Bulldogs. Addison Mertz joins the team this year as a senior and hopes to make her mark on the mats.

Juniors Joles and Frederick were another two Bulldog wrestlers and letter winners who went to state as sophomores. Frederick ended his season in Madison with a 38-6 record after being beaten right away in the 145-pound weight class. Joles brought home second-place honors for the second year in a row after finishing as runner up at 170 pounds in 2015 and 182 pounds in 2016. He ended the season with a 44-4 record.

Other junior letter winners hoping to make an impact this year are Jason Swanepoel (4-19), Justin Malean (22-17), Noah Novotney (23-18), and Tanner Anderson (0-0). The junior class welcomes Shiann Wagner as a newcomer to this year’s team. Coach Olson said he sees a lot of potential in her.

Sophomore Brock Schlough earned a varsity letter as a freshman and was the 2016 Division 3 state champion for the 138-pound weight class. He will be joined by fellow sophomore letter winners Nick Goodell (25-19), Braxton Ludtke (6-8) and Dylan McNew (0-0). Newcomers Gage Brown and Ty Gundlach are hoping to make an impact on the mats this season.

Freshmen Austin Benson, Austin Hatfield and Damien Walters-Miner are hoping to follow in the footsteps of the upperclassmen that have done well in their rookie seasons.

Coach Olson said the team’s strength will be in the middle to upper weights, due to the experience returning there. He feels the team’s weakness will be its inability to fill the lower weights.

“We have some very talented kids back,” Olson said. “I need to continue to motivate and challenge these guys to push themselves to get better every day. If this happens, and our younger kids buy into this philosophy, we will have a nice season.”

Olson stated Spring Valley/Elmwood is always a tough team to beat. He also said Glenwood City and Durand will compete at a high level and Mondovi will be much improved.

Jamie Olson is entering his 18th year coaching wrestling for the Boyceville Bulldogs and has an overall record of 223-86. He will be assisted by Corey Day and Doug Palmer.

The Bulldogs will go to Cumberland on December 2 for their first matches of the season before heading to UW – Stout to take on Cadott on December 3. They will then host Clear Lake on December 6.

2016-17 Roster

Seniors: Jerod Nelson, Addison Mertz, James Palmer, Sam Retz, Trey Brinker, Tyler Krueger.
Juniors: Shiann Wagner, Garrett Joles, Tanner Anderson, Jason Swanepoel, Cody Frederick, Justin Malean, Noah Novotney.
Sophomores: Nick Goodell, Braxton Ludtke, Brock Schlough, Ty Gundlach, Gage Brown, Dylan McNew.
Freshmen: Damien Walters-Miner, Austin Hatfield, Austin Benson.