Three other wrestlers place first
By Greg Seubert
Weyauwega-Fremont and Manawa’s wrestling teams each returned home from the Central Wisconsin Conference meet with a pair of individual champions.
Carter Greening and Ben Strehlow won the 120- and 182-pound championships for Weyauwega-Fremont and Kevin Klemm and Andrew Elmhorst placed first at 113 and 220 for Manawa at the 11-team meet, held Feb. 8 at Almond-Bancroft High School.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood won the overall conference championship by winning the tournament and also placing first in the dual meet standings.
The Chargers finished with 40 points in the final standings, followed by Bonduel (36); Weyauwega-Fremont, Amherst and Shiocton (26); Manawa (24); Pittsville (18); Menominee Indian and Rosholt (10); Almond-Bancroft/Pacelli (6); and Tri-County (0).
Wittenberg-Birnamwood also won the meet with 200.5 points, followed by Bonduel (160), Manawa (149), Shiocton (138), Weyauwega-Fremont (132.5), Amherst (117), Rosholt (96), Pittsville (93), Menominee Indian (54), Almond-Bancroft/Pacelli (40) and Tri-County (26).
“There was an intense battle all season for the third spot in the final standings between four teams,” Weyauwega-Fremont coach Tim Potratz said. “The final standings are determined by the dual meet results and the tournament results. Those four teams took turns beating each other, but in the end, we tied Amherst and Shiocton for third place.”
Greening won his fourth CWC championship by pinning Manawa’s Colten Klemm in 1:57 in the final. Greening, the state’s top-ranked wrestler at 120, improved to 36-1 on the season and was also named received the CWC Wrestler of the Year Award.
Strehlow won his first CWC title with a 10-8 win over Rosholt’s Reese Anderson. He improved to 35-4, is ranked ninth in the state at 182 and has beaten 10 state-ranked opponents this season.
Brock Sanger also made it to the finals for the Indians, but Bonduel’s Issac Banker pinned him in 5:48 in the 195-pound final. Sanger, ranked fifth in the state, had beaten the sixth-ranked Banker in a dual meet in January.
Also placing for the Indians were Skylor Maynard (third, 220); Devin Kuenzi (fourth, 138); Clayton Fee (fifth, 106); Mason Marquette (fifth, 145); Caden Meisenhelder (sixth, 152); and Ethan Lamoureux (sixth, 160).
“We are proud of Carter for joining Rich Tomaszewski and Justin Kempf as the only four-time conference wrestling champions in the history of our program,” Potratz said. “Congratulations to Ben Strehlow on an outstanding tournament and season as he added his name to the list of conference champions for Weyauwega-Fremont. Overall, it was an up-and-down day for our team and we definitely left some wins on the mat, but in the end, it was a good team effort.
“We have made a lot of progress as a young team from November until now,” he said. “We have forfeited weight classes and had young kids in the lineup all season. Somehow, this group of kids found a way to compete at a high enough level to place third in the 11-team wrestling race. Our juniors and seniors deserve a ton of credit for a successful conference season.”
Manawa sent five wrestlers to the finals.
Klemm handed Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Pierson Potrykus a 3-2 loss in the 113-pound final; Colten Klemm fell to Greening at 120; Bryan Griffin dropped a 6-3 decision to Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Wyatt Esker at 145; Colin Moser fell to Rosholt’s Adam Charnecke 6-1 at 170; and Elmhorst pinned Bonduel’s Alex Garside in 2:56 at 220.
Also placing for the Wolves were Bryce Bartel (third, 152); Corey Beyer (fourth, 195); Peyton Schuelke (fifth, 126); and Adrin Larsen (sixth, 103).