Topper wrestlers crush Cardinals to secure share of D-SC crown, Unser reaches 150 wins
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GLENWOOD CITY senior Wyatt Unser (center) won his 150th career wrestling match during the St. Croix Falls Invitational held Saturday, January 25. Unser is flanked by his coaches Tim Miller (left) and Shane Strong (right).
—photo from the Glenwood City Wrestling Facebook Page
GLENWOOD CITY senior Mitchell McGee worked to put Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Doost Mohamad Kaker on his back during a Dunn-St. Croix Conference wrestling dual in Glenwood City January 23. McGee won the 157-pound match with a pin. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
GLENWOOD CITY heavyweight Blake Fayerweather looked to score some back points in his match against Tyler Vanasse of Spring Valley/Elmwood. Fayerweather won the 285-pound bout 16-1 to help lead Glenwood City to a 65-9 win in the January 23 Dunn-St. Croix wrestling dual hosted by the Hilltoppers.
—photo by Jacob Maes Photography
Another busy week on the wrestling mat saw Glenwood City achieve both team and individual accolades.
In yet another dominating performance, the Hilltopper wrestling team secured a share of its fourth straight Dunn-St. Croix Conference championship when it crushed the Cardinals of Spring Valley/Elmwood 65-9 in a dual meet held Thursday, January 23 in the Glenwood City High School Gymnasium. With the victory, Glenwood City improved to 3-0 in conference duals and 9-1 overall.
Two days later, on Saturday, January 25, senior and defending state champion, Wyatt Unser, reached a career milestone as he won his 150th match and eventually claimed yet another individual gold medal when he placed first at 138 pounds in the highly competitive St. Croix Falls Invitational.
Two other state-ranked Hilltopper wrestlers joined Unser atop the awards podium in St. Croix Falls. Fellow senior Mitchell McGee and sophomore Will Obermueller finished first in their respective weight classes of 157 and 106 pounds.
Spring Valley/Elmwood Dual
Both Glenwood City and Spring Valley/Elmwood entered last Thursday’s conference dual with identical 2-0 records.
The upstart and improving Cardinals came to Glenwood City looking to challenge the Hilltoppers for conference supremacy, but the contest was never really in doubt.
After surrendering the opening match at 144 pounds, Glenwood City won 12 of the next 13 matches including four via pins and another four by technical falls on its way to a convincing 65-9 parents’ night win. This victory came on the heels of lopsided dual wins over fellow conference foes Boyceville and Mondovi/Eleva-Strum the previous two Thursdays.
Despite some illnesses, the Hilltoppers still performed well in the win over Spring Valley/ Elmwood.
“We know we have another dual to win before we are conference champs,” stated Glenwood City head coach Shane Strong in reference to the upcoming road dual versus Durand-Arkansaw.
“We have been facing some illness this past week, you could see it in our wrestling,” noted Strong. “I’m proud of the kids for stepping up when some of them are just starting to feel better. Not being able to train can have an impact on your conditioning, which was evident.”
In the opening match at 144 pounds, Glenwood City senior Zeb Holden nearly pulled out the win in the final seconds of the match, but came up a point short, as he lost 11-10 to fellow senior Shahrokhan Kaker.
Another of the Toppers’ eight seniors, Andrew Blaser, gave Glenwood City its first points and lead of the dual with an impressive 19-4 technical fall over freshman Bismillah Kahn Kaker at 150 pounds.
State-ranked Glenwood City senior Mitchell McGee then stepped on to the mat for a 157-pound match against a third Kaker brother – Doost Mohamad. McGee scored the pin at 4:36 to up the Topper lead to 11-3.
A forfeit to Glenwoods’ Javier Vilar-Alvarez at 165 pounds extended the locals lead to 17-3.
Senior Dylan LaBeree and sophomore Abe Draxler followed with back-to-back pins of their Spring Valley/Elmwood opponents at 175 and 190 pounds, respectively, that added another 12 points to Glenwood City’s growing team tally.
The Toppers forfeited the 215-pound match to state-ranked Cardinal Jack Steinmeyer.
But, it was all Glenwood City from that point on as it closed out the dual with a seven-match win streak.
That run of wins included a 16-1 technical fall by Blake Fayerweather at heavyweight (285 pounds), a forfeit to Elliott Radintz at 106 pounds, a Will Obermueller decision at 113 pounds, an 18-1 technical fall at 120 by Preston Arvey, a pin from Logan McVeigh at 126 pounds, a forfeit to Landon Obermueller at 132 pounds and an 18-3 technical fall by Wyatt Unser at 138 pounds to cap the dual.
“We had a few seniors really wrestle dominant matches. I thought Blake and Wyatt really looked on the attack,” concluded Strong.
Glenwood City 65,
Spring Valley/Elmwood 9
144-Shahrokhan Kaker (SVE) dec. Zeb Holden (GC), 11-10; 150-Andrew Blaser (GC) tech falled Bismillah Khan Kaker (SVE), 19-4; 157-Mitchell McGee (GC) pinned Doost Mohamed Kaker (SVE), 4:36; 165-Javier Vilar-Alvarez (GC) received a forfeit; 175-Dylan Laberee (GC) pinned Robby Duffy (SVE), 3:02; 190-Abe Draxler (GC) pinned RJ Quinn (SVE), 0:44; 215-Jack Steinmeyer (SVE) received a forfeit; 285-Blake Fayerweather (GC) tech falled Tyler Vanasse (SVE), 16-1; 106-Elliott Radintz (GC) received a forfeit; 113-Will Obermueller (GC) dec. Dane O`Meara (SVE), 11-5; 120-Preston Arvey (GC) tech falled Tyler Neidermyer (SVE), 18-1; 126-Logan McVeigh (GC) pinned Alex Nelson (SVE), 3:38; 132-Landon Obermueller (GC) received a forfeit; 138-Wyatt Unser (GC) tech falled Sam Schmitt (SVE), 18-3.
St. Croix Falls Invitational
Despite being down five starters, Glenwood City was still able to finish fifth in the very competitive St. Croix Falls Invitational held last Saturday, January 25.
The Hilltoppers managed to score 135 points with the limited lineup that was highlighted by its trio of champions – seniors Wyatt Unser and Mitchell McGee and sophomore Will Obermueller.
“We had a solid day of wrestling in one of the toughest tournaments on our schedule every year,” said Coach Strong.
Undoubtedly, Unser’s run to the title at 138 pounds was a significant milestone as he secured his 150th career victory along the way and improved to 24-0 this season.
After a first-round bye, Unser scored back-to-back technical falls in his next two matches – winning 19-4 just a 1:40 into his quarterfinal’s bout against St. Croix Falls’ Owen Wallace and a 17-1 semifinal win over another St. Croix Falls’ grappler, Jack Ryan, in 2:36 to record his 150th career victory. In the championship, Wyatt majored Austin Herbst, a Minnesota state-ranked wrestler from Totino Grace, by a 13-4 count to win the gold and bring his win total to 151.
Unser is closing in on the school record of 166 wins established by 2013 graduate Adam Holmquist.
Mitchell McGee also won one of his biggest matches this season, according to Coach Strong, by defeating a fellow state-ranked opponent from Minnesota in the championship match at 157 pounds.
After an opening-round bye, McGee pinned Chase Steffen of St. Croix Falls in the quarterfinals and Turtle Lake/Clayton’s Brandon Wright in the semifinals to punch his championship ticket. In the gold-medal match, McGee pulled out an 8-6 win over Payton Herbst of Totino Grace.
Will Obermueller wrestled smart and composed on his way to taking first place at 106 pounds. The Glenwood City sophomore received a pair of byes to open the tournament. In the semifinals, he defeated Colin Hagen of Cumberland in 4:52 via a 16-0 technical fall. Obermueller also dominated in the championship match where he majored Luke Moen of Turtle Lake/Clayton by a 9-1 score.
Sophomore Preston Arvey was the fourth Hilltopper to qualify for a championship match last Saturday in St. Croix Falls. Like Will Obermueller, Arvey drew a pair of byes before wrestling and beating Austin Schmidkunz of Hudson by major decision, 20-9, in the semifinals at 113 pounds. Unfortunately, Arvey lost 14-1 in the finals to St. Croix Falls’ Kaiden Hahn.
Junior Landon Obermueller finished third at 132 pounds. He won his quarterfinal’s match with a pin, was then tech falled by Totino Grace’s Jackson Refsnider, but finished with a 17-2 technical fall victory over River Falls’ Rieder Loomis in the third-place match.
Sophomore Brock Wood took fifth at 150 pounds and senior Logan McVeigh placed seventh at 120 pounds.
In the junior varsity tournament, first-place finishes went to Toppers’ Elliot Radintz (106), Landon Standaert (120), Corey Strong (126), Logan Hillman (138) and Ben Standaert (144). Charlie Bogie (126), Lucas Halbach (144) and Adrian Lee (215) all took third and Andrew Yang (215) placed fourth.
St. Croix Falls finished first among the 18 schools with a score of 195.5, River Falls was the runner-up with 171.5 points.
Glenwood City will participate in the annual Whitetail Shootout at Menomonie High School on Friday and will be competing in the Cashton Invitational on Saturday.
The Toppers will then be vying for a fourth straight undisputed conference championship when it closes out the regular season with a D-SC dual in Durand on February 6.