Bulldog wrestlers take third at Northern Badger; three claim individual crowns

RIVER FALLS — Without fail, Boyceville’s wrestlers always seem to be in contention for individual and team accolades at Northern Badger tournament regardless of the circumstances.

And this year was no different for the Bulldogs despite a pair of open weight classes and the absence of one of its varsity starters.

Boyceville nearly equaled its performance of a year ago when it finished second with three titlists. The Bulldogs once again saw three wrestlers claim individual championships, which helped propel the squad to a third-place finish overall and first in the Division 3 (small school) standings at the 32nd annual Northern Badger Wrestling Classic held Thursday and Friday, December 29 and 30 at River Falls High School.

Boyceville, without wrestlers at 120 and 132 pounds, still accumulated 228.5 points to finish behind only Melrose/Mindoro-Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (M/M-GET), the overall team titlist with 271 points, and tourney runner-up Neillsville-Greenwood-Loyal (NGL), who tallied 267.5 points. Both of those schools were competing in Division 1.

“Placing third was a great accomplishment for us, considering we didn’t have a full lineup and our 145-pounder, Sam Retz, sat out due to a shoulder injury,” said Jamie Olson, Boyceville head coach.

Boyceville, along with Cadott, who came in a strong fourth overall and second in the small-schools division with 215.5 points, boasted the most individual champions with three each – the Bulldogs’ were a perfect three-for-three in the finals while the Hornets won three of their four title matches. Clear Lake, who had a champion, took third in Division 3 and fifth overall with 212 points and Spring Valley/Elmwood, last year’s Northern Badger team champion, placed sixth overall and first in Division 2 with 208 points.

All four teams will compete against one another next month in the WIAA Division 3 Regional slated for February 11 in Clear Lake.

Boyceville’s trio of champions are no strangers to success. Senior James Palmer (182), junior Garrett Joles (195) and sophomore Brock Schlough (160) added 2016 Northern Badger wrestling championships to their already impressive list of accomplishments which include multiple state tournament appearance, a state title (Schlough) and two state runner-up finishes (Joles).

All three did so in dominating fashion.

Palmer, who competed in his fourth straight NB championship match last Friday night in the River Falls High School gymnasium, reclaimed the title, his third after finishing second a year ago.

The senior, who went through some dramatic body changes this past off season, putting on over 40 pounds and adding six inches in height, smashed his way through the 182-pound field after competing in the lower weights the past three seasons.

Palmer, a three-time state tournament participant, went 5-0 in the tournament to run his record to an unblemished 19-0. After an opening round bye as the top seed, Palmer posted four straight pins including a pin of 16-2 Dakota Schultz of Luck/Frederic/Grantsburg/Siren in 3:38 of the championship match. Schultz was the only wrestler to face Palmer that made it out of the first round. His other three opponents – Cody Gilbertson (:38) of Durand, Daniel Chuchwar (1:17) from Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm and semifinalist Ryan Larson (1:06) of St. Croix Central – were stuck in the first period.

“James is a 4-time Northern Badger finalist and now a 3-time champion,” said Olson of Palmer, who also has Northern Badger titles at 113 and 120 pounds and was second at 138 last year. “You can count on one hand the athletes who have achieved being a 4-time finalist.”

Joles’ championship run at 195 pounds was impressive as well, dispatching the first four opponents he faced with first-period falls before having to go a full six minutes in the title match to claim his second consecutive Northern Badger gold.

Jake Gilbertson was the first victim of Joles’ power and speed as Joles pinned the Regis/Altoona wrestler in 1:41. St. Croix Central’s Jake Zimdahl didn’t even make it that far as Joles stuck him just 18 ticks into their second-round bout. In the quarterfinals, Joles delivered with yet another sub-minute fall when he pinned Spooner grappler Hunter Peterson in 59 seconds.

That win propelled Joles into the second day semifinals round where he stuck Lucas Ingold (NGL) in 2:34 to make the finals, where he was paired with Prescott’s Ty Sanford, who came into the championship unbeaten in 14 matches. Sanford, however, would not remain that way. Joles took control of the title match early en route to the 11-4 gold medal win.

Coach Olson praised Joles’ dominating style that earned the junior a second straight NB crown. 

There is little that has eluded the second-year varisty wrestler Brock Schlough except a Northern Badger title. In his first year, Schlough won the WIAA Division 3, 138-pound state championship and went on to add a state Greco-Roman title but came up short, finishing third in last year’s Northern Badger Classic.

That all changed last week.

Schlough scored three pins and a technical fall on his way to the 160-pound championship match, where he dismantled Danny Pooler of Northwestern for a 13-1 major decision to earn his first-ever Northern Badger title.

Like Boyceville’s aforementioned champions, Schlough was precise, surgical and dominating in his technique and results.

The Boyceville sophomore took down Austin Fox of Osceola on a 1:50 pin in the opening round. He moved on to tech fall Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm’s Justis Knutson 19-3 in round two. Schlough added consecutive falls, pinning Somerset’s Garret Hecht at 2:19 of their quarterfinal’s match and Collin Bungartz of Bloomer/Colfax at the 4:48 mark of semifinal match.

Like Palmer, Schlough improved to 19-0 on the young season while Joles is 18-1.

The Bulldogs also had three other place winners that helped pushed the team to a top three finish in the 2016 edition of the Northern Badger Classic.

Juniors Justin Malean and Noah Novotney finished third in their respective weight classes of 170 and 285 pounds while sophomore Nick Goodell garnered an eighth-place medal at 126 pounds. Both Malean and Novotney finished the two-day tournament with 5-1 records while Goodell went 3-3. 

Novotney, who had three pins leading into his final tournament  match, edged Mikel Louis of Luck /Frederic/Grantsburg/Siren 2 to 1 in the fifth-place match.

Malean’s fifth-place match was cut short when his opponent, Jack Feldt of Osceola, was injured and had to default.

“These six wrestlers were a combined 13-2 on the second day of the tournament,” noted Olson. “They scored nine pins and a default. That is a very impressive stat, and I credit assistant coaches Corey Day and Doug Palmer for getting these kids ready for their matches.”

The coach also had kudos for Jerod Nelson going 1-2 at 145, Eli Swanson 1-2 at 106, Micadin Kahl 1-2 at 138, Hunter Lipke 1-2 at 220 and Shiann Wagner and Trey Brinker, who each finished 0-2 at 113 and 152 respectively.

“It was a great team effort placing third out of 42 teams,” concluded Olson. “We placed second last year and our goal this year was top five and we attained that through hard work.”

Boyceville will be at an invitational in Merrill this Saturday and will then host back-to-back dual next Tuesday against Eau Claire North before welcoming rival Glenwood City Thursday, January 12 to open its Dunn-St. Croix schedule.