An up-and-down season for the Wittenberg-Birnamwood wrestling team continued Jan. 20 with a pair of Central Wisconsin Conference dual meet wins over Pittsville and Rosholt.
The Panthers and Hornets headed to Wittenberg for the Chargers’ annual Parents’ Night.
Although the Chargers didn’t have any major problems in a 41-9 win over Pittsville and a 47-17 win over Rosholt, injuries have taken a toll on the team, according to coach Duane Potrykus.
“We’ve been used to having a full team for about 20 years,” he said. “This year, we had a couple major injuries and a couple other kids with injuries.”
Numbers are also a problem this season, which Potrykus and his coaching staff knew was coming.
“We have a couple classes and there have never been numbers with them all the way coming up,” he said. “We kind of knew this was coming. It’s hard to not have a full lineup.”
On the other hand, the wrestlers who are competing for the Chargers are talented and experienced, Potrykus said.
“Six of them are ranked in the state,” he said. “There’s a lot of talent here, and there are a lot of wins for that senior class. We’re hoping they’ll all do well once we hit sectionals.”
Witt-Birn 41, Pittsville 9
The Chargers opened the meet with a win over the Panthers.
Ben Miller and Frank Wierzba pinned their opponents at 157 and 165 pounds, respectively, before Colby Wincentsen needed only 12 seconds to pin Dylan Cullen at 175 to give Wittenberg-Birnamwood an 18-0 lead.
Pittsville cut the lead to 18-3 at 190 with Jackson Duerr’s 7-6 win over Grayson Niswander, but George Seegmiller pinned Sawyer Phillips in 51 seconds (215) and Pittsville forfeited the 285-pound match to Eli Komanekin.
After double forfeits at 106, 113, 120, 126 and 132, Pittsville’s Aidan Federwitz pinned Koleton Beran in 1:43 (138) for the Panthers’ final points.
Devin Wuedtke’s 15-0 technical fall of Kash Ostermann (144) and Bo Davis’ pin of Peyton Leigh in 1:37 (150) ended the match.
Witt-Birn 47, Rosholt 17
Wiscentsen’s pin of Evan Hintz in 2:30 (175) and forfeits to Niswander (190), Seegmiller (215) and Reid Huffman (285) gave the Chargers a 24-0 lead.
Rosholt cut the lead in half after forfeiting matches to Gabe Mueller (106) and Carter Stetz (113). After double forfeits at 120, 126 and 132, Rosholt’s Jameson Zinda picked up a technical fall win over Beran at 138 to make it 24-17, but the Hornets never got any closer.
Rosholt forfeited the 145-pound match to Wuedtke, Davis handed Bryce Wierzba a 17-2 technical fall loss (150), Frank Wierzba pinned Martin Vasques in 1:24 (157) and the Hornets forfeited the final match at 165 to Aydrean Mcgeshick.
The Chargers are accustomed to sending multiple wrestlers to the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Championships, which this year will be held Feb. 26-28 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
“Some of my assistant coaches have come back to coach with me, and they’ve gone to the state tournament,” Potrykus said. “(Chad) Moegenburg was a state finalist. My sons come in once in a while, and they were state kids.”
