By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter

Merrill wrestling kicked off their new season by traveling to Kimberly last Saturday (Dec. 2) for the Papermaker Invitational. Merrill came in sixth out of 16 teams and had one wrestler with a first place finish.
The Bluejays finished with 310 team points which was good enough for sixth place.
“As a team it was good for us to get out and compete,” said coach Brian Suchocki. “The wrestlers showed great effort. We have a lot to work on but we will keep working on improving throughout the season. Even though we have a couple injuries and guys out of the line-up we will work through it.”
Noah Bolling took first place, winning all his matches including a first round pin.
“Noah was very aggressive and his hard work in the offseason really showed up in competition,” Suchocki said.
Bradley Leiskau wrestled at 170 pounds and came out with a second place finish. Leiskau won his first four matches before losing in the finals.
“Bradley had a good tournament reaching the finals,” coach Suchocki said. “He came out with a lot of fire and showed great effort throughout the day.”
Merrill will be in action again on Thursday as they travel to Wausau East for their 7 p.m. match.