Boyceville wrestlers third at Bluejay Challenge; Palmer and Joles claim individual championships

MERRILL — Change, just say, is inevitable, so embrace it.

It can be a source for growth and new opportunities.

So with that in mind, the Boyceville wrestling squad opted out of the Hudson Duals, their usual destination the first weekend in January, and instead made a trek east a few hours to partake in the Bluejay Challenge at Merrill High School last Saturday.

Unlike the team-based duals in Hudson, the Bluejay Challenge was individual tournament like the Northern Badger Classic or the upcoming WIAA tournament series.

There the Bulldogs found plenty of wrestling opportunities and success.

Eight of Boyceville’s 12 varsity competitors finished sixth or higher including a pair of champions, runners-up and third-place finishers.

For the second straight week, senior James Palmer and junior Garrett Joles came back with championships in hand.

Both wrestlers beat state-ranked competitors to take their title – Palmer at 182 pounds and Joles at 195.

In addition, the Bulldogs got second place finishes from sophomores Nick Goodell at 126 pounds and Brock Schlough at 160 pounds, third-place finishes from juniors Justin Malean at 170 pounds and Noah Novotney at 220 pounds along with a fourth from Sam Retz at 145 and a sixth by Macadin Kahl at 138 to propel Boyceville to a third-place team finish at the 19-team Bluejay Challenge January 7.

The Bulldogs tallied 370.5 points to finish behind team titlist Sun Prairie, who had 498.5, and runner-up Prairie du Chien/Wauzeka-Steuben with 392. Rhinelander scored a 361 and Barron finished at 316.5 to round out the top five.

“We had a very successful trip to Merrill,” said Jamie Olson, Boyceville head coach. “Placing third was a nice accomplishment in a very solid field of teams.”

Olson said his two champions “wrestled exceptionally” well.

Both went 5-0 in the tournament beating ranked wrestlers to secure the gold.

Palmer opened the tournament with one of the day’s fastest pins, taking down Barron’s Steve Dysland just 25 seconds into their 182-pound match. The Boyceville senior, now a perfect 25-0, then dominated his next three opponents via a pair of major decisions (14-1 and 9-0) and a technical fall (16-0) en route to a title match-up against Division 3’s top-ranked 182-pound wrestler, Alex Peplinski of Wittenberg-Birnamwood.

Palmer, ranked second behind Peplinski, scored a 4-1 decision to win last Saturday’s title. 

Joles, who ran his current season mark to 23-1, did that one better beating a pair of state-recognized grapplers to win his 195-pound bracket.

Joles, ranked first in the most recent state poll, registered three pins on the day including a first-period pin (1:52) of tenth-ranked Stephen Ronnfeldt of Prairie du Chien/Sauzeka-Steuben in the semifinals and a dominating 12-3 performance over Amherst’s Bryce Holderman, ranked third in D3’s 195-pound state field, in the championship match.

Brock Schlough just missed adding a third individual gold to the Bulldogs’ hardware haul at the Merrill tournament.

For just the second time in his young career and first time this season, Schlough lost a match. Schlough dropped a heartbreaking overtime decision to Waukesha West’s Shane Gantz in the 160-pound title match.

Ranked third at 152 pounds in Division 1, Gantz scored a takedown in overtime to win 5-3. Schlough, who is the number one wrestler in the D3, 160-pound weight class, was hit with a stalling penalty in the waning moments of the match which allowed Gantz to knot the match at three and force overtime.

Prior to that, Schlough, now 23-1, had made short work of his other opponents scoring a pair of pins and a 15-5 major decision.

Nick Goodell, who is garnering some votes in the 126-pound state field as an honorable mention, grabbed the Bulldogs other silver medal.

Goodell won his first four matches including a 2-0 win over Zach Johnson of Wittenberg-Birnamwood and 5-2 against Chippewa Falls’ Kyle Bowe before being pinned by Tyler Nelson of Sun Prairie at the 1:35 mark of th3 126-pound championship match.

“Nick Goodell placed second and wrestled one of his best tournaments of his young career,” noted Olson. “Nick has a very good work ethic and its paying off.”

Justin Malean and Noah also recorded 4-1 marks and in third place at 170 and 220 pounds respectively. Both wrestlers had a pair of falls including one in their third-place matches.

Senior Sam Retz just missed being the Bulldogs’ third bronze-medalist when he got caught and pinned in a tough match for third. Retz had been leading Zach Perrich of Sun Prairie before the fall.

Macadin Kahl took sixth at 138 pounds with a 3-2 record while Eli Swanson (106), Shiann Wagner (113) and Gage Brown (285) all placed tenth.

Olson also noted that Dylan Mcnew and Jason Swanepoel both wrestled tough as non-scoring varsity wrestlers and that  Tanner Anderson took home the JV title at 145 pounds while Austin Benson finished second and Addison Mertz took third.

Boyceville will host a pair duals this week. Eau Claire North was at the Dog House last night with Glenwood City coming in tomorrow as the Bulldogs open the Dunn-St. Croix dual season. The Toppers fell 47-22 to Spring Valley in its conference opener January 5.