By Reagan Hoverman

The River Falls High School wrestling team continued its best season in years, as the Wildcats not only won a regional championship as a team but also had six individual champions and 11 athletes who qualified for the sectional tournament.

The Wildcats competed in the WIAA Division 1 Regional tournament in New Richmond on Saturday, Feb. 12, with seven other teams. River Falls earned a first-place finish with 227.5 total team points, edging out the second-place Hudson Raiders with 207 points as a team.

The six individual champions for River Falls include Aidan Peterson at 120, Owen Larson at 145, Miles Longsdorf at 152, Tyler Haydon at 160, Gavin Kohel at 182 and Vito Massa at 285. The individual scores of the aforementioned six champions served as the catalyst for a day that ended in raising a regional championship trophy.

In total, seven River Falls wrestlers made their way to the championship match in their respective weight brackets. The only Wildcat loss in the championship round was Travis Moelter in the 113-pound bracket. His defeat wasn’t via pinfall or decision. Instead, he lost the match due to injury and wasn’t able to finish. At the time, he was trailing New Richmond’s Luke Kamish, who won the regional championship.

Approximately two weeks ago when River Falls secured the Big Rivers Conference championship, head coach Kevin Black spoke about the then-upcoming regional competition and even provided a bit of context regarding the sectional tournament.

“If we have 11 or 12 (healthy wrestlers), I think we can win our regional,” Black said. “It’s going to be tough to get out of sectional though if we don’t have all-hands-on-deck. Marshfield and Wausau West are going to be really good.”

Black was correct about the strength of the Marshfield and Wausau West wrestling programs. At the WIAA Division 1 regional in Marshfield on Saturday, Marshfield and Wausau West finished first and second respectively with scores of 259.5 and 215. Wausau West’s score of 215 was nearly 50 points better than the school that finished in third place.

While Marshfield and Wausau West were battling in their regional, River Falls was winning the New Richmond regional on Saturday afternoon. For the six aforementioned Wildcat wrestlers who won their respective weight brackets, many of them cruised through matches en route to their title.

Perhaps the most notorious wrestler on the River Falls roster is Massa, the senior who has been wrestling in the 285-pound weight class, despite being ranked #1 in the state for the 220-pound wrestlers. On Saturday in the regional, Massa didn’t have a match that lasted more than 60 seconds.

In the 285-pound semi-final match, he pinned Andrew Schaefer of Menomonie in 59 seconds and then pinned New Richmond’s heavyweight in 40 seconds to secure the regional title.

While some of River Falls’ opponents were new, others were familiar foes. Hudson and River Falls clashed throughout the morning and afternoon hours of the regional competition. One such meeting was that of Gavin Kohel and Benjamin Draveling in the 182-pound championship match. Kohel got the best of Draveling in an 11-4 decision to take another individual title for the Wildcats.

Moving forward, River Falls will compete in both individual and team sectional competitions. According to Black, the overall team champion from regionals, which is River Falls, will wrestle in a dual meet on Tuesday, Feb. 15, against another regional champion from their sectional. That dual meet will happen in Wausau West, the winner of which will advance to the team state tournament Madison.

As for individuals, they will compete in individual sectionals on Saturday, Feb. 19, the winners of which will advance to the individual state tournament which is in Madison from Thursday, Feb. 24 to Saturday, Feb. 26.

courtesy of the River Falls wrestling team

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The River Falls wrestling team and its six champions celebrate with their respective brackets and the regional championship trophy after winning the regional title in New Richmond. Photo

River Falls High School wrestler Gavin Kohel makes a takedown on Eau Claire North opponent Jin Yang at the regional wrestling tournament on Saturday, Feb. 12. Kohel defeated Yang via pinfall in just under five minutes. Photo by Reagan Ho