The Bluejay grapplers took an important step in Valley duals when they knocked off Marshfield 46-22 at home on Thursday.
“Obviously it’s another Valley win, but between the last two weeks we wrestled completely different,” MHS coach Scott Arneson said. “We’ve kind of turned the corner and I’m glad we did at home. Our effort was way higher in the Marshfield dual than at West.
“We’re still trying to get a whole line-up and they were, too. It helps you grow as a team and find ways to win. We have a mature team, but we’re young on experience. They’re starting to understand. We’re trying to climb the ladder one rung at a time, and we are seeing a difference.”
Merrill led 7-6 when it ripped off a decision (132, Brady Schmelling, 9-5) and two pins (138, Scott Arneson, 1:06/145, Tanner Pettit, 1:04). The Tigers cut it to 22-10 with a major at 152 (Tom Weinkauf, 15-6), but the Jays responded with five straight to put it out of reach. Lucas Lee (160, 11-5), Mason Reinhardt (170, 1:09), Riley Kurtz (182, 8-3), Seth Collins (195, :26) and Collin Zoellner (220, 1:49) punched it to 46-10. A Christian Kleinschmidt (285, 3:13) fall and forfeit at 106 ended the match.
Aidan Ball (113, 7-2) and Devon Schultz (120, 13-1) gave MHS a 7-0 start before a pin of Brett Swan (126, 3:30).
Rapids is 5-0 in the WVC, while Merrill and SPASH are 3-1.
Arneson was also proud of his JV team for capturing a 20-plus team tourney at Wausau West last weekend, as well as four grapplers – Tom Weinkauf, Ryker Wesbrock, Eric Tomajcik, Brody Gehrke – who qualified for the new JV state tournament, the Wis. Challenge Series.
“Kudos to those JV guys,” Arneson said.