A pair of state-ranked wrestling teams dominated the Central Wisconsin Conference Meet.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood hosted the meet Feb. 8 and won the title for the third straight year, while Weyauwega-Fremont tied for fifth.
Team scores were W-B (294); Bonduel (223); Menominee Indian (126); Manawa (109); W-F and Shiocton (92); Almond-Bancroft/Stevens Point Pacelli (76); Plainfield Tri-County (45.5); Rosholt (43.5); and Amherst (22).
The final CWC wrestling standings are determined half by the conference tournament and half by CWC dual meet results. Based on both criteria, the final standings are W-B, first; Bonduel, second; Menominee Indian, third; W-F and Shiocton, fourth; Manawa, sixth; A-B/Pacelli, seventh; Tri-County, eighth; Rosholt, ninth; and Amherst, 10th.
“We wrestled well and placed at or above our tournament seeding in all but one weight class,” coach Tim Potratz said. “We have not been able to fill all the weight classes all season and that hurt the team again in the conference tournament, where we only had eight wrestlers competing.
“The kids that wrestled Saturday did a fantastic job,” he added. “We could have won a couple matches that we let slip away, but for the most part, the team performed the best we could in the tournament and continued to improve.”
Brandon Loehrke improved to 25-7 and placed second at 170 pounds by pinning his first two opponents before dropping a 7-5 decision in the championship match to Bonduel’s Jacob Wudtke.
Oliver Radtke (19-11 at 138) and Andy Bork (22-9 record at 285) placed third with hard-fought wins in their bronze medal matches.
Andy Pribbernow (160), Jaden Gruetzmacher (106) and sophomore Bailey Balistreire (132) placed fourth and Austin Baehnman placed fifth at 126 and recorded a pin in his final match of the day.
W-F will wrestle in a Division 3 regional Saturday, Feb. 15, in Shiocton, with matches scheduled to get under way at 10 a.m.