The Weyauwega-Fremont wrestling team faced some of the state’s top programs Saturday, Jan. 8, at the Brawl in the Falls in Oconto Falls.
W-F also opened Central Wisconsin Conference dual play and came up short against Bonduel.
Brawl in the Falls
OCONTO FALLS – The Indians placed fifth at the 14-team invitational, ahead of a pair of state-ranked teams in Marquette University School and Reedsville. Team scores were Oconto Falls, 244.5; Bay Port, 191.5; Winneconne, 161.5; Bonduel, 151; Weyauwega-Fremont, 130.5; Wautoma/Wild Rose, 124; Marquette University School, 110; Reedsville, 97; Luxemburg-Casco, 89; Gillett/Suring, 68; Lena, 61; Menominee Indian, 32; New Holstein, 20; and Marinette, 16.
Two W-F wrestlers made it to the championship round. Reedsville’s Mike Koucourek, a two-time state qualifier, defeated Trevor Potratz 8-4 at 135 pounds, while Oconto Falls’ Riley Delzer won the 285-pound class with a 7-1 win over Casey Haase after Haase pinned his way into the final.
Dylan Hansen (119) and Jared Gruetzmacher (125) each placed third for the Indians. Also placing were Brandon Loehrke, fourth at 130; Jacob Chmielewski, fifth at 215; and Casey Lenz, sixth at 145. Meanwhile, Nick Thomas won a pair of matches at 112 and Ben Fox and Nick Stelzner also picked up a win.
“At the end of the day, we felt like we had not wrestled as well as we could, but we looked at the team standings and we were in fifth place, which was outstanding,” coach Tim Potratz said. “Top five was our team goal going into the tournament. As it turned out, we could have done even better. It is a credit to how well we wrestled to finish that high in the standings without wrestling our best. We have wrestled pretty well in our last two tournaments and hopefully, we will continue to improve as a team.”
Bonduel 45, W-F 25
Hansen (119), Gruetzmacher (130), Potratz (135), Lenz (145) and Chmielewski (189) won matches for the Indians. Hansen pinned Tate Shafer in 34 seconds, Gruetzmacher pinned Derek Liebergen in 3:13, Potratz handed Andrew Schmidt a 2-1 loss, Lenz pinned Austin Henn in 4:23 and Chmielewski defeated Taylor Kelley 14-6.
“There was a big crowd on hand to help fire up the home team and we wrestled well to take an early lead,” Potratz said. “The match went back and forth, with W-F holding a 21-18 lead going into the 152-pound match. From that point, Bonduel won three in a row and five of the last six matches to take control and win going away. We gave up six pins, which is too many for the team to give up and have a chance to win.”
The loss drops the Indians’ overall dual record to 6-5.
Individual records for the team are Isaac Danke, 4-12 at 103; Thomas, 7-14 at 112; Hansen, 12-7 at 119; Gruetzmacher, 20-4 at 125; Loehrke, 11-11 at 130; Potratz, 17-4 at 135; Mike Nelson, 7-8 at 140; Lenz, 8-13 at 145; Devon Starks, 4-14 at 152; Fox, 11-8 at 160; Jackson Stearns, 3-10 at 171; Stelzner, 8-9 at 189; Chmielewski, 9-4 at 215; and Haase, 19-4 at 285.
The Indians will wrestle Menominee Indian at 7 tonight (Thursday, Jan. 13) in Keshena in a CWC dual and compete in the Cutler Bulldog Classic Saturday, Jan. 15, in New London. Matches are set to start at 10 a.m.