Merrill grapplers fall conference foe Wausau West
Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
A Wisconsin Valley Conference showdown between the Merrill varsity wrestling squad and Wausau West saw a back and forth battle, with the Warriors emerging the victorious team by a score of 46-33.
“It was an exciting meet with a lot of back and forth action,” said Merrill head coach Brian Suchocki. “Our guys battled really hard and overall I thought we did a pretty good job, but of course there were still some areas that we can improve.”
Despite the Jays missing a pair of their top wrestlers in Tanner Depies (illness) and Tyler Leistikow (injury), Merrill was still able to stick right with the Warriors up until the final few matches. According to Suchocki, it hurt the team not having those guys but it’s no excuse for the loss.
“You’d like to think it would have been a different story if we had those guys, but the guys who stepped up in their spots performed really well for us,” Suchocki added. “Tanner has been battling an illness for a while and he most likely won’t be wrestling this weekend either, so the guys just need to be ready to step up and compete.”
The Bluejay’s dominant heavyweight, Zach Iribarren, continued to roll over his opponents pinning West’s Logan Burish in just under three minutes. Desspite Iribarren’s imppressive performance, it was Triston Brewington that caught Suchocki’s eye.
“Tristan wrestled a great match,” said Suchocki. “He went up agaisnt an opponent that he had lost to earlier in the season and to come back and pin him in two minutes is pretty impressive.”
Other winning wrestlers for Merrill include:
120-Trevor Schenzel, won 9-1 (major decision); 132-Jacob Woller, won by pin (4:57); 170-Casey Hoffman, won by pin (4:19); 195-Walker Bathke, won by pin (2:55).