Merrill Varsity Boys Wrestling Team makes great showing at Rhinelander and Midstates

Rhinelander Invitational
The Merrill High School Boys Varsity Wrestling Team placed second at the Rhinelander Invitational on Dec. 11, 2025, competing against 24 other teams.
Merrill scored 180.5 points, finishing behind Marathon’s 224 points and ahead of third-place Northwestern’s 174 points. The Bluejays had seven wrestlers place in the top three and eight in the top five.
“We had another solid performance,” said Merrill Boys Varsity Head Wrestling Coach Brian Suchocki. “Anytime you have seven wrestlers in the top three of a 25-team tournament and eight in the top five, you had a pretty good day.”
Hunter Opper (5-0) won first place at 175 pounds, winning all five of his matches by pin, including a championship victory over Max Peterson of Lena in 1:05.

“We were led by an excellent performance from Hunter Opper who pinned the number 3 state-ranked and previously unbeaten Max Peterson from Lena in the finals,” Suchocki said. “Hunter is really wrestling at a high level. It’s extremely exciting to see him compete this well. He is very aggressive but solid in all positions.”
Joshua Gustum (3-1) and Remington Skic (3-1) both placed second at 285 pounds and 150 pounds, respectively.
“Josh continues to shine,” Suchocki said. “I’m very proud of how Josh is taking on challenges and overcoming adversity. Josh really dominated on his way to the finals. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the win, but he is right there.”
Gustum won his first three matches by pin in under 45 seconds each before falling in the championship match.
“Remington continues to wrestle with a tenacity to score points,” Suchocki said. “He had a very tough opponent in the finals which he wrestled solidly, but unfortunately the match got away from him at the very end. He will learn a lot from that match and be better because of it.”
Skic reached the finals with two technical falls, 19-3 and 19-4, before losing a close 6-4 decision in the championship match.
Four Merrill wrestlers placed third: Lakeyn Adams (4-1) at 126 pounds, Broc Suchocki (3-1) at 132 pounds, Brett Suchocki (4-1) at 138 pounds, and Noah Klug (4-1) at 215 pounds.
“Lakeyn continues to prove he is a force to be reckoned with,” Suchocki said. “He is picking up things quickly, and he goes out and attacks his opponents.”
“Broc is still getting back up to speed coming off an injury before the season,” he said. “He looks better each week and battles every match.”
“Brett put together a very nice day,” Suchocki said. “He battled a very tough opponent in the semi finals where he gave up an early lead, but periods 2 and 3 were even. Two other matches he came from behind to win decisively. That persistence will pay off this season.”
“Noah Klug had a very tough bracket again this week with some top-notch wrestlers,” he said. “Noah lost to the number 1 state-ranked wrestler in Division 1 in his semifinal match. Noah is very strong and explosive. These big matches are sharpening his skills.”
Dustin Schmirler (2-2) placed fifth at 120 pounds and achieved a career milestone.
“Dusty took fifth place and won his 100th match of his career,” Suchocki said. “Dusty has battled for us since his Freshman year, and he is so deserving of being recognized for winning 100 matches in a career. Dusty works so hard and he is such a great teammate. He will continue to lead us with his consistent approach to practice and competition.”
William Miemietz (3-1) placed ninth at 165 pounds, Ryan Coates (2-2) placed tenth at 157 pounds, Bennett Jacobson (1-3) placed 12th at 190 pounds, and Trenton Klimek (3-2) placed 13th at 285 pounds. Abram Norton (2-3) placed 14th at 190 pounds, and Noah Clifford (0-5) placed 16th at 138 pounds.
“Ryan, Will, and Bennett also did a nice job competing for us,” Suchocki said. “In fact, Bennett went up a weight class to help us as a team. These guys give us such strong depth. Noah Clifford, Abram, and Trenton came in as extras and competed well at the Varsity level.”

Team Standings
1. Marathon - 224
2. Merrill - 180.5
3. Northwestern - 174
4. Wittenberg-Birnamwood - 152

5. Tomahawk - 132
6. Crandon - 128.5
7. Edgar - 115.5
8. Spencer/Columbus/Granton - 112
9. Plymouth - 108.5
10. D.C. Everest - 99

Midstates tournament

The Merrill Boys then traveled to UW-Whitewater to compete in the Dec. 29-30 43-team Midstates Tournament.
“We were shorthanded, entering only nine wrestlers, but the guys made the most of it,” Suchocki said. “As a team, we competed well, led by Hunter winning the championship at 175.”
Hunter Opper (4-0) took first place at 175 pounds, coming in as the fourth seed and defeating the fourth, third, and second-place wrestlers on his way to the championship.

“It’s really fun watching Hunter compete,” Suchocki said. “He can wrestle with anyone. In the semifinals, he was thrown to his back, giving up 7 points, going down 7-0. There was a break in the action and Hunter gathered himself and battled back, throwing Carter Ries (second ranked in the state at Division 2) of Big Foot/Williams Bay to his back and getting the pin in the second period. In the finals, similarly he went down in points early but battled back getting the win.”
“Hunter has put himself into a great position midway through the season,” he said. “It will be exciting to see what he can continue to do.”
Noah Klug (5-2) placed fourth at 215 pounds after losing a close match to the eventual champion in the quarterfinals.
“Noah is continuing to get high level matches,” Suchocki said. “Overall he had a great tournament. The third-place match was very unfortunate that he came away with the loss, since I believe he outwrestled his opponent, Cody Slater. I really liked how Noah took control of the match getting a key takedown in the second period. However, in the third, Noah had some unfavorable calls, giving away the win in the end. I was glad to see him keep his composure, and he will continue to grow from the experience.”
Remington Skic (4-2) also took fourth place at 150 pounds and faced Kingston Galetka of Pardeeville, who is second ranked in the state in Division 3, in the semifinals.
“This is the second time he wrestled him this year,” Suchocki said. “Both matches were great, but Remington wasn’t able to get the victory. In his next match Remington had to battle back and picked up a great overtime win before taking fourth. Remington continues to wrestle well against strong competition. He will continue to work hard and take ground this season.”
Brett Suchocki (5-3) placed sixth at 138 pounds after wrestling eight matches, the most of any Merrill wrestler at the tournament.
“That to me is very impressive in a tough tournament like this,” Suchocki said. “Brett was able to battle all the way back to sixth place after a second-round loss. Brett wears guys out with his tenacity. In his match to get in the top eight, he was down early but just kept battling and eventually got the pin. In the next round, he took a very tough opponent into overtime before getting the win. Brett continues to fight and claw through the season. This was a great tournament for Brett.”
Broc Suchocki (3-3) took eighth place at 132 pounds.
“Every week I see Broc getting better,” Suchocki said. “Placing in the top 8 is a good job in the 43-team tournament.”
Ryan Coates (3-3) placed 15th at 157 pounds, and William Miemietz (2-4) placed 16th at 165 pounds.
“Ryan and Will both battled hard to get to [the] second day of competition,” Suchocki said. “You can really see both wrestlers improving each time they compete. Ryan is putting things together and winning bigger and bigger matches. Will is improving his positions and you can see the development.”
Preston Schuelke (1-2) and Koi Olson (0-2) also competed at 190 pounds and 113 pounds, respectively.
“Preston and Koi also competed, getting some good experience at this high level tournament,” he said.
“Those nine guys got 48 matches between them,” Suchocki said. “We had 7 guys in the top 16 getting to compete on both days. The tournament is a great time to gauge where you are as a wrestler halfway through the season. These matches are high level, and sometimes one mistake or one great effort can determine the final outcome. Our guys are really learning how to stay in matches, because good things can happen when you do that.”
“We had a few guys out which hindered us a bit in the final team scores, but we did well with what we had,” Suchocki said. “There were some really tough teams from Illinois and a couple highly-ranked teams from Wisconsin. Individually there were a lot of tough wrestlers.”
The Bluejays placed 11th overall in the team standings.

Team Standings
1. Downers Grove North, IL - 170
2. Downers Grove South, IL - 163.5
3. Mahomet-Seymour, IL - 161
4. Wauconda, IL - 160
5. Weyauwega-Fremont, WI - 157
6. Cedar Grove-Belgium, WI - 144
7. Grayslake Central, IL - 125
8. Morton, IL - 118.5
9. Monona Grove/McFarland, WI - 114
10. Bradley-Bourbonnais, IL - 112.5
11. Merrill, WI - 104

The Merrill wrestlers’ next tournament will be the Bluejay Challenge held at Merrill High School this Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026.