TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Wisconsin Valley Conference
On Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, the Merrill Bluejay Varsity Wrestling Team went down to compete in the Wisconsin Valley Conference Meet in Marshfield.
“Ryder Depies led the way by winning the Conference Tournament,” said Merrill Varsity Wrestling Head Coach Brian Suchocki. “Ryder put together a great day by defeating two state-ranked wrestlers. Ryder is wrestling well, and he works hard in practice. He is a great leader for us and is doing everything he can to improve.”
“Wyatt Bathke took second place at the conference. Wyatt is working through some things so he sat out the finals,” he said. “He will be back at the Regional Wrestling Tournament. Wyatt is wrestling well and has positioned himself well going into the final weeks.”
SPASH Dual
On Thursday, Feb. 3, the Merrill Varsity Wrestling Team hosted SPASH and also celebrated Parents Night at their final home match of the season.
“The meet went down to the wire, making for a very exciting dual,” Suchocki said. “Starting off for the Bluejays was Dominic Roper. He pinned his opponent, setting the tone. It was the second dual in a row Dominic earned a pin.”
“Wyatt Bathke and Ryder Depies followed with two pins of their own, building the lead 18-0,” he said. “Kieran Hehling fell to the number two ranked wrestler in the state.”
“Joey Jenson and Evan Frederick were able to get us back on track with two pins,” Suchocki said. “These pins were huge because we were forfeiting three weight classes and SPASH had many highly experienced wrestlers left to compete.”
“Brady Norton and Callum Wheeler both put us in position to get the win by pinning their opponents,” he said.
“Four Freshman getting wins for us was outstanding, Suchocki said.
“The meet ended up falling on Brian Ball’s shoulders. If he gave a pin, we would have lost the dual meet,” he said. “For any wrestler, that is a lot of pressure, but Brian is a leader for us, and he wrestled a solid match that ended up giving us the win.”
“It’s nice to have our leaders showing the younger wrestlers how to compete for each other,” Suchocki said. “The team as a whole came together and put together a great match against a solid opponent. We are wrestling the best we have all season and need to continue that moving into the final weeks.
Box score:
SPASH 39 @ Merrill 42
