W-F has five wrestling championships
By Greg Seubert
Five individual titles added up to a Central Wisconsin Conference championship for the Weyauwega-Fremont wrestling team.
Carter Greening, Cian Fischer, Justin Kempf, Logan Kicherer and Tyler Wetzel won their respective weight classes at the 11-team CWC meet, held Feb. 2 at Menominee Indian High School in Keshena.
Three other W-F wrestlers advanced to a championship match and two others placed third as the Indians won their second CWC championships in three years.
The Indians won the meet with 218 points, followed by Shiocton (145), Bonduel (142), Manawa (128), Wittenberg-Birnamwood (123.5), Pittsville (103), Amherst (98), Rosholt (65.5), Menominee Indian (57), Tri-County (42) and Almond-Bancroft/Pacelli (31.5).
The top three teams in the tournament standings were also the top three teams in the CWC dual meet standings. W-F finished 10-0 in duals, followed by Shiocton (9-1) and Bonduel (8-2).
Four of the Indians’ championships came on pins. Greening needed only 57 seconds to pin Shiocton’s Jericho Helser to win the 113-pound championship, Fischer pinned Bonduel’s Max Sokolski in 4:37 at 126, Kempf pinned Tri-County’s Ryan Applebee in 1:25 at 132, Kicherer handed Amherst’s Mason Haas a 4-2 defeat at 152 and Wetzel pinned Shiocton’s Tyler Hess in 2:32 at 195.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Will Urquhart beat Ean Marker 5-4 at 145, Shiocton’s Billy Reif pinned Ben Strehlow in 5:15 at 160 and Amherst’s John Farkas pinned Austin Bartel in 1:26 at 285.
Easton Groskreutz and Adam Batten placed third at 120 and 138, respectively, while Skylor Maynard finished fifth at 220.
Meanwhile, two Manawa wrestlers won championships to help the Wolves place fourth. Colten Klemm beat Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Pierson Potrykus 7-0 at 106 and Bryan Griffin beat Pittsville’s Beau Merritt 9-4 at 138. Andrew Elmhorst made it to the 220-pound final but was pinned in 56 seconds by Bonduel’s Jacob Giese.
Kevin Klemm placed third for Manawa at 113.
W-F led all teams with 19 pins at the meet.
“We wrestled really well,” coach Tim Potratz said. “The kids competed hard and could not have done a better job of showing their wrestling skills. We won almost all of the close matches and pulled off several upsets as well.
“It was a contagious thing,” he added. “Every kid on the team believed they could win their matches and they just went out and got after it.”
Greening (32-6) won his third straight conference title with a pin, a decision and a pin in the finals.
“He wrestled up at 120 pounds most of the season, but came down a weight class and pinned the No. 7-ranked wrestler in the state from Shiocton in less than a minute in the finals,” Potratz said.
Fischer also won his third championship, improved to 37-0 on the season, won each of his matches by pin and was named the CWC’s outstanding wrestler.
Kempf (35-3) became only the second wrestler in the 56-year history of W-F’s wrestling program to win four conference championships, joins current assistant wrestling coach Rich Tomaszewski, who won four titles from 1975-78. Kempf pinned all three of his opponents in the first period.
Kicherer (31-8) became a two-time conference champion with a 4-2 overtime victory over Haas.
“Logan is the last of the great Kicherer family of wrestlers that includes brother Dylen, dad Jason and uncles JJ and Kevin, who combined to win 314 – and counting – matches,” Potratz said.
Wetzel (34-5) pinned all of his opponents to win his first individual title. He leads the team with 22 pins this season and has placed in the top three at all six of the team’s tournaments this year.
W-F’s Marker, Strehlow and Bartel also made it to the finals.
“Marker (26-13) came within seconds of winning the 145-pound title when he was reversed and lost a tough 5-4 decision at the buzzer,” Potratz said. “Strehlow (25-12) wrestled a fantastic tournament at 160, but came up short against ninth-ranked Billy Reif from Shiocton. Austin Bartel (25-13) moved up to heavyweight from his normal 195-pound weight class and beat top the seeded 285-pound wrestler from Wittenberg-Birnamwood before losing in the finals.”
Groskreutz (12-2) and Batten (21-12) placed third for the Indians.
“Groskreutz was out most of the season with an injury and after losing in the semifinals, won a huge 17-4 match over a ranked Rosholt wrestler in the bronze medal match,” Potratz said. “Batten has wrestled really well all season, but never better than his 4-2 win over a ranked Shiocton wrestler in his third-place match.”
Maynard (15-12) placed fifth with two pins after an opening-round loss.
“We could talk about the achievements of every kid on the team, including Max Meyerhofer, who did not win a match but moved up a weight class and wrestled tough in both his matches,” Potratz said. “It was a total team effort. The kids and their families should be proud of their effort and achievement.”
The Indians will host a WIAA Division 3 regional Saturday, Feb. 9. Manawa, Almond-Bancroft/Pacelli, Rosholt, Shiocton, Tri-County and Wittenberg-Birnamwood will also compete. Matches are scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m. and the final are scheduled to start at about 12:30 p.m.
The top two finishers in each weight class will advance to the Bonduel Sectional, set for Saturday, Feb. 16, at Shawano High School.