By TYLER DRUMMOND
of The Gazette
Six schools competed against each other as Rosholt, Pacelli, Amherst, Manawa, Wittenberg-Birnamwood (W-B) and Weyauwega-Fremont (WF) all gathered at Rosholt High School Saturday, Jan. 17, for the Central Wisconsin Conference wrestling multi-meet.
Weyauwega-Fremont, the favored team, did just as expected, ripping though Birnamwood, Pacelli, Manawa and Rosholt to capture the meet title at 4-0. Manawa came in second at 3-1 and Birnamwood was third at 3-1. Manawa won the tie-breaker as they defeated Birnamwood in the second round of the meet.
Teams competing from Portage County didn't fare as well as both Rosholt and Pacelli went 1-3 and Amherst ended the meet at 0-4.
"It's hard for us to compete at these dual meets when we can't fill an entire roster," said Amherst head coach Stan Shufelt.
Indeed it was difficult for Amherst to wrestle competitively as they give up four weight classes: the 103, the 125, the 140 and the heavyweight 275.
Pacelli's situation is a bit different as they only give up one weight class, the 160, but almost all the wrestlers are underclassmen.
"We're so young," said senior wrestler Joe Groshek. "Hopefully next year or a couple of years down the line, the younger wrestlers will have enough experience to be more competitive."
Pacelli has only four wrestlers who are seniors, wrestling with eight freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors.
Rosholt got off to a tough start as they dropped the first round meet to Manawa. Things looked promising for the Hornets as they defeated Amherst in the second round but the Hornets couldn't capitalize as they lost in the final two matches to Wittenberg-Birnamwood and Weyauwega-Fremont.
Pacelli started the day by losing their first two matches to Birnamwood and Freemont. Pacelli then beat Amherst before dropping the final meet of the day to Manawa.
Amherst dropped all four of its matches, losing to Weyauwega-Fremont, Rosholt, Pacelli and Wittenberg-Birnamwood.
A bright spot to an otherwise down day for the Falcons was that two of its top wrestlers, Mo Malone and Bert Soyka, each went 4-0 in their respective matches.
Other top wrestlers included Devin Groshek of Rosholt, who also won all four of his matches.
Also for Pacelli was Groshek, who ended the day on a high note for the Cardinals as he beat his opponent from Manawa in the heavyweight division in a little under 40 seconds.