GC wrestlers place second in Somerset Invite, top-ranked Wyatt Unser remains unbeaten
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SOMERSET — Glenwood City wrestlers concluded a challenging pre-holiday schedule Friday, December 20 when it competed in the Somerset Invitational.
The Hilltoppers, ranked tenth in Division 3, placed second in the 13-team tournament after scoring 458 points. Powerhouse St. Croix Falls, which is number 2 in this season’s first Division 2 state poll, captured the team title with 604 points. New Richmond was third with a 436, Chippewa Falls scored a 409.5 to place fourth and Luck/Frederic/Grantsburg/Siren rounded out the top five with a 306.5.
Glenwood City had three wrestlers make their respective championships, but senior Wyatt Unser was the Toppers’ lone champion at the conclusion of last Friday night’s wrestling. In all, 13 Glenwood City varsity wrestlers finished sixth or higher with five taking a top-three finish. In addition, eight junior varsity wrestlers earned first, second or third-place finishes in their respective tournament.
Defending state champion and current number one ranked, Wyatt Unser, stayed perfect as he ran his early-season record to 12-0 with a dominating performance at 138 pounds. Following an opening-round bye, Unser recorded a one-minute pin of Woodbury’s (MN) Joe Bents in the quarterfinals and followed it with technical falls in both his semifinal and championship matches. In the semis, he tech falled Jack Ryan of St. Croix Falls 16-0 in just 1:38. Unser faced Sam Schmitt of Spring Valley/Elmwood in the first-place match which he won 18-3 in 3:37.
Sophomore Preston Arvey and senior Blake Fayerweather also made the championship matches at 120 and 285 pounds, respectively, but finished with silver medals.
Arvey, who was bidding for a second straight gold medal in as many weeks, began with a pair of byes at 120 pounds. He stuck his semifinal’s opponent, Devin Jones of St. Croix Falls, at the 5:28 mark. Connor Bruhn of Chippewa Falls defeated Arvey in the championship bout via a 9-2 major decision. Arvey heads into the brief Christmas break with a 9-2 season mark.
At heavyweight, Blake Fayerweather also finished with three wins in the tournament. Like Arvey, Fayerweather was awarded byes in the first two rounds. In his first mat action of the meet, Fayerweather pinned New Richmond’s Mathew Fouks 2:59 into their 285-pound semifinal match. In the final, Fayerweather was matched with 15-1 Logan Bockman of St. Croix Falls. The Saints heavyweight earned a hard-fought, 5-3 decision over Fayerweather. It was just Fayerweather’s second defeat in his dozen matches this season.
Six other Glenwood City grapplers competed for a bronze medal in Somerset. Elliott Radintz (106) and Landon Obermueller (132) captured third in their weight classes with 3-1 finishes while Will Obermueller (112), Dylan LaBeree (175), Waylon Wagner (190) and Jackson Logghe (215) each finished fourth by splitting their four matches in the invitational.
Fifth-place finishes went to Zeb Holden (144), Andrew Blaser (150) and Abe Draxler (175). Brook Wood (157) took sixth, Logan McVeigh (126) placed seventh, Corey Strong (132) was eighth, Javier Vilar-Alvarez (165) was ninth and Logan Hillman (138) finished tenth.
Several of Glenwood City’s junior varsity wrestlers placed. Landon Standaert (126) and Lucas Halbach (144) both finished first; Charlie Boogie (126), Jacob Hager (157) and Andrew Yang (215) were runners-up; Ben Standaert (144), Zach Bacon (175) and Adrian Lee (215) placed third.
Glenwood City will return to action later this week at the annual Northern Badger Wrestling Classic. The two-day tournament runs this Friday and Saturday, December 27 and 28 at River Falls High School. The Toppers are the defending small school champions.