The Bluejay wrestlers team have been seeking improvement for several weeks and they surely got it in Saturday’s WIAA Marshfield Regional. Merrill narrowly missed a runner-up finish in the eight-team meet.
“In the last match of the day, an Everest kid got a pin that took us out of second,” MHS coach Scott Arneson said. “We were right in the hunt to be top-two in our regional. Being second would have a nice way to finish it, but having two open weights (106 and 126) ends up hurting us.”
The Jays will send seven to Saturday’s Eau Claire North Sectional after capturing three titles –Scott T. Arneson (132, 42-1), Hunter Welch (138, 19-7) and Mason Reinhardt (170, 42-1 – and placing four others in the next three spots.
“I’m surprised we only have seven (qualifiers) by the way we wrestled,” Arneson said. “It would be nice to qualify over half of them for state (with a top-two finish).”
Christian Kleinschmidt (285, 24-15) was second and Devon Schultz (120, 36-8) and Seth Collins (195, 16-17) ranked third. Aidan Ball (113, 31-14) finished fourth.
“They’re in shape and they’ve got good technique,” Arneson said. “It becomes 90% mental. Your mind is your friend or your foe, so we hope it’s pretty friendly this week.”
Tanner Pettit (145, 27-16) and Brandon McCarthy (152, 14-21) just missed out in fifth, and Lucas Lee (160, 20-22), Riley Kurtz (182, 13-23) and Isaac Buntrock (220, 5-4) placed sixth.
Team standings–Stevens Point 216.5, D. C. Everest 167.5, Merrill 163.5, Marshfield 159, Wausau West 151.5, Rhinelander 147, Antigo 65.5, Wausau East 63.