By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

NEILLSVILLE – The Spencer/Columbus Catholic wrestling team had three champions and four others take second at the WIAA Division 2 regional tournament on Saturday at Neillsville High School.

The seven Rockets move on to the WIAA Division 2 individual sectional at Osceola on Feb. 20 with the top three finishers there qualifying for the 2016 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison on Feb. 25-27.

Austin Post (27-7 at 132 pounds), Tim Bauer (32-8 at 138), and Hunter Luepke (36-4 at 182) were individual champions for Spencer/Columbus.

The Rockets were second in the team standings finishing with 206 points. Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal won the team title with 276.5 points and move on to the Division 2 team sectional at Melrose-Mindoro on Tuesday.

Taking second for Spencer/Columbus were Dominick Wichlacz (21-7) at 113, Nathan Neumann (30-12) at 152, Austin Day (17-12) at 170, and Logan Zschernitz (33-7) at 285.

Day was the only one to have to survive a second-place wrestleback, which he did with a pin on Melrose-Mindoro/Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau’s Landon Lockington in 45 seconds.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

2016 WIAA Division 2 Wrestling Regional
Feb. 13, at Neillsville High School
Team scores: 1. Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal 276.5; 2. Spencer/Columbus Catholic 206; 3. Melrose-Mindoro/Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau 188.5; 4. Medford 149; 5. Black River Falls/Lincoln 99; 6. Abbotsford/Colby 80.
Top two qualify for individual sectional at Osceola on Feb. 20
106 pounds
Championship: Jack Marley (MMGET) won by technical fall over Chance Clement (AC) 19-2.
Second-place wrestleback: Sayer Rachu (NGL) def. Clement (AC) 2-0.
113 pounds
Championship: Skylar Barth (NGL) def. Dominick Wichlacz (SC) 4-1.
120 pounds
Championship: Josh Brooks (MED) pinned Kyle Gurney (NGL) in 5:47.
126 pounds
Championship: Les Lakey (MMGET) pinned Andy Poetzl (MED) in 5:13.
Second-place wrestleback: Poetzl (MED) pinned Kanyon Rachu (NGL) in 0:38.
132 pounds
Championship: Austin Post (SC) def. Dylan Nielsen (NGL) 8-1.
138 pounds
Championship: Tim Bauer (SC) def. Zach Smith (NGL) 10-3.
Second-place wrestleback: Smith (NGL) def. Preston Carlson (MED) 4-2.
145 pounds
Championship: Joseph Aguilera (AC) def. Stetson Rueth (NGL) 2-1, 2 OT.
Second-place wrestleback: Rueth (NGL) def. Jeff Maynard (MMGET) 9-4.
152 pounds
Championship: Derek Nielsen (NGL) pinned Nathan Neumann (SC) in 2:49.
160 pounds
Championship: Stephen Buchanan (NGL) def. Kolten Hanson (MED) 10-8.
170 pounds
Championship: Tucker Peterson (MED) pinned Austin Day (SC) in 1:56.
Second-place wrestleback: Day (SC) pinned Landon Lockington (MMGET) in 0:45.
182 pounds
Championship: Hunter Luepke (SC) won by major dec. over Andrew Buchanan (NGL) 9-1.
195 pounds
Championship: Lucas Ingold (NGL) pinned Dakota Daffinson (MMGET) in 1:14.
220 pounds
Championship: Sam Higley (MMGET) pinned Sam Baumgartner (NGL) in 1:12.
285 pounds
Championship: Nick Rueth (NGL) def. Logan Zschernitz (SC) 2-1.