Topper wrestlers crush Panthers, Radintz records 100th win at Cadott Invite

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The new year started with bang for the Glenwood City wrestlers.

In the Dunn-St. Croix dual opener in Durand last Thursday, January 5, the Hilltoppers, ranked seventh in the Wisconsin Grappler Division 3 state poll, began defense of their conference crown with a 72-9 pummeling of the Panthers of Durand-Arkansaw.

They followed that up two days later with a third-place team finish in the loaded Cadott Invitational where five Hilltoppers made the finals with two – senior James Knight and sophomore Wyatt Unser – emerging with championships at their respective weight classes, and decorated senior Ian Radintz reached a milestone as he captured his 100th career victory in the January 7th meet. 

Glenwood City will look to keep that momentum rolling this week when they travel to Boyceville this Thursday, January 12 for a key conference dual against the rival Bulldogs. Last season, the Hilltoppers won the dual 43-42 on tie-breaking criteria and went on to claim its first Dunn-St. Croix championship in more than a decade. Glenwood City will then wrap up the week with a trip to Caledonia, MN Invitational on Saturday.

Durand-Arkansaw

Glenwood City stormed into Durand last Thursday and wasted little time in blowing away host Durand-Arkansaw in the first conference wrestling dual for both squads.

The Hilltoppers captured wins in 12 of the 14 matches including five by pins and the other seven via forfeits.

“Durand is down a little bit this year, but I felt our kids came in focused on competing well,” said Glenwood City head coach Shane Strong.

Senior Noah Brite opened the match with a second-period pin of the Panthers’ Magnus Lukic at 170 pounds.

The Toppers were awarded forfeits at the next three weight classes to take a 24-0 lead.

In the closet match of the dual, the Toppers’ sophomore heavyweight Blake Fayerweather lost a 9-8 decision to Panther Ethan Brunner for the first of only two Durand-Arkansaw wins.

“Despite the loss I thought Blake Fayerweather wrestled his best match of the season against a good heavyweight,” noted Strong. “Blake wrestled all six minutes with great effort and came up short.”

Landon Obermueller was awarded a forfeit at 106 pounds.

In the 113-pound bout, Michael Strasser picked up  the host Panthers other win of the evening with a fall over Topper Jake Wood.

At 120 pounds, Logan McVeigh would pick up the Toppers’ fifth forfeit of the dual to make it 36 to 9 in favor of the Hilltoppers.

James Knight (126), Ian Radintz (132), Zeb Holden (138) and Gabe Knops (145) registered consecutive pins to put Glenwood City in front 60 to 9.

“It was great to see Zeb Holden come into our line-up to pick up a varsity win. He has been practicing hard this year, so you love to see kids have that opportunity,” stated Strong.

Glenwood City polished off the drubbing with two final forfeits to Mitchell McGee (152) and Andrew Blaser (160).

Glenwood City 72, Durand-Arkansaw 9

170-Noah Brite (GC) pinned Magnus Lukic (D), 3:02; 182-Steve Booth (GC) received forfeit; 195-Jackson Logghe (GC) received forfeit; 220-Connor Gross (GC) received forfeit; 285-Ethan Brunner (D) dec. Blake Fayerweather (GC), 9-8; 106-Landon Obermueller (GC) received forfeit; 113-Michael Strasser (D) pinned Jake Wood (GC), 1:11; 120-Logan McVeigh (GC) received forfeit; 126-James Knight (GC) pinned Landen Lindstrom (D), 5:59; 132-Ian Radintz (GC) pinned Joey Baker (D), 2:45; 138-Zeb Holden (GC) pinned Brady Mansmith (D), 0:46; 145-Gabe Knops (GC) pinned Devin Wahlborg (D), 0:25; 152-Mitchell McGee (GC) received forfeit; 160-Andrew Blaser (GC) received forfeit.

Cadott Invitational

Filled with confidence, the Hilltoppers wrestlers enjoyed one of their best finishes at the Cadott Invitational which was held this past Saturday, January 7.

“Our team wrestled very well Saturday. We had a rough week with school closures, but our kids were not distracted. They remained focused and determined to wrestle at a high level,” noted Strong.

All 13 varsity wrestlers that competed, scored team points and placed with five making the finals.

Sophomore Wyatt Unser and senior James Knight both finished with 4-0 records to capture gold medals.

Following a bye in the opening round of competition at 120 pounds, Knight won his next two matches with first-period pins and then bested New Richmond’s Alexander Radavich 9-4 to win the championship.

“James Knight had his best tournament of his career winning the title. He was all gas and no brakes throughout the day. He has done a great job managing his weight this year and seems to be wrestling much better because of it,” Coach Strong said.

Wyatt Unser, who is 16-1 on the season and ranked second in the D3 state poll in his weight class, also wrestled full throttle in Cadott. Unser won his first three bouts at 113 pounds via a pin and two technical falls and then edged Division 1 state champion Brayten Casey of Menomonie 3-2 in the championship match to avenge the loss he suffered against Casey in the previous week’s Northern Badger   title tilt at the same weight.

“Wyatt Unser defeated the division 1 returning state champion in the finals,” said Strong. “He just continues to improve every day, which is a credit to his work ethic.”

Seniors Ian Radintz and Gabe Knops and freshman Landon Obermueller all finished as runners-up at their respective weights.

Radintz, the number two ranked wrestler in Division 3’s 126-pound bracket, faced two-time defending state titlist Dawson Johnson, a junior from Cumberland for the gold at 126. But, for the second time in as many weeks (which included the previous week’s title match at the Northern Badger), and the third time this season, Johnson prevailed, winning the championship match 8 to 3. On his trip to the finals, Radintz scored a pair of falls and recorded his 100th varsity win – quite an accomplish in itself.

“Ian is a great wrestler, we are so proud of him for his accomplishments,” said Strong. “He trains year round and really commits to his school work too. He has demonstrated a great attitude in his losses to Johnson, focused on closing the gap for when it matters. He has never shown that he doesn’t believe he can win, he just gets right back to work.”

Fellow senior and state-ranked grappler Gabe Knops also fell short in his quest for a championship while competing at 138 pounds. After registering three, first-period pins, Knops himself fell victim to a fall in the finals where he was pinned by Menomonie’s Kellan Aure in 3:16.

The Toppers’ final championship competitor was first-year varsity combatant Landon Obermueller. He won his first three matches including two by pins to earn a spot in the 106-pound championship against Menomonie’s Bailey Casey. Casey won the match and gold with a 10-6 decision.

Three other Toppers wrestlers went 3-1 in Cadott. Junior Peyton Rassbach placed third at 132 pounds while junior Connor Gross and sophomore Mitchell McGee placed fifth at 220 and 145 pounds, respectively.

Noah Brite (160) finished 6th as, Will Standaert (170) and Jackson Logghe (182) placed 7th, Andrew Blaser (152) was 8th and Blake Fayerweather (285) took 10th.

In the junior varsity competition, Zeb Holden finished first at 145 and Logan McVeigh came in fifth at 120 pounds.

Glenwood City’s Savanna Millermon and Eljsa Meijer placed third and fifth, respectively, in the girls’ 107-pound weight bracket.

As a team, Glenwood City finished third out of 19 teams with a score of 475 points just ten points behind second-place Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau. Menomonie took the overall crown at Cadott with a tally of 562.