Bulldog trio makes Northern Badger podium
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BULLDOG sophomore Zach Hellendrung is shown wrestling Hayward/Webster’s Bradey Gottwald in the 5th-place match at 215 pounds at the Northern Badger Wrestling Classic last Friday, December 29. Hellendrung pinned Gottwald in 4:02 to place fifth, the highest finish by a Bulldog in the two-day tournament. —photo by Jacob Maes Photography
RIVER FALLS — Boyceville headed into last week’s Northern Badger Wrestling Classic with a tournament-leading 34 champions.
And the Bulldogs were hoping to add to that list!
Unfortunately, none of Boyceville’s 14 varsity wrestlers that competed in the 2023 edition of the Northern Badger Wrestling Classic, held Thursday and Friday, December 28 and 29 at River Falls High School, were able to garner gold. Instead, Boyceville had to once again settle for a trio of place winners.
Sophomore Zach Hellendrung was once again Boyceville’s “Top Dog” taking fifth at 215 pounds. Senior Parker Coombs and freshman Dallas Herdahl each finished 12th at 285 and 106 pounds, respectively, to also reach the awards podium.
Those three alone accounted for 46 of the 72 total points the Bulldogs tallied in this year’s tournament. That score, which was identical to last year’s tally, put Boyceville in sixth place in the Division 3 (small school) final standings and 28th overall out of the 46 schools that participated in this year’s Northern Badger Classic. Rival Glenwood City won its third straight small school team title with 148.5 points while Menomonie captured the Division one crown and overall championship with 315.5 points. Cumberland was the Division 2 champion and overall runner-up with 304 points.
Having just returned to action following an injury suffered during the football season, sophomore Zach Hellendrung finished 4-2 once again at this year’s Northern Badger which was good for fifth place at 215 pounds.
Hellendrung opened the 2023 tournament with a 44-second pin of Unity’s Caleb Johnson. In the round of 16, Hellendrung also dominated his match against Taydyn Angell of Cornell/Gilman/Lake Holcombe as he posted a 21-7 major decision. The Boyceville sophomore capped his first day of wrestling in River Falls with a 7-2 quarterfinal’s win over Kasey Johnson of St. Croix Falls.
Hellendrung began day two’s competition with a 4-2 semifinal loss to Blair-Taylor’s Jackson Shramek. Hellendrung lost a second straight match when he was pinned by Easton Stone of Rice Lake at the 2:46 mark of their consolation semifinal. That setback put Hellendrung in the fifth-place match which he won by fall in 4:02 over Bradey Gottwald of Hayward/Webster.
BULLDOG Zane Pierce is shown wrestling DePere’s Chase VanDenHeuvel in the opening round of the 2023 Northern Badger Wrestling Classic Thursday, December 28 at River Falls High School. Pierce won the 120-pound match with a 1:58 pin. —photo by Jacob Maes Photography
The Bulldogs other two medalists, Dallas Herdahl and Parker Coombs, finished the two day tournament with 3-4 records as each copped 12th-place honors in their respective weight classes.
Herdahl’s three wins all came via first-period pins. He opened competition at 106 pounds with a 55-second fall over Case Platson of Prescott. Then in back-to-back consolation-round matches, Herdahl pinned Jaimeson Schuur of Unity in 12 seconds and dispatched Neillsville-Greenwood-Loyal’s Chase Lindner in 1:46. Unfortunately, Herdahl dropped his final three matches including a loss by pin fall to Logan Gray-Ives of Lakeland/Mercer in the 11th-place bout.
After losing an opening-round decision at 285 pounds, senior Parker Coombs went on to win his next three matches – a 52 second pin of Prescott’s Austin Hughes, a 3-1 decision over Landon Langer of St. Croix Central and a close 1-0 decision against Blake Fayerweather of Glenwood City. But, like Herdahl, Coombs dropped his final three matches and was pinned in 1:37 in the 11th-place match by Micah Butler of Hayward/Webster.
Picking up team points but not placing were Rony Ramos (113), Zane Pierce (120), Victor Pattermann (126), Landyn Leslie (138), Alex Obermueller (144), and Zach Kersten (165).
The Bulldogs’ five other competitors, Wyatt Sell (132), Bryce Humpal (150), Jack Gruenhagen (157), Mark Knopps (175) and Isaiah Romero (190) all finished the tournament at 0-2.
Boyceville is set to host Durand-Arkansaw this Thursday, January 4 for its Dunn-St. Croix Conference opener and will then head to Merrill on Saturday for the annual Bluejay Invitational.