Kelly O’Day
sports Editor
The Hatchet wrestling team opened up its GNC season with a 50-22 triumph over Ashland, then backed it up with a solid fourth-place finish in Saturday’s 16-team Wabeno Invite.
The Oredockers opened with a pin, but didn’t collect a point for the next nine matches. Tomahawk ripped off 50 straight points with four pins (Chase Erdman, 1:27, Matt Turkiewicz, 3:28, Kaleb Kaminksi, 1:03, and Dane Borchardt, 4:50), a technical fall (Wyatt Wenninger, 19-4), a decision (Quinton Wallenfang, 5-4) and three forfeits (Bryce Bishop, Jacob Matti, Ches Olson).
After a double forfeit, Ashland collected two forfeits and closed with a 12-3 win over Brady Anderson. Blake Carstensen was pinned in 5:01 in the opener.
“We beat some of their good kids,” THS coach Bob Garrou said. “Some kids that beat us last year, we pinned. If you can win when you give up (forfeit) points, it’s pretty good and we won convincingly.”
Rebel Invite
Tomahawk worked its great finish by placing six of 10 entries in the top three and two more in the top five.
“Our kids wrestled extremely well,” Garrou said. “We got a lot of good experience. We had a little bit of a flu bug so we were missing four weight classes. If we had a full team I think we could have won it.
“We’re improving tremendously quickly, because the kids are listening. When you have smart kids, it’s so nice. We’re picking kids up. I think by the end of the year we’ll only be forfeiting one class.”
Kaleb Kaminski improved to 10-0 with a title at 195, and Anderson (126), Erdman (145) and Wallenfang (182) all took second. Wyatt Wenninger (138) and Dane Borchardt (285) placed third, the latter for his first loss of the season.
“Dane lost (3-2) on a questionable call to the kid from Athens (Tyson Sommer),” Garrou said. “After the match the ref apologized. It’s all part of the sport.”
Turkiewicz (152 was fourth and Olson (220) ranked fifth. Bishop (160) and Matti (170) did not place.
Team scores: Athens 195, Cedar Grove/Belgium 174.5, Reedsville 174, Tomahawk 166, Kewaunee 106, Wabeno/Laona 91, Coleman 81, Crandon 77, Crivitz 76, Florence/Niagara 70, St. John’s Military Academy 60, Kingsford 56, Menominee 50.5, Three Lakes 35, Elcho 21, W. Iron County 12.