By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

WRESTLING

Marshfield tops Merrill

Marshfield improved to 3-0 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference with a 52-18 victory over Merrill on Jan. 5 at Marshfield High School.

The Tigers are tied with D.C. Everest for first place in the conference and wrestles at Everest next Thursday.

Caden Dennee (120 pounds), Tanner Kanable (126), Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (170), Sam Mitchell (195), and Alex Brost (220) won by pin for the Tigers. All but Schwanebeck-Ostermann’s came in the first period of their respective matches.

Spencer Wirthlin added a technical fall victory at 132, Caden Pearce (138) and Nolan Hertel (145) won by major decision, Payton Young (152) won by decision, and Gabe Pugh (113) won by forfeit for Marshfield.

Auburndale loses at Marathon

With 10 of the 14 matches forfeited by one team, or both, the Marawood Conference wrestling match on Jan. 4 came down to four matches on the mat.

Each team won two, but Marathon won both by pin, to edge Auburndale 36-31, at Marathon High School.

Auburndale’s two victories came from Isaiah Hasenohrl, who won a major decision 13-2 at 132 pounds, and Cody Poeschel, who won 8-7 at 152 pounds.

Stratford wins Lehrke Invitational

Stratford won eight individual championships and cruised to the team title at the 62nd annual Fred Lehrke Wrestling Invitational on Jan. 6 at D.C. Everest High School.

Stratford racked up 477 points to easily outdistance Medford (238) and D.C. Everest (222) for the title. Auburndale finished 10th with 100 points.

Karter Stuttgen went 5-0 at 106 pounds and Manny Drexler was 3-0 at 113 pounds to win round robin titles for the Tigers.

A.J. Schoenfuss (126), Dilan Dehlinger (145), Jake Drexler (152), and Dylan Schoenherr (220) had pins in the championship matches to win their respective weight classes for Stratford.

Also taking titles for the Tigers were Trevor Dennee at 170 and Kaelen Schmitt at 182.

In addition to Keller Wolfe’s second-place finish, Samuel Hasenorhl took fourth at 220, Hunter Godard was fifth at 132, Dylan Baird finished fifth at 120, and Isaiah Hasenohrl took seventh at 126 for Auburndale.

BOYS SWIMMING

SPASH sweeps Marshfield

Stevens Point won all 11 events to defeat Marshfield 101-68 in a Wisconsin Valley Conference boys swimming dual meet Jan. 4 at Stevens Point Area Senior High.

All three Marshfield relay teams finished second, as did three individuals in four events.

Jacob Dick was second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:57.96) and the 100 breaststroke (1:10.08), Jeffrey Berres was second in the 100 backstroke (1:10.91), and Calvin Lawler took second in the 100 freestyle (1:07.79) for Marshfield’s top individual performances.

Jeffrey Berres, Dick, Nathan Albanito, and Ethan Dagit were second in the 200 medley relay (1:57.05); Alec Brenner, Connor Berres, Jarreth Schaefer, and Scott Thompson were second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:54.63); and Jeffrey Berres, Albanito, Dick, and Dagit took second in the 400 freestyle relay (4:04.81) for the Tigers.

GYMNASTICS

Marshfield third at Rapids

Emma Haugen finished third in the vault and fifth in the floor exercise for Marshfield, which took third place at the eight-team Wisconsin Rapids Gymnastics Invitational on Jan. 6 at Lincoln High School.

Haugen took third in the vault with a score of 8.85 and fifth in the floor with a score of 9.05 for the Tigers’ top two individual finishes.

Melanie Hafenbredl took eighth in the all-around (32.9) and Haugen was ninth (32.725) for Marshfield, which had a team score of 129.0. Mukwonago won the meet with a score of 134.45.

Hafenbredl took seventh in the floor (9.0), tied Haugen for eighth in the uneven bars (7.675), and was ninth in the balance beam (7.825).

BOYS HOCKEY

Marshfield wins twice

Marshfield scored twice in the first 5 minutes of the third period to break open a tie game and defeat Ashland 4-3 in a nonconference boys hockey game Jan. 6 at the Marshfield Area Ice Arena.

Nick Urban scored 3:14 into the third period and Isaac Wellens added another score less than 2 minutes later to push Marshfield (8-7) to the victory.

Marshfield overcame an early 1-0 deficit with two goals in the final 2:07 of the first period. Tyler Spaeth and Urban scored for the Tigers, to give them a 2-1 lead.

Ashland tied it with a goal midway through the second period, before the Tigers pulled away late.

A.J. Trierweiler had 31 saves in goal for Marshfield.

Marshfield ripped Mosinee 8-3 at home on Jan. 2. Ryan Krueger hit for a hat trick in the first 21 minutes of the game to lead the way for the Tigers.