Sat. Dec. 2 Away Oconomowoc Invite 9:00 a.m. The Red Raider's quest for number seven started in Oconomowoc today and to say they were ready would be an understatement. The tremendous amount of hard work that this team as been going through appears to be paying off. In the first round Rapids beat Platteville 66-3, Wilmot beat Janesville Craig 37-16, Hartland Arrowhead beat Nicolet 43-29 and Oconomowoc beat Marquette 49-27. In round two the Rapids beat Craig 59-6, Wilmot beat Platteville 55-14, Arrowhead beat Oconomowoc 38-36 and Marquette beat Nicolet 48-28. In round three Rapids beat Wilmot 48-7, Craig beat Platteville 61-9, Arrowhead beat Marquette 45-18 and Oconomowoc beat Nicolet 59-10. These matches were used to determine the placement matches in round 4 and 5. Up until now Rapids was undefeated in their side of the bracket and met up with the second place team from the other side of the bracket. Oconomowoc gave the Red Raiders little trouble as they only managed one win. At 103 Paul Poeshl WR won by forfeit. At 112 J.J. Carter WR won by forfeit. At 119 Travis Tritz WR won TF over Nick Radulovich. At 125 Kody Ashbeck WR won by TF over Kyle Hansen. At 130 Tyler Mancl WR pinned Jason Cox in 1:15. At 135 Paul Coates WR pinned Kyle Krischan in 1:15. At 140 Josh Deppe WR beat Carl Hady 7-1. At 145 Dustin Smith WR beat Jeff Biesboer 2-0. At 152 Nick Bord WR Beat Mike D'Amico 7-0. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski WR beat Kyle Frake 10-2. At 171 Oconomowoc got on the board when State Qualifier Steve Guenther held off Kent Thompson and won his match 11-10. At 189 Kelly Anderson WR got a very impressive win over Donn Loppnow 5-0 and at 275 Kent Anderson WR pinned Justin Wright in :35. Meanwhile Wilmot was in the process of beating Arrowhead 45-23, Craig beat Nicolet 62-12 and Platteville beat Marquette 42-36. This set up the final between 4-0 Rapids and 3-1 Arrowhead. Once again the Red Raiders prevailed with a decisive win 46-16. At 103 Paul Poeschl WR pinned Richie Dunn in :24. At 112 J.J. Carter won by forfeit. At 119 Travis Tritz also won by forfeit. At 125 Kody Ashbeck WR beat Peter Walker 9-1. At 130 Arrowhead started a little run as Tony Manriquez beat Tyler Mancl 8-3. Adam Dion beat Paul Coates 6-3 and State runner-up Jared Dion beat Josh Deppe 2-0. Rapids then picked up another big point win as Nick Bord pinned Andy Nevinski in :31. At 160 Arrowhead's state champion Ben Askren beat Mitch Ziolkowski 23-10. At 171 Kent Thompson WR received a forfeit. At 189 Elliot LePoidevin beat Kelly Anderson 3-2 and at 275 Kent Anderson received a forfeit. Although Paul Poeschl, Travis Tritz, Nick Bord and Kent Anderson were all undefeated, the story of the day had to be Paul Coates. As you know Paul had been sick, but he was cleared to wrestle and looked very good. Congratulations Paul! Your toughness is unmatched and you have the heart of a true champion. Finishing 4-1 or Rapids were 112 J.J. Carter, 125 Kody Ashbeck, 135 Paul Coates, 140 Josh Deppe, 145 Dustin Smith, 160 Mitch Ziolkowski, 171 Kent Thompson and 189 Kelly Anderson. Tyler Mancl finished 3-2 at 130. Next up the Raiders open conference action in Antigo.

Thurs. Dec. 7 Away Antigo 7:30 p.m. The young, upstart Red Robins proved to be a very worthy opponent for the Red Raiders tonight. Although it wasn't enough to actually stop the Raiders from winning, for whatever reason the close matches seemed to go Antigo's way all night long. In the end Rapids left with a 35-27 win, but I think they felt a little pushed this time. At 103 Paul Poeschl (WR) received a forfeit. At 112 Nikk leggett (WR) was pinned by Nate Rabe in 2:39. At 119 J.J. Carter (WR) scored a technical fall at the 6:00 mark over Ryan Piper. At 125 Travis Tritz (WR) continued his dominating ways by pinning Derrick Piper in 3:59. At 130 Kody Ashbeck (WR) jumped out to a big lead and then pinned Bob Parilek in 3:41. At 135 Paul Coates (WR) met up with his old rival Bobby Stimac. These two have been battling for four years. Paul controlled the match from start to finish and was able to defeat Stimac 5-1. At 140 Another Stimac made his Valley Conference debut. His problem is that he had to wrestle Rapids' Josh Deppe. Deppe beat Jess Stimac 11-4. At 145 Antigo started a little run. Jeff Draeger pinned Dustin Smith in 3:06. At 152 Josh Ison pinned Nick Bord (WR) in 5:40 and at 160 Jason Hohensee beat Mitch Ziolkowski (WR) 5-2 in a very hard fought match. At 171 Kent Thompson temporarily stopped the bleeding and sealed victory for Rapids by pinning Matt Darmody in 2:40. At 189 Ryan Pregler beat Kelly Anderson (WR) 2-0. At 275 Joe Preglar beat Kent Anderson (WR) by 2-0.

Thurs. Dec. 14 Home Rhinelander 7:30 p.m. A rejuvenated Red Raider wrestling team took to the mat against a short handed Rhinelander team tonight and the results went strongly in favor or the Raiders. On the strength of 4 pins and 6 forfeits, Rapids cruised to a 67-3 win. At 103 Nikk Leggett received a forfeit. At 112 Ryan Gruber received a forfeit. At 119 Jake Coates needed only :52 to pin Josh Johnson. At 125 Travis Tritz won by fall over A.J. Jefcik in 3:04. At 130 Kody Ashbeck received a forfeit. At 135 Paul Coates won by decision over Ben Lappin 10-0. At 140 Josh Deppe put on another fine performance by pinning Cory Kreitlow in 2:59. At 145 Dustin Smith needed 2:27 to put away Josh Biermeier. At 152 Nick Bord received a forfeit. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski received a forfeit. At 171 Kent Thompson received a forfeit. At 189 Rhinelander finally got on the board when Steve Stein won by decision over Kelly Anderson 4-3. At 275 Kent Anderson won a hard fought decision over Joel Mancl 5-1. This Saturday Rapids will be hosting the Rapids Team Invitational. This is one of three Wisconsin tournaments that USA Wrestling lists as their top 50 in the nation. Providence Catholic has won the last 4 Illinois State Championships and is the top ranked team in our 5-state region. You better plan on being there.

Sat. Dec. 16 Home Rapids Team Invite 10:00 a.m. 4 time IL State Champion Providence Catholic, River Falls, Wrightstown, Sugar River and Fenwick, IL The Red Raiders wrestled very well today, but unfortunately they weren't quite up to the task of knocking off the Illinois State Champions, Providence Catholic. The very talented team from New Lenox defeated Rapids 33-21. At 103 Nikk Leggett lost by decision to Zach Berman 9-1 (PR). At 112 J.J. Carter gave the Red Raiders their only lead by pinning Tony Martinez in 5:31. At 119 Travis Tritz (WR) suffered his first set-back of the season by losing a close decision to a very talented freshmen by the name of Matt Collum 7-6. At 125 Matt Kucala (PR) pinned Kody Ashbeck in 1:04. At 130 Paul Coates (WR) won a tough, defensive decision over Kevin Kennedy 1-0. At 135 Dan Kunzer (PR) scored a TF over Tyler Mancl. At 140 Don Reynolds (PR) defeated Josh Deppe 17-5. At 145 Mike Klimek (PR) won by decision over Dustin Smith 11-2. At 152 Nick Roberts (PR) defeated Nick Bord 6-3. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski started a little Rapids run by beating De'Andre Nunn 13-8. At 171 Kent Thompson went into OT and then took down Chris Makelz and won the match 6-4. At 189 Mike Stephens won a tough match against Rapids' Kelly Anderson 5-4. At 275 Kent Anderson (WR) pinned Charles Sharp. It's no secret what makes Rapids the perennially powerhouse that they are. Along with great coaching, It's matches and tournaments like this. Maybe they lost the dual meet, but it will only make them better as the season progresses.

In the first round the Red Raiders upended Sugar River 67-0. River Falls beat Fenwick 35-26 and Providence beat Wrightstown 51-12. In round two Rapids faced another very good team, River Falls. Wisconsin's third ranked Wildcats gave Rapids a tough match but the Red Raiders had too much depth and won the dual meet 33-19. At 103 Nikk Leggett (WR) needed 1:27 to pin Jeremy Meiers. At 112 Collin Cudd (RF) won by decision over Jake Coates 14-2. At 119 J.J. Carter (WR) received a forfeit. At 125 Travis Tritz (WR) won by TF over Aaron Lacy. At 130 Kody Ashbeck (WR) beat Adam Geuekink 7-2. At 135 Paul Coates (WR) defeated Adam Nelson 3-0. At 140 Matt Johnson (RF) won by decision over Josh Deppe 6-4. At 145 Travis Miller beat Dustin Smith 11-4. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski (WR) won a shoot out by throwing Adam Meier to his back as time expired 11-7. At 160 Ross Zimmerman (RF) won by decision over Nick Bord 7-2. At 171 Kent Thompson (WR) looked tough as he downed Jesse Johnson 11-2. At 189 Brian Frederickson (RF) won by forfeit. At 275 Kent Anderson (WR) beat Dave Kapping 4-1. I have a feeling theses two teams may meet again. Also in the second round Wrightstown beat Sugar River 43-25. Fenwick and Providence decided to take a rest and did not wrestle. In the third round Rapids racked up seven pins, one TF, one decision and easily defeated Fenwick 50-17. Also in the third round Providence beat Sugar River 67-6 and River Falls beat Wrightstown 40-20. In the fourth round Rapids beat Wrightstown 51-15, Fenwick beat Sugar River 57-9 and Providence handed River Falls their second loss of the day 46-16. In the fifth round Providence beat Rapids 33-21 (see above), River Falls beat Sugar River 54-9 and Fenwick beat Wrightstown 40-24. On the day, J.J. Carter and Paul Coates went undefeated. Rapids racked up 23 pins while giving up only 3. Next up the Red Raiders return to Valley action as they travel to SPASH.

Thurs. Dec. 21 Away Stevens Point 7:30p.m. The Red Raiders traveled up to Stevens Point to face the Panthers tonight. SPASH sent out a fairly young but relatively experienced team to face Rapids and the results were about the same as they've been over the years. Rapids handily won the dual meet 41-14. At 103 Nikk Leggett needed only :42 to get things going the Raiders way as he pinned Brandon Raikowski. At 112 Jake Calhoun (SP) beat Jacob Coates 8-0. At 119 J.J. Carter (WR) defeated Steve Bachinski 3-1 At 125 Travis Tritz (WR) won by fall over Kyle Petersen in 3:19. At 130 Kody Ashbeck (WR) won by decision over Nate Kurszewski 7-1. At 135 Paul Coates (WR) won by major decision over Adam Kurzynski 9-1. At 140 Josh Deppe (WR) also got a major decision with a 8-0 win over Dan Pawelski. At 145 Dustin Smith lost a tough OT decision to Point's Kevin Duda 2-0. At 152 Nick Bord (WR) defeated Josh Przekurat 19-6. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski (WR) won by TF over Adam Sandstrom. At 171 Grey Pope (SP) won by major decision over Kent Thompson 9-0. At 189 Josh Beyerl (SP) beat Kelly Anderson 7-1. At 275 Kent Anderson (WR) and Adam Dow rolled around for a little while, but Anderson ended up on top and stuck Dow in :53. Next up the Red Raiders travel to the 53 team Bi-State Classic.

Fri & Sat. Dec. 29-30 Away Bi-State Classic in La Crosse10:00 a.m. Once again, the Bi-State was dominated by a team from Minnesota. Bloomington Kennedy came in with several extremely talented wrestlers including a couple that are nationally ranked at or close to the top of their weight class and it really showed. Bloomington Kennedy won the event with 306.5 points. Milton followed with 263 and Rapids was third with 237.5. The Red Raiders did take two titles home. At 119 Travis Tritz worked his way through the competition and won his second Bi-State title. Along the way he defeated Milton's undefeated Nick Conklin in the semi-finals 8-7 and then went on to dominate River Valley's undefeated Kyle Mueller 11-3. At 275 Kent Anderson won his first Bi-State title with a 4-2 win over Portage's Phil Canales. Kent came in as the number 4 seed, but dominated the field more like a top seed as he was never even really tested until the finals. In the Semi's Kent knocked off Royal's Matt Moore 8-1. In case you're interested, Moore defeated DC Everest's Devin Kraege on a fall in the quarter-finals. Kraege did go on to finish third. At 130 Paul Coates finished as a runner-up to Fon du lac's Jacob Humpfner. In the semi's Paul defeated Arrowhead's Tony Manniquez 2-0 but ran into a buzz saw in the finals and lost to Humpfner 16-0. At 103 Nikk Leggett capped a good day of wrestling by beating Jake Flett from Ellsworth 2-1 and finished seventh. At 112 Paul Poeschl needed 1 more win in the wrestle backs to place but was unable to do it as he lost to Lancaster's Bryan Lankamp 6-3. At 125 Kody Ashbeck met a similar fate as he also came up 1 match short of placing by losing to Ellworth's Tyler Danielson 10-5. At 135 Tyler Mancl received a first round bye but was unable to win either of his next two matches. At 140 Josh Deppe won his first two matches but was beaten by Loyal Greenwood's Kris Meyer 3-2 in his first wrestle back match. At 145 Nick Bord had a nice showing as he finished sixth. Nick wrestled Holmen's Randy Tuquero for fifth place but was defeated 7-4. At 152 Dustin Smith received a first round bye but lost his first match. Dustin did win one match in the wrestle back round, but was eventually defeated by Sparta's Luke Schmitz 5-2. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski needed OT, but was able to beat Bloomington's very tough Marshall Guy 4-2 for seventh place. At 171 Kent Thompson also need just one more win to place, but was beaten by eventual fifth place finisher Will Stuart from Strattford 2-0 and then was beaten by eventual eleventh place finisher Brad Diestelman from North Crawford 5-1. At 189 Kelly Anderson Lost his first match to Chris Spies from Riverdale 15-4. He did come back to make it to the third round of wrestlebacks, but was beaten by Eau Claire Memorial's Bob Vogler 11-2. As a spectator, the Bi-State has to be one of the nicest tournaments the midwest has to offer. If you've never seen it, you really should. Dave Rudrud and the rest of the Holmen staff do an outstanding job. See ya Next Thursday back at the Lincoln Field house as the Red Raiders' take on Wausau East.

Thurs. Jan. 4 Home Wausau East 7:30 p.m. Wausau East didn't have much tonight. Although they did manage one win against our Red Raiders, they had to forfeit at six weight classes. Rapids won the dual 68-3 against the undermanned Lumberjacks. Winning by forfeit were Nikk Leggett, Ryan Gruber, Jacob Coates, Paul Coates, Josh Deppe and Chris Freiman. At 125 Travis Tritz pinned Ramon Kreher in 2:51. At 130 Kody Ashbeck beat John Saysasavanh 10- 2. At 145 East's Brian Brendemuehl managed their only win with a decision over Dustin Smith 5-3. At 152 Nick Bord scored a major decision over Brian faldowski 10-2. At !60 Mitch Ziolkowski pinned Travis Weitz in :58. At 189 Kent Thompson pinned Craig Schessler in 1:40. At 275 Kent Anderson pinned Josh Norton in :48.

Tues. Jan. 9 Away Merrill 7:30 p.m. The Red Raiders went up to Merrill to do a little bird hunting and came home with a pretty full bag of Bluejays. Both teams were undefeated in the Wisconsin Valley Conference and Merrill's Coach Arneson felt this could be the year that his team would finally be able to beat Rapids. The Red Raiders on the other hand were not taking Merrill lightly. This along with big crowd made for a great atmosphere and a very good dual meet. Rapids prevailed with a 33-15 win. At 103 Merrill's Tony McConnell needed to come from behind but was still able to beat Nikk Leggett 11-6. At 112 Jacob Coates (WR) beat Chris Mains 6-1. At 119 Travis Tritz (WR) won on a TF over Nick Kaminski. At 125 Kody Ashbeck (WR) beat Ben Swan 9-6. At 130 Derek Grenfell (M) beat Jake Akkerman 14-7. At 135 Tyler Mancl (WR) beat Patrick McConnell 12-0. At 140 Paul Coates pinned Tyler Gehrmann in 4:43. At 145 Adam Getgen (M) defeated Josh Deppe 4-3. At 152 Paul Weix (M) beat Nick Bord 3-0. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski (WR) beat Adam Wendall 2-1. At 171 Chris Frieman sealed the victory for Rapids with a big win Tony Shuett 5-2. At 189 Adam Lassa (M) beat Kent Thompson 9-6. At 275 Kent Anderson (WR) pinned Tamain Jarocki in 3:45. This Saturday make your plans to be at the Lincoln field house for the Rapids Quad. Rapids has had some excellent matches with Owatonna at the Bi-State over the last few years but this will be the first time they'll face each other in a dual meet. Glenbard North has a very nice team with some outstanding individuals that should give the Red Raiders some great matches.

Sat. Jan. 13 Home Rapids Quad Noon. Glenbard North IL, Owatonna, MN and Joliet IL will be competing. The Red Raiders problems with out of state teams continued today. In the first round Rapids beat Joliet Township High School 45-12. Nikk Leggett, Tyler Mancl and Mitch Ziolkowski won by decision. Jacob Coates, Travis Tritz, Paul Coates, Nick Bord, Kent Thompson and Kent Anderson all won by fall. Also in the first round Owatonna, MN beat Glenbard North IL 28-24. In the second round Rapids fell to Genbard North 32-13. Jacob Coates, Paul Coates and Kent Anderson won by decision while Kent Thompson won by major decision. That's it folks. Also in the second round Owatonna beat Joliet 47-16. In the third round Rapids faced Owatonna and would appear to have a very uphill battle coming, but the Red Raiders stayed tough and actually had a chance of knocking the Huskies off but the wheels more or less fell off in the upper weights and Owatonna prevailed 32-22. At 103 Mike Meger beat Nikk Leggett 20-5. At 112 Scott Radel beat Jacob Coates 4-2. At 119 Travis Tritz beat Drew Johnson 13-5. At 125 Kody Ashbeck pinned Noah Blum in 3:45. At 130 Paul Coates got hit with a very questionable stalling point in the last few seconds but was still able to beat Derek Johnson in OT 4-2. Johnson is the defending Minnesota state champion. At 135 Jeremy Wilson beat Tyler Mancl 6-2. At 140 Mark Butler defeated Josh Deppe 5-3. At 145 Brad Busho beat Nick Bord 9-4. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski was able to temporarily stop the bleeding with a 5-2 win over Josh Kerr. At 160 Luke Krause needed OT to beat Chris Freiman 7-5. At 171 the strangest match of the day happened. Kent Thompson was cruising towards victory against Eric Seykora when he was suddenly called pinned at the 5:00 mark. I guess you had to be there. At 189 Justin Sorenson pinned Kelly Anderson in 1:26. At 275 Kent Anderson needed only :34 to get the fall over Matt Stitz. Also in the third round Glenbard North beat Joliet 63-0. One big bright spot was Paul Coates. Paul went undefeated on the day and also knocked off Owatonna's defending and undefeated state champion, Derek Johnson. Kent Anderson also finished the day undefeated with two falls and a decision. Nice Job guys! Next up is the showdown with Marshfield. They are a very hungry team and will be looking to give Rapids their first conference loss in many years. A few of them were at the field house scouting and taping today so you know they will come prepared.

Thurs. Jan. 18 Home Marshfield 7:30 p.m. The Red Raiders put forth a good effort tonight and were able to tame the Tigers of Marshfield by the score of 28-19. Marshfield came into the dual meet with a nice 16-1 record. That loss came at the hand of Merrill this last Tuesday. Rapids put their long Wisconsin Valley winning streak on line. That winning streak dates back to 1993. A large crowd and two very good teams made a for a great, electified atmosphere. At 103 Marshfield's Tim Habermeyer beat Nikk Leggett 5-0. At 112 Jake Coates evened the score with a 9-2 victory over Matt Bell. At 119 Travis Tritz gave the Red Raiders the lead with a big fall over Josh Hilt in 1:27. At 125 Aynsley Trudeau closed the gab a little by beating Kody Ahbeck 9-3. At 130, in what many considered the feature match of the evening, Paul Coates (WR) beat Steve Tollers 3-1. At 135 Adam Carolfi (M) beat Tyler Mancl 4-0. At 140 Josh Deppe (WR) scored an impressive major decision over Keith Wolf 12-0. At 145 Ross Needham (M) beat Nick Bord 4-0. At 152 Ed Habermeyer (M) defeated Dustin Smith 9-0. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski scored another major decision for the Red Raiders by beating Wade Stichert 9-1. At 171 Dane Cordes (M) beat Chris Freiman 11-4. That win along with a subtracted team point tied the dual at 19. At 189 Kent Thompson gave Rapids the lead again with a 8-4 win over Dan Kundinger and at 275 Kent Anderson put the Tigers away for good with a fall over Chad Gerlach in 1:02.

Thurs. Jan 25 Away DC Everest 7:30 p.m. The Red Raiders easily beat the Evergreens tonight up at DC Everest. They won early and often and cruised to a 44-15. At 103 Nikk Leggett dec. Marcus Robinson DCE 15-4. At 112 Nate Gilling DCE beat Paul Poeschl 5-4. At 119 Travis Tritz Pinned Sean Rybeck in 4:44. At 125 Kody Ashbeck dec. Andy Altschwager DCE 4-3. At 130 Jake Akkerman TF over Cliff Heiser DCE 21-6. At 135 Ross Nevienski DCE beat Tyler Mancl 8-7. At 140 Josh Deppe Pinned Brad Fust DCE in 1:16. At 145 Dustin Smith dec. Randy Winter DCE 8-6. At 152 Nick Bord won by forfeit. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski TF over Dustin Merriam DCE 19-4. At 171 Travis Benaszeski dec. Andy Grimm 4-2 in OT. At 189 Kent pinned Eric Hamerly in 1:03. At 275 Devin Kraege DCE pinned Kent Anderson in 4:56.

Sat. Jan. 27 Home Milwaukee Custer 7:30 p.m.  The Cougars took the long trip up here and the Red Raiders made it even longer by whipping them 72-0. Custer has a young and very athletic team and should just get better as they gain experience. Rapids on the other hand is gearing up for tournament time and gave the Cougars everything they had. At 103 Nikk Leggett pinned George Pottinger. At 112 Jake Coates pinned Sysouk Sayavongsa. At 119 Travis Tritz teched Jaun Perez 22-5. At 125 Kody Ashbeck Pinned Carlton Williams. At 130 Neil Fulton Pinned Dameon Childress. At 135 Paul Coates Pinned Marvell Taylor. At 140 Tyler Mancl scored the closest decision of the night with a 4-3 win over Chris Johnson. At 145 Josh Deppe pinned C.J. Davis. At 152 Nick Bord pinned Maurice Singleton. At 160 Mitch Ziolkowski pinned Nick Grady. At 171 Andy Grimm pinned Nigel Walker. At 189 Kent Thompson pinned Demetrious Gaines. At 275 Kent Anderson pinned Cornelius Chapman. Next up is the finale to the conference dual season. Rapids Faces an up and coming Wausau West team. Last week West defeated Merrill and should give the Red Raiders a good battle.

Thurs. Feb. 1 Home Wausau West 7:30 p.m. Sometimes what should happen and what really happens can be two completely different things. Wausau West came in with a nice 5-1-1 conference record, second place and they were fresh off a big win over Merrill. Almost everyone thought the Warriors would give the Red Raiders a battle. All I can say is that somebody must have forgot to tell the Raiders. Rapids went out and thumped the Warriors 49-9. At one stretch Rapids won 10 matches in a row and scored extra points in 8 of the 10. At 103 Aaron Kania (WW) beat Nikk Leggett 8-4. At 112 Jake Coates (WR) pinned Rick Sandrini. At 119 Travis Tritz (WR) beat Chris Esslinger 13-4. At 125 Kody Ashbeck (WR) recovered from a hard point scoring slam to pin Chris Ellenbecker in 4:49. At 130 Paul Coates (WR) beat Ryan Pittsley 11-1. At 135 Josh Deppe (WR) beat Adam Vesely 14-3. At 140 Dustin Smith (WR) won a big match as he came from behind and then beat Jesse Hein 6-4. At 145 Nick Bord (WR) pinned Luke Harris in 3:58. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski (WR) pinned AJ Seliger in 2:45. At 160 Chris Freiman (WR) used OT to down Matt Suckow 8-6. At 171 Kent Thompson (WR) blanked Jim Paquette 10-0. At 189 West got finally got their second win as Brent Nowak pinned Nick Henning in 5:25. At 275 Kent Anderson (WR) beat Cody Hardinger 9-2. The most important part of the season starts now and by all indications it should be very exciting. The Raiders look like they're getting ready to peak. If you're a long time Rapids fan you know they tend to come on strong at the end of the season.

Sat. Feb. 3 Away Conference @ Merrill 10:00 a.m. For the eighth year in a row Rapids won the Wisconsin Valley Conference tournament. This year they did it on the strength of 3 champions and an additional 5 top 3 finishes. Rapids racked up 191.5 points while runner-up Merrill scored 161.5 points. Marshfield finished 3 with 157.5 points. Wausau West was fourth with 145 points, Antigo fifth with 115.5, DC Everest sixth with 115, Stevens Point seventh with 96, Wausau East eight with 33 and Rhinelander rounded out the field with 18 points. At 103 Paul Poeschel placed 6th. At 112 Jake Coates placed 3rd. At 119 Travis Tritz won his 3 straight conf. title with a 9-3 win over Wausau West's Chris Esslinger. At 125 Kody Ashbeck placed 2nd. At 130 Paul Coates won another close match over Marshfield's Steve Tollers to place 1st. This time Paul beat Tollers 3-2. At 135 Josh Deppe place 2nd. At 140 Dustin Smith placed 5th. At 145 Nick Bord placed 2nd. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski place 4th. At 160 Chris Freiman placed 4th. At 171 Kent Thompson needed only 30 seconds to pin Marshfield's Dane Cordes. This was Thompson's first conf. title. At 275 Kent Anderson placed 2nd.

Sat. Feb. 10 Away Regionals @ Appleton East TBA The finals turned out to be more of a dual meet between Rapids and the rest of the regional. Rapids sent 10 wrestlers into the finals and came away with 8 champions and a shot at Pulaski to earn a trip to Team State. All 13 Rapids Wrestlers qualified for sectionals next Saturday at the fieldhouse in Wisconsin Rapids. At 103 Paul Poeschl won his first two matches but was pinned by Ashwaubenon's Chase De Cleene in the finals. Paul then came back and got of pin of his own over New London's Mike Murphy for second place. At 112 Jake Coates won his first match, lost his second to eventual champion David Quinlan from Apple North. Jake went into the wrestlebacks and came away with a fourth place finish. The Red Raiders got their first champion as Travis Tritz scored a very impressive TF over Ashwaubenon's Trent Wagner. At 125 Kody Ashbeck became the Red Raiders second regional champion by beating Waupaca's Jerry Watry 5-2. At 130 Paul Coates pinned everybody he wrestled including Adam Kurzynski from Stevens Point in the finals. At 135 the big championship run continued as Josh Deppe Beat Christian Flavel from Appleton West 10-2. All of Josh's wins today were by major decision. At 140 Dustin Smith Won his first match but lost his second match. In the wrestleback Dustin lost to New London's Aaron Kueck and finish fourth. At 145 Nick Bord capped an impressive day by pinning Waupaca's Nate Cone in the finals to become Rapids' fifth champion. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski also became a regional champion as he knocked off Waupaca's Alfredo Estrada 6-3. At 160 Chris Freiman won his first match and lost his second match to eventual champion Grey Pope from Stevens Point In the wrestebacks Chris won his match for third by beating Waupaca's Robert Forseth 15-10 in OT. Unfortunatley Chris then lost to New London's Trevor Otto 8-7 and settle for third. At 171 Kent Thompson tore up the competition and placed first by beating New London's Ted Dorsey 9-5. At 189 Kelly Anderson had his best showing of the year and used some great defense to claim the Red Raider's eigth title. Kelly won his first match by fall, second match 1-0 and in the finals he defeated Stevens Point's Josh Beyerl 3-2 in a double OT decision. At 275 Kent Anderson Pinned his first two opponants but was beaten by New London's Cole Konrad 3-1 in OT. Kent had a wrestleback for second place and promptly pinned Appleton West's Chris Guay. Team totals were as follows: Wisconsin Rapids 262, Stevens Point 178, New London 136, Waupaca 97, Appleton East 93, Appleton West 78 Ashwaubenon 65 and Appleton North with 63. Next up Rapids will travel to DePere to take on Pulaski. Pulaski easily won their regional with 242 points (11 Qualifiers, 7 Champions). Bay Port was second with 211.5 (12 Qualifiers, 1 Champion), and Antigo third with 201.5 (10 Qualifiers, 3 Champions). The top two place winners in the other regional are as follows:
103-Farr BP, Raab Antigo
112-Degreef GB P/E, D Fish Pulaski
119-Stender Pulaski, Swann Bay port
125-Devroy Pulaski, Degreef GB P/E
130-Adamski Pulaski, Rudolph Bay Port
135-Corrigan Pulaski, B Stimac Antigo
140-J Stimac Antigo, E Johnson Bay Port
145-Heuston Depere, N Johnson Bay Port
152-Hohensee Antigo, Walzsak Bay Port
160-Boss Pulaski, Loch Bay Port
171-J Fish Pulaski, Smits Depere
189-Pregler Antigo, Trofka Bay Port
275-Harvey Pulaski, Hansen Shawano

Tues. Feb. 13 Away Team Sectionals vs Pulaski @ DePere 7:00PM It's on to State for the Red Raiders of Wisconsin Rapids and another disappointing Team Sectional loss for the Red Raiders of Pulaski. Rapids out coached, out hustled and just plain out wrestled Pulaski tonight and in the process earned a eigth consecutive trip to the State Team Tournament in West Allis. This time it came via a 32-15 thumping. At 103 Nikk Leggett (WR) beat Troy Brusky 14-4. At 112 Dustin fish (P) turned back Jake Coates 2-1. At 119 Travis Tritz (WR) won on a tech fall in 5:44 over Kyle Lasecki. At 125 John Stender (P) defeated Kody Ashbeck 10-4. At 130 Paul Coates (WR) beat Nate Devroy 5-1. At 135 Josh Deppe (WR) beat Steve Adamski 6-0. At 140 Brian Corrigan (WR) defeated Tyler Mancl 4-1. At 145 Nick Bord (WR) beat Pete Bretzinger 8-4. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski (WR) shut out Sam Thomas 2-0 in OT. At 160 Chris Freiman (WR) won a tough match against Adam Boss 6-5. At 171 Jame Fish (P) pinned Andy Grimm in in 3:17. At 189 Kent Thompson (WR) returned the favor with a pin over Brad Vanderveren in 1:01. At 275 Kent Anderson (WR) beat Nate Harvey 7-0. This Saturday at the individual sectional meet we will have a live webcast with pictures updated every 30 seconds. Watch for more details.

Sat. Feb. 17 Home Individual Sectionals TBA The Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School Red Raiders stormed through sectionals today and on their way picked up 9 state qualifiers. And some people thought this was an off year.... At 103 Paul Poeschl just missed qualifying by losing a a last second heartbreaker to sectional runner up Nate Rabb of Antigo 5-4. At 112 Jake Coates was defeated in the first round by Craig DeGreef of Green Bay Preble/East 11-6. At 119 Travis Tritz beat Pulaski's John Stender 3-1 to become a Sectional Champion. At 125 Kody Ashbeck beat Pulaski's Nate Devroy 3-2 in double OT to become the second Raider Sectional Champion. At 130 Paul Coates pinned Pulaski's Steve Adamski in 1:47 to become the third Raider Sectional Champion. At 135 Josh Deppe Beat Pulaski's Brian Corrigan 7-2 to become the fourth Raider Sectional Champion. At 140 Dustin Smith was defeated in the first round by Antigo's eventual champion Jess Stimac on a fall in 5:59. At 145 Nick Bord lost in the finals to DePere's Jacob Hueston 6-3. Nick was victorious in his wrestle back over Antigo's Jeff Dragger 6-2 and will go to state as a runner up. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski was defeated by by Antigo's Jason Hohensee 4-0 in the finals and will go to state as a runner up. At 160 Chris Freiman lost a close first round match to eventual runner up Shooter Loch from Bay Port 10-9. At 171 Kent Thompson was pinned by Pulaski's Jame Fish in the finals but came through in his wrestle back with a big win over New London's Ted Dorsey 3-2 to qualify for state as a runner up. At 189 the surprising Kelly Anderson became the Raider's fifth Sectional Champion with a hard faught win over Stevens Point's Josh Beyerl 2-1. At 275 Kent Anderson was pinned by Cole Konrad in the finals but still qualified for state as a runner up. Great Job Today Guys and good luck at state.

Thurs. Fri. & Sat. Feb. 22-24 Away Individual State @ Kohl Center in Madison 5:00 p.m. After the first day of State Individual wrestling, the Red Raiders have 2 in the semifinals and 6 other wrestlers still competing in the wrestlebacks. At 119 Travis Tritz beat Wilmot's Adam Kuchnia 3-1 and then went on to beat Tomah's Tim Bloom 18-7 and now faces Medford's Jake Crass in the semi's. At 125 Kody Ashbeck pinned Dustin Hitz from Waukesha North in 5:26 but then lost to Aynsley Trudeau from Marshfield 7-2 and will now face Jon Burdick from Racine Park in the wrestlebacks. At 130 Paul Coates beat Ryan Pittsley from Wausau West 2-0 and then beat Joel Burdick from Racine Park 6-4. Paul will face Hartford's Brad Becker in the semi's. At 135 Josh Deppe beat Kimberly's John Budi 7-5 in OT but then lost to Travis Miller from River Falls in double OT 3-2. Josh will wrestle Brandon Anderson from Holmen in the first wrestleback round. At 145 Nick Bord was beaten by Marquettes's Jason Burns and did not recieve a wrestleback. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski lost to Baraboo's Jason Puttkamer 12-4. Mitch will get a wrestleback match against Dave Dick from Wisconsin Lutheran. At 171 Kent Thompson was defeated by Jim March from Waukesha West and will now face Eric Nettesheim from Wisconsin Lutheran in the first wrestleback round. At 189 Kelly Anderson was defeated by Brian Frederickson from River Falls and will now face Larry Moen from Madison East in the wrestlebacks. At 275 Kent Anderson beat Neenah's Patrick Mc Carthy but was pinned by Devin Kraege from DC Everest. Kent will now wrestle Phil Canales from Portage in the first round of wrestlebacks.

Day two came to a close with the Red Raiders having a pretty good day. The biggest news came at 119 where Travis Tritz put away Jake Crass with a 3-1 decision. Travis will now wrestle Milton's Nick Conklin in the finals tomorrow night. At 125 Kody Ashbeck was beaten by Jon Burdick 10-7. At 130 Paul Coates lost his semifinal match against Brad Becker by fall in 3:47. At 135 Josh Deppe beat Homen's Brandon Anderson 5-3 and now faces Jon Olson from Brookfield East for a chance to wrestle for fifth. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski beat Dave Dick from Wisconsin Lutheran 3-1 and will now face Muskego's Adam Simson for a chance to wrestle for fifth. At 171 Kent Thompson recieved a forfeit and will now face Holmen's Adam Olson for a chance to wrestle for fifth. At 189 Kelly Anderson lost his wrestleback to Larry Moen from Madison East 14-3. At 275 Kent Anderson beat Phil Canales from Portage 2-0 and will now face Racine Parks Chris Ross for a chance to wrestle for fifth.

Travis Tritz is a 119 pound State Champion. Travis beat Milton's Nick Conklin in the finals 7-5. In the first period Travis got a take down and then let Conklin go. In the second period Travis gave Conklin and escape, got a couple more take downs and let Conklin go for a 6-3 lead. In the third period Conklin did manage a take down of his own but Travis got an escape and hung on for the 7-5 win. The other remaining Red Raiders didn't fair as well today. At 130 Paul Coates forfeited to Steve Tollers from Marshfield and placed fourth. At 135 Josh Deppe lost another very close decision and did not place. This time it was to sixth place finisher Jon Olson from Brookfield East 5-4. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski was defeated by sixth place finisher Adam Simson from Muskego 2-0 and did not place. At 171 Kent Thompson lost to sixth place finisher Adam Olson from Holmen 6-1 and did not place. At 275 Kent Anderson was pinned by sixth place finisher Chris Ross from Racine Park and also did not place. Congratulations to all the state qualifiers and especially to place winners Paul Coates and Travis Tritz. Next week is the big show in West Allis. Rapids has by far the toughest side of the bracket as the face River Falls in the first round. Also on the same side of the bracket is Baraboo (with 4 place winners Baraboo looked very impressive at the individual tournament) and Kaukana. On the other side of the bracket Muskego wrestles Franklin and Stoughton wrestles Hartford. This looks to be one the most evenly matched State Team Tournaments in years.

Fri. & Sat. Mar. 2-3 Away Team State @ West Allis Central High School One down and two to go. The Red Raiders took care of the much improved Wildcats of River Falls tonight 34-21. At 103 Paul Poeschl pinned Jordan Buss in 3:11. At 112 Collin Cudd beat Jake Coates 12-4. At 119 Travis Tritz won on TF over Adam Geurkink 23-8. At 125 Kody Ashbeck pinned Scott Tiedke in 3:37. At 130 paul Coates beat Adam Nelson 9-1. At 135 Travis Miller beat Tyler Mancl 12-4. At 140 Josh Deppe beat Matt Johnson 5-3. At 145 Adam Meier beat Nick Bord 9-2. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski beat Ross Zimmerman 5-4. At 160 Chris Freiman beat Matt Magee 5-3 in OT. At 171 Kent Thompson beat Jesse Johnson 11-1. At 189 Brian Frederickson beat Andy Grimm 9-1. At 275 Dave Kapping pinned Tim Alf in 3:05. Next up the Raiders take on Kaukana. Kaukana dumped Baraboo from the tournament with a 31-25 win. On the other side of the bracket Stoughton beat Hartford 39-13 and Franklin beat Muskego 42-28.

Rapids wrestled very well this morning and will be in the finals tonight. The Raiders scored extra points in 7 out of 8 wins while only giving up extra points once and that was via forfeit. Rapids beat Kaukana 39-18 to hand the Galloping Ghosts their first loss of the season. At 103 Kaukana state qualifier Chad Shuh beat Paul Poeschl 10-5. At 112 Dave Vanevenhoven (K) beat Jake Coates in a tight match 2-0. At 119 Travis Tritz got Big Red going with a fall over Jeremy Vanschyndel. At 125 Kody Ashbeck (WR) won a wild come from behind match over Caleb Couillard 9-4. In that match Kody scored 7 points in the last 20 seconds. At 130 Paul Coates (WR) beat Matt Kiffe 9-1. At 135 Josh Deppe (WR) beat John Wolfgram 11-0. At 140 Kaukana's Micah Couillard beat Dustin Smith 8-2. At 145 state champion Justin Geitner (K) beat Nick Bord 8-6. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski (WR) beat Ross Hiatpas 10-2. At 160 Chris Freiman (WR) pinned Paul Petrie. At 171 Kent Thompson pinned Kevin Mooney. At 189 Jason Pauls (K) won by forfeit. At 275 Kent Anderson pinned Jesse Galloway. On the other side of the bracket Stoughton beat Franklin 41-13. Tonight's final should be a dandy.

Wisconsin Rapids has a state championship team for the seventh year in a row. Rapids left Stoughton a little bruised and a little battered and also left them on the short end of the stick with with a 36-18 thumping. At 103 Paul Poeschl (WR) beat Robert Miller 11-8. At 112 Jake Coates (WR) beat Andy Sharp 10-2. At 119 Travis Tritz (WR) scored a TF over Matt Tolley. At 125 Kody Ashbeck won by inj. def. At 130 Paul Coates defeated Kurt Mulder 11-9 in OT. At 135 Stoughton finally got on the board as state champion Justin Blumenthal beat Tyler Mancl 22-12. Tyler did end the match with a take down of Blumenthal. At 140 Josh Deppe (WR) beat Blake Fasching 8-2. At 145 Eddie Blumenthal (S) beat Nick Bord 6-5. At 152 Mitch Ziolkowski (WR) beat Mike Iverson 10-5. At 160 Dennis Anderson (S) pinned Chris Freiman. At 171 Kent Thompson sealed the victory for the Red Raiders with a big 6-5 win over Peter Moe. At 189 Stoughton's other state champion, Ryan Proctor, pinned Kelly Anderson and at 275 Kent Anderson (WR) capped the meet off by pinning Matt Cress. What a great performance Rapids put on at the state team tournament this year. They wrestled very smart and always seemed to be able to get that extra team point and find away to keep from giving up that extra team point. Great Job Guys and congratulations to everybody involved in this great wrestling program.