Raptors finish 6th in Cloverbelt wrestling tourney, McDonell/Elk Mound takes 8th
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Area wrestling cooperatives from Bloomer/Colfax and Chippewa Falls McDonell/Elk Mound competed in the 2024 Cloverbelt Conference wrestling tournament held this past Saturday, February 3 at Neillsville High School.
The Raptors of Bloomer/Colfax placed sixth in the ten-school tournament with 73 points. McDonell/Elk Mound, in the first year of their wrestling cooperative, finished eighth after scoring 51 points. While neither team had a champion crowned, Bloomer/Colfax’s Drew Ryder and Zeke Anderson both finished as runners-up in their respective weight classes.
Host Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal won this year’s Cloverbelt Conference tournament championship with 205 points just edging out second-place Regis/Altoona who tallied 201 points. Cadott was a close third with a score of 199.5, Stanely-Boyd followed in fourth with a 193, Abbotsford/ Colby scored a 118.5 to finish fifth, Bloomer/Colfax tallied a 73 for sixth, Spencer/Columbus/Granton came in seventh with 57 points, McDonell/Elk Mound was eighth, Thorp/Owen-Withee placed ninth after scoring 29 points and Osseo-Fairchild/Augusta/Fall Creek had a 22 to finish in last place.
Both the Bloomer/Colfax and McDonell/Elk Mound teams open the WIAA tournament series this Saturday, February 10 at Medford High School where they will compete in the Division 2 super regional. The top four individual place winners in each of the 14 weight classes will advance to the individual sectional tournament to be held at Tomahawk High School on Saturday, February 17. Meanwhile, the top two teams from the super regional will advance to the team sectional to be held next Tuesday evening, February 13 in Somerset.
Bloomer/Colfax
The Raptors’ Drew Ryder and Zeke Anderson both captured silver medals in the respective weight brackets at last Saturday’s Cloverbelt Conference wrestling tournament at Neillsville High School.
At 113 pounds, Ryder received a quarterfinal-round bye and then scored a 15-6 major decision over Cillian O’Connell of Regis/Altoona in the semifinal. Ryder surrendered a 16-1 technical fall in championship match to Cadott’s Kaleb Lodahl (37-7). Ryder heads into the WIAA tournament with a 32-9 record.
Zeke Anderson, competing at 120 pounds, opened his day with a 48-second pin of Stephen Lin of Stanley-Boyd in a quarterfinal’s match. In the semifinal, Anderson won a 7-2 decision over Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal’s Rydge Tibbett to earn a spot in his weight’s championship match. Abbotsford/Colby’s Tristen Smazal, however, took the gold medal via a pin of Anderson with just seven seconds left in the match. Anderson did eclipse the 30-win mark on the season with his two victories in Neillsville and is currrently 31-11 overall.
The remaining five Raptor wrestlers that competed at conference also placed.
Earning fifth-place finishes for Bloomer/Colfax were Miles Lueck (3-11) at 114 pounds, James McElroy (26-18) at 150 pounds and Dyllon Zwiefelhofer (18-25) at 157 pounds.
Jacob LaGesse (10-28) finished sixth at 132 pounds as did Kolten Burgess (18-19) at 190 pounds.
Colfax senior Ayden Anderson did not compete in the varsity tournament.
McDonell/Elk Mound
A trio of McDonell/Elk Mound grapplers finished fourth in their respective weight classes to lead their team at the Cloverbelt Conference tournament.
McKenzie Simonson (26-19) at 106 pounds, Isabella Giza (19-22) at 165 pounds and Wyatt Pelkey (10-15) at 215 pounds copped fourth-place finishes in Neillsville February 3.
All three of Elk Mound’s wrestlers competed and placed. Sophomore Ford Hay (5-30) received a pair of byes to finish fifth at 138 pound. Freshmen Luca Burcaw (5-37) and Brady Mathison (5-17) both placed seventh at their respective weights of 132 and 190 pounds.
Placing sixth for McDonell/Elk Mound were Jonah Christopherson (6-19) at 175 pounds and Hailey Pelkey at 285 pounds.