Wrestlers set up showdown Thursday night in Chippewa Falls
The Raider wrestling team remained undefeated in Big Rivers Conference duals with a 70-3 victory over Eau Claire North last Thursday, Jan. 19 before taking first place at the Shell Lake Wrestling Challenge for the third year in a row on Saturday, Jan. 21.By: Bob Burrows, Hudson Star-Observer
- Nick Nelson controls Eau Claire North’s Erik Heil
- Tim Feia gets Eau Claire North’s Brett Watnemoe off his feet
The Raider wrestling team remained undefeated in Big Rivers Conference duals with a 70-3 victory over Eau Claire North last Thursday, Jan. 19 before taking first place at the Shell Lake Wrestling Challenge for the third year in a row on Saturday, Jan. 21.
The win over the Huskies sets up a showdown this Thursday, Jan. 26, between the BRC’s two remaining undefeated teams — Hudson and Chippewa Falls. Both teams are 5-0 in conference duals and will square off at 7 p.m. in Chippewa Falls.
Last Thursday against Eau Claire North, the Raiders posted eight pins on their way to a 70-3 win.
Nick Nelson at 120 pounds, Tim Feia at 126, C.J. Steiner at 132, Austin Koski at 138, Nic Johnson at 145, Dima Hawksford at 170, Derek Schindler at 182 and Mathias Tobin at 285 all won by pins with the longest match lasting just 3 minutes, 31 seconds.
Eliot Motu added a 3-1 overtime decision at 220 pounds and Kolya Hawksford posted a 13-4 major decision at 152 while Tanner Owens won 7-1 at 160. Drew Krahenbuhl received a forfeit at 195 pounds to round out the Raider scoring.
Saturday at Shell Lake, Koski, Kolya Hawksford, Tanner Owens, Dima Hawksford and Motu earned individual titles and Kolya Hawksford was named the tournament MVP by the participating coaches as the Raider varsity took home the team title with 326 points.
Spring Valley finished second with 300 and New Richmond took third with 263 while Cumberland was fourth with 173. The Hudson varsity reserve finished fifth with 162, ahead of Spooner’s 147, Chequamegon’s 140, Bloomer’s 129 and Shell Lake’s 66.
Kolya Hawksford earned the award for most pins in the least amount of time, including pins over Jon Newton of Spring Valley in the 152 pound semifinals and Dominic Ficociello of New Richmond in his longest match of the day, 3:25, in the finals.
“Dima Hawksford had the biggest match,” Raider coach Chris Hansen said. “He defeated No. 4 ranked Levi Nayes of Bloomer by a convincing seven points. Nayes had just one loss on the season, ironically also to Hawksford back in December at the Marty Loy.”
Hansen said Koski’s 3-1 overtime win over Abram Anderson of New Richmond in the 138 pound finals was also one of the best tournament matches of the day.
Owens beat tenth-ranked Brian Fesenmaier of Spring Valley, 2-0, in the 160 pound finals while Motu pinned Zach Shutt of Spooner in the 220 pound championship match.
Schindler took second at 182 pounds while Wilson Yang was third at 113, Nelson took third at 120 and Steiner was third at 132. Mitch Fanning added fourth place finish at 106.
The Hudson varsity reserves had three third place finishers—Erik Bell at 106, Yuri Bronson at 126 and Wade Malecha at 160.
Tags: sports, wrestling, raiders, prep
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