Local prep wrestlers finding success in recent dual meets

It was a week full of dual meets for the Mondovi/Eleva-Strum boys wrestlers.

The MES grapplers started their Dunn-St. Croix Conference schedule traveling to Durand-Arkansaw last week Thursday, Jan. 15. MES would lose to Spring Valley/Elmwood in the first dual but beat Durand-Arkansaw in their second dual of the night.

The MES grapplers started their conference schedule against a very good Spring Valley/Elmwood squad. The team put up a tough fight but came out on the losing end of a 55-17 score. Ethan Odegard put MES on the board with a tech fall. AJ Loscheider followed that with a pin. And at 285, Aiden Isaacson got the pin and earned his 100th career victory in the process.

MES would take on their Highway 10 rivals Durand-Arkansaw, in the second match of the night. Nicholas Wright would start the dual with a pin which was the spark for eight consecutive bonus point wins for MES. Getting pins were Brysen Nogle, Odegard, Loscheider, David Nyre, and Isaacson. Bill Jardine earned a tech fall, Carter Zahara added a forfeit, and Tyson Greiner earned a decision to round out the scoring. MES would win the dual by a score of 50-18.

On Saturday, Jan. 17, MES competed in the Westby Duals, going 3-1 and finishing second. The first dual of the day put MES up against the host, Westby. Ian Berger started out with a pin. Aiden Isaacson, Carter Zahara, Tyson Greiner, Brody Brantner, Nicholas Wright, Brysen Nogle, and Bill Jardine each received a forfeit. The final score wound up 48-24.

The second dual was against De Soto. Picking up pins were Isaacson, Korbyn Johnvin, and Greiner. Berger, Zahara, Brantner, Wright, Nogle, Jardine and Ethan Odegard each received a forfeit. Final score for this dual was 60-6.

MES would take on Boscobel/Wauzeka-Stuben in the third dual of the day. Johnvin earned the only pin of the dual for MES. Brantner would pick up a tech fall and Jardine would earn a major decision. Isaacson, Wright and Nogle would receive forfeits. But MES would end up on the losing end of the dual by a score of 48-33.

In the fourth dual of the day, MES took the mat against Belmont/Platteville. This was a closely contested, exciting dual meet that had everyone on the edge of their seats. Isaacson would start things with a pin. After B/P took the lead back, Johnvin would tie it up after receiving a forfeit. BP would take the lead again. Brantner would cut the deficit to three after picking up a decision. B/P would pick up two more wins and take a 29-15 lead. Jardine would cut the lead by six after taking a forfeit. Berger would pick up a pin to pull within two points. Going into the final match of the dual, MES trailed by five and needed a pin to win the dual. Nyre was up to the task as he was able to pick up a third period pin with less than 30 seconds left in the match to pull out the 33-32 win.

MES's Brock Stendahl went 3-0 with three pins in the JV matches he wrestled last week Saturday, Kan. 17 at Westby. MES competed in Dunn-St. Croix dual meets at Boyceville on Thursday, Jan. 22 and at the annual Arcadia Raider Invitational this Saturday, Jan. 24 beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Osseo-Fairchild/Augusta/Fall Creek Tri-County Co-op boys team traveled to Durand last week Friday, Jan. 16 for the annual Durand-Arkansaw Duals. They wrestled against the host school, Cashton, Prescott and Whitehall. Kouper Salter led the way for OFAFC going 4-0 with a pin. Noah Krueger went 3-1 with two pins, Henry Cash was 3-1 with two pins, Sam Coach was 1-3 with a a pin and Easton Hansen competed for the first time this season wrestling tough all night. Next up for the Dragon boys is a Dairyland Conference Duals in Independence on Thursday, Jan. 22.

The Dragon girls were in action as well. They wrestled this past Tuesday, Jan. 20 in a meet at Arcadia against girls wrestlers from the host school, DeSoto and Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson (LARP), Minn. Layne Armstrong-Baglien was 2-0 with with two pins, Macey Pierre 3-0 with a pin and two tech. falls, Kinley Nelson was 2-0 with a pair of pins and Viola MacDonald was 1-1 with a pin. They too, will compete in a Dairyland Conference dual in Independence vs. Whitehall on Thursday, Jan. 22 around 6:30 p.m.

This weekend the Dragons are scheduled to compete in the annual Shell Lake Duals Challenge beginning at 9:30 a.m. The points in this meet are scored like a dual meet but are added up like an invitational meet.