TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

On Wednesday, Dec. 28, and Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, the Merrill High School Wrestling Team hosted the Northern Exposure Dual Meet Tournament.
“Merrill went 6-1 taking fifth place,” said Merrill Varsity Wrestling Coach Brian Suchocki. “Due to a tiebreaker scenario, Merrill ended up in the fifth place match; however, Merrill was able to beat second place Beaver Dam.”
“We wrestled solid throughout the tournament,” he said. “We had our opportunities to make the finals. We are continuing to improve.”
“We lost that fifth match on day 1 against Wisconsin Dells, and I don’t think we had our best dual, so it was really important that we came back on day 2 to compete at a high level,” Suchocki said. “We wrestled a solid Beaver Dam team and had some really exciting matches. With two matches left, we were down 32-33.”
“It was nice knowing we were finishing the dual with two seniors, Gage Lassa and Brian Ball,” he said. “Gage picked up a big pin, putting us up by five points. This was Gage’s first competition since joining our team. It was impressive he ended up 7-0 at the tournament.”
“Brian followed that up with an exciting triple-overtime win to give us an eight-point victory. Brian also went 7-0 for the tournament.”
“We had four wrestlers go 7-0 at the tournament,” Suchocki said. “Ryder Depies and Callum Wheeler were the other two. Ryder dominated his competition, and Callum also had a very strong performance.”
Five wrestlers also went 6-1: Jon Hart, Brett Suchocki, Brady Norton, Austin Depies, and Carson Brooks.
“As a team, our results were good,” Suchocki said, “but our main goal as a team is to give full effort and learn throughout the season.”
Varsity wrestlers records at Northern Exposure:
Allison Hunter 3-4
Joey Jenson 3-4
Jon Hart 6-1
Brett Suchocki 6-1
Brady Norton 6-1
Callum Wheeler 7-0
Noah Clifford 2-3
Hunter Opper 4-3
Gage Lassa 7-0
Brian Ball 7-0
Austin Depies 6-1
Carson Brooks 6-1
Ryder Depies 7-0
Noah Klug 1-1
Mikal Plautz 1-3
Ian Dreikosen 4-2
Jace Olson 2-2
On Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, the Merrill wrestlers face off against SPASH.