The Hatchet wrestling team opened up a new season with a runner-up finish in Saturday’s six-team round-robin Oconto Invite.
“The Oconto tourney was a great start for the team,” THS coach Bob Garrou said. “We got five matches in one day so we had a great chance to see what we need to work on. Four wrestlers were champs and four were runners-up and almost everyone got at least two wins, so it was a great day all-in-all.”
Tomahawk was edged out of first place by Oconto by an unlucky 13 points in a 372-359 race. Spencer edged Crandon 243-233 for third.
The Hatchets racked up four championships, from Blake Carstensen (113), Pete Pintens (182), Jake Borchardt (220) and John Rupel (285). They also collected five runner-up finishes, with the work of Cullen Wegener (120), Nate Flohr (145), Quinton Wallenfang (160), Kaleb Kaminski (170) and Henry Helland (195).
Placing third was Chase Erdman (126), while Tasha Carstensen (106) was fourth. Bryce Bishop (138) and Blake Mueller (152) ranked fifth.
Kaminski paced the squad with four falls, while Erdman and Rupel produced three pins apiece. Coming up with a pair of pins were B. Carstensen, Wegener, Wallenfang, Pintens, Helland and Borchardt.