Glenwood City wrestlers finish third in super regional, ten Toppers advance to sectional

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AUBURNDALE — The Hilltoppers’ goals of winning the super regional and making a return trip to the team sectional tournament were dashed here last Saturday.

Despite a record ten individual sectional qualifiers, Glenwood City, which won 17 of its 20 duals this season, finished third in the WIAA Division 3 Super Regional Wrestling tournament held this past Saturday, February 10 at Auburndale High School just missing out on second place and a second-straight sectional team berth by a mere 4.5 points.

“Our goal was to win the Super Regional as a team, but we came up short,” said Shane Strong, Glenwood City head coach.

“The message to the kids was to focus on their individual effort and the team score would take care of itself. We had some missed opportunities, but we also won some really big matches. We are very proud of our team qualifying ten kids to sectionals, which is not easy in this regional,” added Strong.

The Hilltoppers, who had finished second in the previous two regional tournaments, held a slim lead over the field of 13 teams following the conclusion of the opening round of action in Auburndale last Saturday. But, both Stratford and Marathon overtook Glenwood City in the points race during the intervening sessions. Heading into the wrestlebacks, the Hilltoppers trailed second-place Marathon by nearly 20 points while Stratford had already sewn up its second straight super regional championship.

Glenwood City made a valiant attempt to close the gap on Marathon but fell just short as the Red Raiders held on to claim second with a score of 221.5 points to the Hilltoppers’ tally of 217.

Perennial power and defending team sectional champion Stratford finished atop the team standings with a tournament-leading 12 sectional qualifiers and 274 points. The third-place Hilltoppers will be sending a school record ten wrestlers to the sectional while Marathon has eight. Stratford and Marathon, the top two teams in the Marawood Conference, both earned berths in last evening’s team sectional meet in Cadott. Stratford faced Shell Lake (second place in the Ladysmith regional) in  one semifinal while Ladysmith regional champ, Cumberland, a repeat team sectional qualifier, took on Marathon in the other. The winners  clashed in the finals with a berth in the March 2 state team tourney at stake.

Clear Lake finished fourth with 160 points and had six sectional qualifiers, host Auburndale also had six qualify for the sectional meet and finished fifth with 158 points, Cadott copped sixth with its tally of 124 and four sectional qualifiers, Edgar posted a score of 197 and will also have four wrestling this Saturday, Boyceville finished with 92 points and two sectional qualifiers, Spring Valley/Elmwood had 61 points and will send one to Edgar, Cornell/Gilman/Lake Holcombe scored 54 points and had two wrestlers move on, Athens tallied 35 points and had one qualify for the sectional meet and Durand-Arkansaw with 30.5 points and Thorp/Owen-Withee, who did not score a point, did not have anyone make the sectional cut.

With the top four individuals in each of the 14 weight classes advancing, Glenwood City will be well represented when it sends ten wrestlers to this Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 Individual Sectional tournament at Edgar High School. State-ranked wrestlers, juniors Wyatt Unser (126) and Mitchell McGee (150), both won regional championships in Auburndale. Joining the Toppers’ gold-medal duo in the sectional meet will be second-place finishers senior Conner Gross (190) and junior Blake Fayerweather (285); third-place finishers junior Logan McVeigh (120) and freshman Brock Wood (132) and a quartet of fourth-place finishers that includes sophomore Landon Obermueller (113), junior Zeb Holden (138), junior Andrew Blaser (144) and senior Will Standaert (165).

The girls will also be joining the sectional fray with senior Savanna Millermon and freshman Greta Draxler vying for state berths.

Just missing the sectional cut was freshman Preston Arvey. He placed fifth at 106 pounds.

Glenwood City’s super regional championship duo of Wyatt Unser and Mitchell McGee proved to be the cream of the crop at their respective weight classes of 126 and 150 pounds.

“Wyatt and Mitchell were true to form, dominating their brackets” said Coach Strong.

A state runner-up from last season and currently ranked number one in the D3, 126-pound weight class, junior Wyatt Unser compiled four wins in Auburndale including two by pin falls to capture his third consecutive regional crown and improve to 46-0. Following an opening-round bye, Unser pinned Ivan Persons of Durand-Arkansaw at 3:16 mark of their quarterfinal’s match. In his semifinal bout versus Stratford freshman Aaron Knetter, who was most recently ranked 11th at 132 pounds, Unser earned a 5-1 decision to qualify for the championship. Unser squared off against home favorite Zade Grassel in the final and beat the Auburndale wrestler with a fall at 3:11 to captured the 126-pound gold medal.

Mitchell McGee’s regional performance at 150 pounds was even more impressive. The Topper junior, who received a first-round bye, stuck his first two opponents. McGee put Clear Lake’s Breyen Marley to the mat just 48 seconds into their quarterfinal’s match. In the semifinal, McGee won with a 2:43 fall over Brett Thiel of Auburndale. McGee then claimed the gold with a 12-0 major decision shutout of Stratford’s Kaleb Krummel in the championship match. The four regional wins took McGee’s season mark to 40-7.

Senior Conner Gross (28-18) overcame a semifinal loss to eventually champion Noah Lucio of Stratford and wrestled all the way back to take second at 190 pounds and earn his first-ever sectional berth. Like most wrestlers Saturday, Gross had a bye in the opening round. He squared off against Brennan Wagnor of Clear Lake in the quarterfinals and needed just 47 seconds to score the pin. After surrendering a second-period pin to Lucio in the semifinal, Gross rebounded to stick Edgar’s Lucas Stahnke at the 2:29 mark of their third-place match. That victory earned Gross a shot at a second-place wrestleback against Cadott’s Mitchell Reineke. Gross grabbed the opportunity and the silver with a 1:31 pin of Reineke.

Junior Blake Fayerweather (33-13) finally punched his sectional ticket with a runner-up finish at 285 pounds. After finishing fifth in the regional a year ago to just missed the cut, Fayerweather went 4-1 in the 2024 tournament with a pair of pins. The Topper heavyweight begin the day with a 1:29 pin of Stratford’s Drew Gage in the quarterfinals. After getting pinned by state-ranked Harrison Graveen, a Stratford senior, in the semifinals, Fayerweather rebounded with wins in his final two matches. He bested Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Tyler Vanasse 4-1 in the match for third place and followed it with a pin of Clear Lake’s Ethan Wagner in the wrestleback for the second-place silver.

“Blake Fayerweather and Conner Gross stepped up big for us placing above their seeds,” Strong noted.

Junior Logan McVeigh and freshman Brock Wood are headed to their first sectional tournament thanks to third-place finishes at their respective weights of 120 and 132 pounds.

McVeigh (16-8) went 3-2 at 132 pounds and copped the bronze medal. After a bye to start the tournament, McVeigh pinned Elijah Perry of Clear Lake in 1:11. He lost the semifinal match to state-ranked Cale Quaintance of Marathon via a pin in the second period, but came back to score a 4-0 shutout over Boyceville’s Rony Ramos in the third-place match. McVeigh had an opportunity to wrestleback to second but was pinned in the first period by another state-ranked opponent, Trenton Cournoyer of Stratford.

In his first year of high school varsity wrestling, freshman Brock Wood showed some grit in capturing third at 132 pounds. After a bye in the opening round, Wood won an 8-3 decision against Cadott’s Owen Fasbender in the quarterfinals. Stratford’s Mathias Kaiser used a late third-period pin to beat Wood in the semifinals, but the Glenwood City grappler rebounded with a third-period pin of his own when he took down state-ranked Trevor Towbridge of Auburndale for third place.

Four other Hilltoppers secured fourth place in their respective weight brackets to earn sectional berths.

After taking fifth a year ago at 106 pounds, sophomore Landon Obermueller went 2-2 at 113 pounds to finish fourth. Following a bye, he had a quarterfinal’s pin over Marshall Venzke of Athens. Obermueller’s losses in the semifinal and third-place matches were to state-ranked wrestlers. Obermueller, who came into the tournament as the number nine seed in the most recent D3 state poll in his weight class, is 33-13.

Junior Zeb Holden cracked the 30-won plateau with a couple of victories at 138 pounds where he finished in fourth place. Holden scored a 3-0 decision over Lucas Forrest of Stratford in the quarterfinals. Holden surrendered a pin to Marathon’s Dylan Dodson in the semifinals and another fall in the third-place match to Sam Schmitt of Spring Valley/Elmwood.

Junior Andrew Blaser is headed back to the sectional meet for the second consecutive year following a fourth-place effort at 144 pounds. Blaser (23-12) had a bye and won his quarterfinal’s match against Joey Baker of Durand-Arkansaw with a fall in the first period. But, like Holden, suffered setbacks in his final two bouts of the super regional competition. He lost via fall to Cayden Paulson of Clear Lake in the semifinals and was shutout 15-0 in the match for third by Marathon’s Derek Vesely.

In his final opportunity, senior Will Standaert (20-18) grabbed a sectional berth when he took fourth at 165 pounds. A bye followed by a pin of fellow senior Zach Kersten from Boyceville put Standaert in the semifinals. There he was beaten 9-6 by Jack Tubbs from Stratford. Blake Harris of Clear Lake then pinned Standaert in the first period of the third-place match. He then won a wrestleback via fall against Magnus Lukic of Durand-Arkansaw to retain his fourth-place medal and sectional berth.

Finishing his freshman season a fifth at the regional was 106-pounder Preston Arvey. He won four matches Saturday including a pin in the consolation semifinals and a 9-3 victory over Truxton Becker of Auburndale in the match for fifth. Arvey finished 26-16.

In the final tournament of his prep wrestling careet, senior Steven Booth placed sixth at 175 pounds. Beside a pair of byes, Booth (19-23) defeated Boyceville’s Mark Knopps via pin in the consolation semifinals.

Two other Hilltoppers also concluded their season in Auburndale. Abe Draxler (157) and Jackson Logghe (215) competed but did not place in the super regional.

“Overall the effort was good by the boys, we are excited to get better this week leading into sectionals,” said Strong. 

The Topper ten will be vying for medals and state berths at this Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 Individual Sectional being held for a second straight year at Edgar High School. The top three place winners in each class will advance to the state championship which will be held in the Kohl Center in Madison February 22-24.