By Reagan Hoverman

Pierce County continues to be home to powerhouse wrestling programs that regularly make noise at the regional, sectional and state levels throughout the postseason.

All four high school wrestling teams within Pierce County’s borders had at least two of their wrestlers finish top five in their respective weight bracket at the regional tournament, which instantly qualified them for the individual sectional on Saturday, Feb. 18.

River Falls set the pace for local teams, as the Wildcats had eight wrestlers perform well enough at the Division 1 Regional in Hayward on Saturday, Feb. 11. Ellsworth had six wrestlers qualify at their Division 2 Regional in Neillsville, where Prescott also competed and had two make the cut. Spring Valley/ Elmwood had three top-five finishers who advanced out of their Division 3 Regional in Edgar.

For the Prescott Cardinals, getting their top two wrestlers through an extremely challenging D2 Regional in Neillsville was the ultimate goal for Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals achieved that, as senior Benny Olson qualified with a second-place finish in the 106-pound bracket and junior Nolan Thomley advanced with a fourthplace finish in the 152-pound bracket.

After receiving a bye in the first round of the 106-pound bracket, Olson squared off with Saint Croix Central freshman Fletcher Post in the second round. Olson had his way with Post and pinned him within 90 seconds of the match starting.

In the following round, Olson suffered a pinfall defeat against Abbotsford/Colby freshman Matt Jakel midway through the third period. However, Olson wouldn’t be denied his sectional berth. After the loss, Olson won backto- back matches to secure a second-place finish and a spot in the D2 sectional the following weekend.

“ Benny had a good day overall,” Prescott head coach Ross Wargula said. “His match against Jakel was a bit of a clunker, but give him a ton of credit for refocusing in the third-place match and the second-place wrestle-back match. He was down a bit mentally after losing to Jakel. I told him before his thirdplace match to dictate the pace and he certainly did that. He controlled that match and his emotions well.”

While Olson worked his way to a sectional berth, junior teammate Nolan Thomley began his journey in the 152-pound bracket. After a first-round bye, Thomley won in the second round and advanced to the semifinal match against Mondovi/Eleva- Strum senior Cody Wagner.

Wagner entered the tournament with an elite 35-2 record and carefully picked his spots to attack Thomley. Wagner eventually got the better of the Prescott junior and won a 5-0 decision over Thomley.

Despite the loss, Thomley continued to wrestle and earned a fourth-place finish in the 152-pound bracket, which booked his ticket to the Division 2 Sectional on Saturday, Feb. 18. Coach Wargula spoke about Thomley’s performance at regionals.

“Nolan wrestled well enough to move on,” Wargula said. “I know he knows that he left some wrestling out on the mat. Nolan is an incredibly skilled wrestler. He just needs to have the belief that he can wrestle with the guys that are on his level or a level slightly above his.”

SV/E sends three to D3 Sectional The Spring Valley/Elmwood Cardinals wrestling team had three individuals qualify for the upcoming Division 3 Sectional tournament, including seniors Tylor LaCroix at 120 pounds, Cole Steinmeyer at 170 and Keegan Merth in the 182-pound bracket.

While Steinmeyer and Merth certainly had big wins throughout their respective brackets, perhaps no win was more significant than LaCroix’s first match of the regional tournament. He had been placed in the same bracket as Marathon sophomore Levi Krautkramer, who had defeated LaCroix earlier this season.

LaCroix and Krautkramer battled throughout the match and competed in a very technical, well-fought three periods that ultimately ended in a LaCroix victory via a 4-3 decision. Although LaCroix lost his next match, defeating a tough Marathon opponent put him in an ideal spot to wrestle back and earn a fourth-place finish.

“Tylor, Cole and Keegan wrestled with a lot of heart out there,” Spring Valley/ Elmwood head coach Gable Frandsen said. “Being seniors, they knew what the stakes were for this tournament. Right off the bat, Tylor LaCroix was able to get his redemption against a tough kid from Marathon who he lost a close match to earlier in the season. LaCroix was in a tough bracket, and beating the Marathon kid was a must to make it to sectionals.”

The Cardinals’ Steinmeyer was the lone wrestler on the team to make it to a championship match, which he did in the 170-pound bracket. Steinmeyer won two matches en route to the title round – one via pinfall and one through decision – before he was pinned in the first period by Stratford sophomore Carter Lueck.

Steinmeyer received a no-contest victory in the second- place match since both he and his scheduled opposition had already secured a place in the Division 3 Sectional the following weekend.

Spring Valley/Elmwood’s final qualifier is the aforementioned Merth, who won two of his three matches in the 182-pound bracket and secured a third-place finish and a spot in the sectional. Although all of the Cardinals’ qualifiers are seniors, none of them have previously advanced to sectionals.

“None of the wrestlers have been to sectionals before, so this will be new for them,” Frandsen said. “After watching film of their matches we need to see and realize where we need to improve and make small adjustments in practice to better prepare for the sectional tournament. Qualifying for state comes down to who wants it more, and we will see who wants it more at sectionals.”

Ellsworth sends six to sectionals The Ellsworth wrestling team had a strong showing at the Division 2 Regional in Neillsville. The Panthers finished with 171 points as a program, which earned a fourth-place finish, just two spots shy of qualifying for sectionals as a team.

Ellsworth’s strong result as a team meant that more than its fair share of individuals had success in their respective weight brackets. In total, six Panthers finished top five in their weight class and qualified individually for sectionals.

Perhaps no Ellsworth wrestlers had better days on the mat than the two senior captains, Louis Jahnke and Anthony Madsen, who both won individual regional championships. Jahnke won all three of his matches via pinfall en route to the 170-pound title. Madsen secured victories via pin in his first two rounds before claiming the 182-pound championship with an 8-7 decision.

Other notable Ellsworth qualifiers include junior Carson Wright, who secured a fourth-place finish in the 106-pound bracket, freshman J.D. Minder-Broeckaert, who finished second at 120 pounds, junior Willy Penn finished second at 126 pounds and sophomore Levi Nelson took fourth in the 145-pound bracket.

Ellsworth’s six qualifiers will compete in the Division 2 Sectional at Amery on Saturday, Feb. 18.

RF has eight qualify for Division 1 Sectional

While every team in Pierce County had at least two wrestlers qualify for their respective sectionals, no program had more individuals advance than the River Falls Wildcats.

Veteran senior wrestler Travis Moelter led the charge for the Wildcats and claimed the lone individual regional championship in the 126-pound bracket. After receiving a first-round bye, Moelter defeated Menomonie senior Kolyn Wolf via a 9-0 major decision in the semifinal match to advance to the regional championship bout.

That’s where Moelter squared off with Hayward sophomore Trenton Kirkland. Moelter methodically built a lead throughout the first period and slowly added to it in the second and third periods which led to a 7-0 victory via decision.

Although Moelter was River Falls’ lone individual champion, the Wildcats had three runner-up finishes, including junior sophomore Jonas Longsdorf at 132 pounds, Jacob Range at 152, and senior Zack Peterson in the 195-pound bracket. All three made the podium and qualified for sectionals.

River Falls also had a couple of third-place finishes, including freshman Thade Drier at 160 and sophomore Lincoln McCarty in the 285-pound heavyweight bracket. The Wildcats rounded out their regional experience with two fourth-place finishers that also qualified for sectionals, including sophomore Vinny Costabilo at 183 pounds and senior Caleb Mielke at 182.

Sectional information

River Falls will be competing in the Division 1 Sectional at Eau Claire North High School. Prescott and Ellsworth will compete in the Division 2 Sectional at Amery High School and Spring Valley/ Elmwood will be in the Division 3 Sectional at Edgar. All of those competitions will be on Saturday, Feb. 18, with wrestling beginning at 10 a.m.

Prescott senior wrestler Benny Olson was all smiles after earning a second-place finish in the 106-pound bracket at the Division 2 Regional in Neillsville on Saturday. Olson’s second-place finish earned him a spot in the Division 2 Sectional in Amery next weekend. Photo by Reagan Hoverman