Bloomer/Colfax Wrestlers cop second in Glenwood City

By Cara L. Dempski

GLENWOOD CITY —  The Bloomer/Colfax wrestlers opened their 2016–2017 season with a second-place finish in the John Timm Duals held in Glenwood City on Saturday, December 3.

The Bloomer/Colfax cooperative finished with a 3-2 record with wins over conference foe Spooner (48-27), Glenwood City (33-33 on criteria) and Triton, MN (50-30). The Blackhawks lost to Somerset (45-31), who finished tied for second with B/C, and tournament champions Neilsville/Loyal/Greenwood (64-6).

The team started its day against the Spooner Rails and a 6-0 victory from Sawyer Best, who beat the Rails’ Alex Daniels in the 106-pound class to grab the team’s first six points of the match-up. After a double forfeit at 113 pounds, the 120- through 145-pound classes saw no opposition from Spooner, lifting the Blackhawks to 36 points.

Colfax freshman Mitch Harmon was awarded the fall against Spooner’s Zachary Kubnick for another six, making the score 42-0 in favor of Bloomer/Colfax.

The Rails’ Chase Melton finally put Spooner on the board with six after he grabbed a fall from Bloomer’s Adam Malinowski in the 160 class. Spooner’s Josh Melton settled for a decision against Collin Bungartz at the 170-pound match to take three and make the score 42-9.

Bloomer/Colfax had no one wrestling at 182, so the six points were awarded to Spooner. Sam Melton, of Spooner, grabbed the fall against Hunter Hall of Bloomer for another six, and Joshua Carroll beat out Eric Wachtendonk at 220 pounds for another six to lift the Rails to 42-27.

Bloomer exchange student Mohammed Smadi accepted a forfeit at 285 pounds, and the Blackhawks won their first match.

The team tied 33-33 with Glenwood City in the second-round duals, but ultimately handed the Toppers a defeat after a tiebreaker using first-period points.

Neither team had a wrestler for 113, but Glenwood City’s Jake Nadeau earned a fall from Bloomer’s Cal Lueck at 120 pounds to give Glenwood City six. The Hilltoppers’ Bradley Kessler took a decision over Bloomer’s Jared Stoll for three at 126 pounds. Ike Kramschuster of Bloomer had no 132-pound opponent, and added six to the Blackhawks’ tally.

After another double forfeit at 138 pounds, Glenwood’s Carson Strong bested Jarrod Kressin of Bloomer with an injury to take six more points and raise the Toppers to 15-6. Colfax’s Harmon again bested his opponent at 152 pounds, winning a decision over Glenwood senior Marcus Ullom to put the Blackhawks up to 15-9.

Glenwood’s Tucker Lagerstrom received a fall from Malinowski in the 160-pound class to lift the Hilltoppers to 21-9 before Bungartz was awarded six at 170-pounds to make the score 25-16. The Hilltoppers’ Spencer Peterson was awarded six for a forfeit at 182 pounds, and Hall and Wachtendonk were both given six at 195 and 220 pounds for forfeits to draw the scores even at 27 all.

Bryce Fayerweather then toppled Bloomer’s Smadi at 285 pounds to make the score 33-27, before Best felled Aaron Holmquist at 106 pounds to tie at 33.

Somerset defeated the Blackhawks in the third match 45-31. The Spartans opened with Nick Kearns beating Lueck with a fall at 120 pounds to lead 6-0. The Blackhawks came back in the second match at 126 pounds when Stoll beat Tyler Hantsberger on a major decision to make the score 6-4.

Somerset’s Steven Moncada and Jared Grahovac beat Kramschuster and Kyle Schmidt at 132 and 138 pounds on a decision and fall to make the score 15-4, before Kressin was awarded a decision at 145 pounds against Spartan Preston Anez to make the score 15-7.

Mitchel Harmon beat Spartan Nicholas Bushinger with a fall at 152 pounds to lift the Blackhawks to 13 points, but Garrett Hecht responded at 160 pounds with a fall for Malinowski to put the Spartans ahead again 21-13.

Bungartz was bested by the Spartans’ Wegscheider at 170 pounds to give Somerset another six before Colfax sophomore Tommy Anderson took six on a forfeit at 182 pounds to make the score 27-19.

The teams traded back and forth the remainder of the match, with Somerset’s Peter Lepper, Zeb Rivard and Joshua Maack taking the 195-, 285- and 113-pound classes, and Wachtendonk and Best taking wins in 220 and 106.

Stoll opened the fourth match against Triton with a Kevin Pena fall for six points before Triton’s Cole Rasmussen toppled Kramschuster at 132 points to pull even at six. Kaleb Strom then kept the momentum going in the 138-pound class with a win over Schmidt to give Triton the 12-6 advantage.

Kressin won a decision over Domenic Andreon at 145 pounds to make the score 12-9 before Harmon stepped in at 152 pounds to overcome Kyle Mitchell and give the Blackhawks a 15-12 lead. Troy Theobold came right back at 160 pounds to take Malinowski and six points to give Triton the 18-15 lead.

Bungartz, Anderson and Hall won at 170, 182 and 195 to add 18 points for a 33-18 lead. A forfeit at 220 gave Watchendonk six points and extended Bloomer/Colfax’s lead to 39-18.

Zach Somers beat Smadi for a Triton win at 285 pounds to make the score 39-24, Best won his fourth match of the day for another six points to make the score 45-24, Triton’s Kody Rasmussen won a forfeit at 113 pounds to raise the Triton team to 45-30, and Lueck beat Triton’s Sean Strom at 120 pounds on a technical fall to make the final score 50-30.

The Blackhawks then dropped their final match to Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal by a score of 64-6. Sawyer Best was the lone team’s winner with a forfeit.

The Blackhawks are scheduled to host Chetek/Prairie Farm at Colfax on December 6 before traveling to Cameron for a quad on December 8.