Colfax-Bloomer grapplers get ready for upcoming season

COLFAX — Nine wrestlers from Colfax have been making the daily trip to Bloomer High School to meet up with 10 teammates from that school in preparation for the new wrestling season.

The combined team finished 3-5 for sixth place in the Heart O’ North Conference last year and head coach Jim Poirier will have to replace six wrestlers gone through graduation including Jon Hayton, Matt Shaw, Justin Wachtendonk, Jacob Malinowski, Tyler Stoll and Brady Chance.  But with several experienced wrestlers back and some newcomers to the team, Poirier believes they should be able to fill most of the weight classes this year which is pretty important when it comes to winning tournaments and matches.

Brady Simonson is one of several seniors and has the most experience after competing at the state tournament his freshman and junior year. Simonson concluded his junior season with a record of 41-6 after losing his preliminary match in Madison. Senior Brady Hedtke is also experienced and was a sectional qualifier a year ago and fellow seniors Zack Arvold, Stephan Snyder, Hunter Clementson, Tommy Johnson and Ryan Ratcliff will be fighting for starting spots. Cole Anderson-Olson, Jared Kressin and Eric Wachtendonk are the three juniors on the team which means a lot of underclassmen will be battling for positions this season. Sophomores include Jared Stoll, Collin Bungartz, Adam Malinowski, Cody Goettl and Ike Kramschuster and the freshman class has Dalton Schotter, Dalton Klukas, Tommy Anderson and Alex Rossie.

“I look for us to be able to compete well against most of the teams in our conference this year,” Poirier said. “The top three teams in our conference last year, Ladysmith, Cumberland and Chetek-Weyerhaeuser all lost a lot of good wrestlers through graduation so we are all in the same boat with filling out a team. But we have some quality kids back and also some younger ones who have competed in the youth wrestling programs that should help us this year,” he added.

The team begins competition with a home meet in Colfax Dec. 3 against Ladysmith then wrestles in a tournament in Glenwood City Dec. 5.