Glenwood City wrestlers open new year with wins, place fifth in Cadott Invitational
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TOURNAMENT TITLE — Andy Grant of Glenwood City stood atop the awards podium last Saturday in Cadott, holding the bracket poster and wearing the gold medal, after he won the 113-pound championship. The junior was the Hilltoppers lone titlist at the Hornet Invite. —photo submitted
The Glenwood City wrestling team stepped into the new year on the right foot.
Competing three times in a five-day span, the Hilltoppers won a pair of dual meets including their Dunn-St. Croix conference opener at home and wrapped the successful week with a fifth-place showing in the competitive Cadott Invitational.
Glenwood City’s week and 2020 portion of its schedule began with a 39-27 road victory over the Cameron Comets last Tuesday, January 7 and continued with a convincing 51-21 triumph over Durand at home last Thursday, January 9 in the Dunn-St. Croix dual meet opener for both squads.
The Toppers’ pinstripe mat warriors wrapped up their wrestling triumvirate in Cadott this past Saturday where all ten varsity grapplers placed highlighted by a champion, three second-place finishers and a third-place showing.
Glenwood City, 1-0 in conference action and 5-4 overall, will travel to Spring Valley to face the Cardinals of Spring Valley/Elmwood in a D-SC dual this Thursday evening, January 16 before heading east on Saturday to partake in the Chippewa Falls Invite.
Cameron
Glenwood City rang in 2020 with a trip to Cameron and a solid win over the Comets.
The Hilltopper wrestlers earned four pin falls and received a pair of forfeits for all but three of its team’s points for a 39-27 win in the January 7 out-of-league dual.
Beginning at the 132-pound weight class, Glenwood City registered wins in seven of the first nine contested matches and vaulted to an insurmountable 39 to 9 advantage.
Freshman Gabe Knops made a triumphant return to the lineup after missing the past month with an injury with a dual-opening pin at 132 pounds.
Also scoring pins were Thomas Moede (145), Tucker Lagerstrom (170) and Ian Radintz (106), who capped the Toppers’ scoring.
Mixed in that run, was a gusty 12-7 win, as Coach Shane Strong termed it, by Marcis DeSmith at 195 pounds and forfeits to Trenton McNamara and Andrew Berends at 220 and 285 pounds, respectively.
Cameron scored wins in the final three bouts that included a pair of pins and a forfeit to make the final 39-27.
There were double forfeits at the 160- and 182-pound weight classes.
The junior high traveled with the varsity squad and was able to wrestle in 14 matches prior to the featured dual and gained some valuable mat experience.
Glenwood City 39, Cameron 27
132-Gabe Knops (GC) pinned Eli Gillette (C); 138-Cayden Gifford (C) pinned Jabin Hojem (GC); 145-Thomas Moede (GC) pinned Brandon Groskopf (C); 152-Carter Klugow (C) dec. Noah Brite (GC), 8-4; 160-Double Forfeit 170-Tucker Lagerstrom (GC) pinned Ashtyn Waite (C); 182-Double Forfeit; 195-Marcis DeSmith (GC) dec. Thomas Felder (C), 12-7; 220-Trenton McNamara (GC) received forfeit; 285-Andrew Berends (GC) received forfeit; 106-Ian Radintz (GC) pinned Brianna Gensky (C); 113-Evan Hahn (C) over (GC) received forfeit; 120-Remington Ladd (C) pinned Andy Grant (GC); 126-Tanner Gerber (C) pinned James Knight (GC).
Durand
GLENWOOD CITY freshman Trenton McNamara pins Durand’s Ubaldo Martinez in the 220-pound match of last Thursday’s Dunn-St. Croix dual opener in Glenwood City. The Hilltoppers beat the Panthers 51-21. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Returning home two days later to host its conference opener, Glenwood City needed just a half hour to dispatch Durand.
Once again, falls and forfeits loomed large for the Toppers as they claimed four pin falls and an equal number of forfeits to easily tame the Panthers 51-21 in the Thursday, January 9 conference competition.
Glenwood City’s underclassmen lead the way as freshmen Trenton McNamara (220), Ian Radintz (106) and Noah Brite (152) and sophomore Thomas Moede (138) each scored pins.
Brite’s victory in the final contested match of the evening was the most exciting and exhilarating for the team and fans. Trailing 2-0, Brite was able to turn and stick his opponent, senior Logan McNaughton, to cap the Toppers’ victory in style.
Tucker Lagerstrom (170), Andrew Berends (285), Andy Grant (120 and James Knight (126) were all awarded forfeits.
Glenwood City 51, Durand 21
170Tucker Lagerstrom (GC) received forfeit; 182-Double Forfeit; 195-Ethan Brunner (D) dec. Marcis DeSmith (GC), 1-0; 220-Trenton McNamara (GC) pinned Ubaldo Martinez (D), 0:29; 285-Andrew Berends (GC) received forfeit; 106-Ian Radintz (GC) pinned Ethan Lindstrom (D), 1:35; 113-Lexus Carmody (D) received forfeit; 120-Andy Grant (GC) received forfeit; 126-James Knight (GC) received forfeit; 132-Gabe Knops (GC) dec. Dawson Hartung (D), 4-2; 138-Thomas Moede (GC) pinned Roy Cooper (D), 1:39; 145-Wyatt Wood (D) pinned Jabin Hojem (GC), 2:21; 152-Noah Brite (GC) pinned Logan McNaughton (D), 3:00; 160-Ethan J Weiss (D) received forfeit.
Cadott Invite
Junior Andy Grant took the top spot on the 113-pound awards podium in Cadott Saturday and was joined by runners-up Ian Radintz, Thomas Moede and Tucker Lagerstrom and bronze-medalist Gabe Knops in leading Glenwood City to a fifth-place finish in the Cadott Invitational.
All ten of the Hilltoppers’ wrestlers placed in the 13-team event held January 11.
Grant (13-5) went an unblemished 4-0 to win his first tournament of the season which was capped by a thrilling 3-2 win over Ryan Pederson of Prescott in the 113-pound championship match.
Seeded third in the bracket, Grant gained a spot in the title match with a 11-2 major decision in the quarterfinals and a 3-0 shut out victory over 19-8 Logan Harel of Cadott in the semis.
Radintz, Moede and Lagerstrom all started the day 3-0 before falling in their respective finals.
Radintz, a freshman, suffered just his third setback in 19 matches when he fell to once-beaten and fellow freshman Brayden Sonnentag 11-1 in the 106-pound title match. Radintz registered a pair of first-period pins to make the final.
With the exception of an opening-round bye, sophomore Thomas Moede’s other three matches at 138 pounds were determined by falls. Moede scored first-period pins in the quarterfinals (:37) and semifinals before he too suffered a defeat at the hands of a Cadott wrestler when Cole Pfeiffer caught and pinned him in the opening period of the title match.
Tucker Lagerstrom made it through to the 170-pound championship bout with a opening bye, a pin in the quarters and a 16-10 decision over a good Regis wrestler. But in the finals, Cadott senior Brady Spaeth, who is not only the top ranked wrestler at that weight but a defending state champion, pinned the Glenwood City senior in 1:21.
In just his first week back following a month-long hiatus due to injury, freshman Gabe Knops finished 4-1 and in third place at 120 pounds. Knops tallied a pair of winning decisions and two pins including one in 17 seconds and the other in the third-place match. His only lose was an 8-4 decision to Cadott’s Nick Fasbender in the semifinals.
James Knight (126), Trenton McNamara (220) and Andrew Berends (285) placed sixth; Noah Brite (145) was eighth and Jabin Hojem (132) took 16th.
Glenwood City finished with 324 points just six points behind fourth-place finisher Eau Claire Regis and 11 back of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro JV. State-ranked and host Cadott ran away with the team title with a whopping 643.5 points with Whitehall taking a distant second with 408.