Thurs. Nov. 29 Home Merrill 7:30 p.m. It was February 4th, 1993 that The Merrill Buejays came into our fieldhouse and handed the Red Raiders their last Wisconsin Valley Conference loss. That was 64 conf. dual meets ago. The streak is now at 65 as the Red Raiders pinned their way past Merrill with a 39-18 victory. The action started at 145 where Tyler Mancl was able to beat Merrill's Jeff Stogbauer 8-6. At 152 Merrill's Adam Getgen started a 4 match win streak for the Bluejays by defeating Brandon Christianson 9-4. At 160 Nick Hoeft beat Chris Freiman 12-0. At 171 Chad Gray beat Dane Thompson 6-1 and at 189 Adam Lassa beat Kelly Anderson 12-1. The Red Raiders then got things going in a big way as Kent Anderson won on a fall in1:58 over Chris Burger. We then went back down to 103 where Matt Redepenning dominated and then pinned Mike McConnell in 1:25. At 112 Nikk Leggett needed only 1:20 to put away Merrill's Ben Wallace. At 119 Jake Coates Kept the pinning ways going with a fall over Kyles Ames in 2:36. At 125 Travis Tritz got several take downs and everntually pinned Matt Wallace in only 1:05. At 130 the Red Raider's Kody Ashbeck then wrestled Ben Swan and defeated him 8-5. At 135 Merrill picked up their last win of the night as Derek Grenfall was able to defeat Ben Casper 8-0. At 140 Red Raider Lance Kopelke ended things on a positive note by beating Patrick McConnell 5-4. The Red Raiders travel to Oconomowoc to take on several quality teams including ranked Oconomowoc and Wilmot at the Oconomowoc Invite this Saturday.

Sat. Dec. 1 Away Oconomowoc Invite 9:00 a.m. Once again the Red Raiders proved to be too much for everybody else at the Cooney 8-Team Tourney in Oconomowoc. The first three victims were; West Allis Nathan Hale, Janesville Craig and Wilmot. In the first round Rapids beat Hale 69-3, Craig beat Wilmot 40-26, Heartland Arrowhead beat the home town Cooney's 39-31 and Milwaukee Marquette beat Nicolet 45-22. In round two Rapids beat what look to me like a surprisingly scrappy Janesville Craig team 47-6, Wilmot beat Hale 48-9, Arrowhead beat Nicolet 45-27 and Marquette beat Oconomowoc 59-17. In the third round Rapids beat a tough Wilmot team 41-18, Craig beat Hale 63-6, Arrowhead beat Marquette 36-33 and Oconomowoc beat Nicolet 44-30. Like last year, these first three rounds were used to determine who would wrestle who in the fourth and fifth rounds. In the fourth round Rapids took on the second best team in pool b, Marquette and little trouble putting them away with a 54-6 victory. Also in the fourth round Wilmot beat Nicolet 53-18, Oconomowoc beat Hale 57-24?? (I know, that score seems high) and Arrowhead edged Craig 37-33. This set up the fifth round match between udefeated Rapids and undefeated Arrowhead. Last year Rapids scored a decisive 46-16 win. This year the Red Raiders just plain crushed the Warhawks 57-12. Rapids appeared to turn it up a notch against Arrowhead as they jumped out to a 45-0 lead. At 275 kent Anderson pinned Karl Mollet. At 103 Matt Redepinning pinned Richie Dunn. At 112 Nikk Leggett pinned Kyle hazelwood. At 119 Jake coates received a forfeit. At 125 Travis Tritz pinned Joe Donovan. At 130 Kody Ashbeck received a forfeit. At 135 Ben Casper pinned Jim Hucke and at 140 Lance Kopelke won by decision 4-1. At 145 Arrowhead finally got on the board as Adam Dion beat Red Raider Tyler Mancl 10-3. At 152 Max Askren beat Red Raider Brandon Christianson 12-5. At 160 Chris Freiman got one bach for the Raiders by pinning Alec LePoidevin. At 171 Ben Askren got Arrowhead's third and final win with a pin over Dane Thompson. At 189 Kelly Anderson pinned Brent Thompson. On the day Travis Tritz, Kody Ashbeck, Chris Freiman and Kent Anderson all went 5-0. Matt Redepenning, Nikk Leggett, Jake Coates, Ben Casper, Tyler Mancl, and Kelly Anderson went 4-1. Lance Kopelke and Brandon Christianson went 3-2 and Dane Thompson went 2-3. There only 2 matches were extra points were scored against Rapids and not counting the foreits there were 33 matches were Red Raider wrestlers picked up big points.

Thurs. Dec. 6 Away Rhinelander 7:30 p.m. When you face the number one ranked team in the state, the last thing you want to do is wrestle without a full team. Rhinelander learned the hard way as they had to forfeit 5 weight classes. In addition to the five forfeits, the Red Raiders picked up 4 pins 2 major decisions and 2 decisions to easily defeat the Hodags 68-0. Matt Redepenning, Nikk Leggett, Paul Poeschl and Jake Coates all received forfeits. At 130 Travis Tritz pinned Brett Foley (R) in 3:31. At 135 Kody Ashbeck pinned A.J. Jefcik (R) in 3:40. At 140 Neil Fulton received a forfeit. At 145 Lance Kopelke beat Kory Kreitlow (R) 7-4. At 152 Tyler Mancl pinned Jeremy Hulustock (R) in 1:58. At 160 Brandon Christianson beat Brad Sturm (R) 9-1. At 171 Chris Frieman beat Jake Lundmard (R) 14-9. At 189 Kelly Anderson Pinned Brandon Brigham (R) in 1:47 and at 275 Kent Anderson beat Steve Stein (R) 11-0. Next up the Raiders will host SPASH. Last night SPASH defeated Merrill 36-27. They have a very good team with some outstanding individuals. So far it's looking like the Wisconsin Valley Conference may be one of the most competitive conferences if the the most competitive conference in the state.

Thurs. Dec. 13 Home Stevens Point 7:30 p.m. There was a big parents night crowd in the field house tonight, and they were able to sit back and watch the Red Raiders dismantle the previously unbeaten SPASH Panthers. The Red Raiders started a little shaky but once they got going the dual took on a very lopsided look. Rapids went to 8-0 with a 43-15 beating of Stevens Point. Action started and 135 with point winning the first 4 matches. Jon Slezak beat Neil Fulton 9-3. At 140 Nate Kurszewski defeated Jake Akkerman 11-4. At 145 Kevin Duda beat Tyler Mancl 7-3 and at 152 Dan Pawelski beat Brandon Christianson 4-1. At 160 Chris Frieman put the Red Raiders on the board with 5-3 decision over Josh Przekurat. At 171 Points Grey Pope beat Preston Smith 5-1. That was the last match SPASH was able to win as Rapids went on a tear. At 189 Kelly Anderson got the Raiders and the crowd fired up by pinning Eric Day in 1:44. At 275 Kent Anderson put away Justin Cieslewicz in only 1:07. At 103 Matt Redepenning pinned Aaron Nelson in 2:40. At 112 Nikk Leggett Stopped Brandon Raykowski in 5:29 and at 119 Jake Coates continued the pin streak with a fall over Dos Vang in 1:28. At 125 Travis Tritz was all over Steve Bachinski and scored a major decision 18-4. At 130 Kody Ashbeck scored a quick fall over Tim Peterson in :54.

Sat. Dec. 15 Home Rapids Team Invite 10:00 a.m. 5 time IL State Champion Providence Catholic, River Falls, Wrightstown, Sugar River and Fenwick, IL The midwest's premiere wrestling program came to town today and gave the Red Raiders all they could handle and then some. Providence Catholic is the four time defending Illinois State Champion and they certainly showed what is possible when you have an area the size of Chicago to recruit from. They trounced the Red Raiders 44-15. At 103 Dan Ruettiger (P) beat Matt Redepenning 8-0. At 112 Zach Berman (P) beat Nikk Leggett 11-3. At 119 Sean Reynolds (P) beat 7-2. At 125 Providence got caught trying to insert a wrestler into their line up that was almost 3 pounds overweight and had to forfeit to Paul Poeschl. As of right now some of the team scores are still up in the air due to the apparent fact that Providence may have been doing that all day. At 130 Travis Tritz (WR) handled Kevin Dunne and cruised to a 9-3 victory. At 135 Kevin Kennedy (P) beat kody Ashbeck 17-7. At 140 Andrew Hopkins (P) beat Jake Akkerman 4-2. At 145 Dan Kunzer (P) beat Tyler Mancl 8-4. At 152 Mike Kimek (P) pinned Brandon Christianson in 4:39. At 160 Don Reynolds (P) pinned Travis Hansen in 3:03. At 171 DeAndre Nunn (P) beat Preston Smith on a TF. At 189 Mike Stephens (P) pinned Kelly Anderson in 5:01 and at 275 Kent Anderson (WR) pinned Joe Stefansko in 2:26. In round 1 Rapids beat Sugar River 53-6, Wrightstown beat Fenwick 27-26 and Providence beat River Falls 60-4. In found 2 Rapids beat Wrightstown 37-18, River Falls beat Sugar River 44-21 and Providence beat Fenwick 67-6. In round 3 Rapids beat Fenwick 52-10, Providence beat Sugar River 72-0 and Wrightstown beat River Falls 42-18. In round 4 Rapids beat River Falls 64-4, Fenwick beat Sugar River 45-18 and Providence beat Wrightstown 52-6. In the fifth round Providence beat Rapids 44-15 (see above), Wrightstown beat Sugar River 48-15 and Fenwick beat River Falls 44-17. Going undefeated for the Red Raiders were Travis Tritz and Kent Anderson.

Thurs. Dec. 20 Away Wausau East 7:30p.m. I had to work tonight, but luckily Dale Thompson went up to Wausau East and sent in this report. Thanks Dale. The weight draw was 145# and it was all down hill from there for Wausau East as Rapids keeps rolling through the conference. The final score was 68-3!!!! 145# Tyler Mancl pinned Ben Schroeder in 5:31. 152# Brandon Christanson recieved a forfeit 160# Chris Frieman major decisioned Brian Falkowski 15-4. 171# Preston Smith pinned Brandon Knetter in 2:39. 189# Chad Ullenbrauck gave them one glimmer of light on a very bleak night for Wausau East with a hard fought match when he beat Kelly Anderson 6-2. Hwt.# Kent Anderson pinned Jermiah Karpinski in 1:03. 103 # Andy Casper made the most of his first opportunity by dominating Alex Chang and pinning him in 3:24. 112 # Matt Redpenning recieved a forfeit. 119# Nikk Leggett Tech Falled Elijah Thao in a 17-1 decision. 125# Jake Coates Pinned Vattana Sayasavanh in 2:49. We then saw a switch in the lineup with Cody and Travis switching weight classes. 130# Cody Ashbeck pinned Mitchell Stankowski in 1:18. 135# Travis Tritz got into a wild flurry of takedowns and switches and the scorers table and the ref lost count and when they finally stopped the match to add up the points the announcer said Travis won 26-9! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! 140# Jake Akkerman pinned Carley Blado in 2:18. Thanks again Dale.

Fri & Sat. Dec. 28-29 Away Bi-State Classic in La Crosse10:00 a.m. 51 other teams watched the Red Raiders put on a display of dominance at this year's Bi-State Classic. The second day saw Rapids come on strong during the wrestlebacks. Historically the wrestlback rounds are where this tournament is won or lost. The Red Raiders came from 6 points behind to cruise to a 38 point lead and ultimate victory. Rapids tallied 344.5 points to Milton's 306.5. Westby claimed the div. 2 title and 3rd place overall with 275.5 points. Ellsworth, who we will see again in a couple weeks, took 4th with 223.5 and Richland Center took 5th with 206.5 points. Travis Tritz and Kent Anderson proved the seeding comittee correct by each wrapping up dominating performances with their second consecutive Bi-State championship medals. Travis made it almost look too easy as he scored 4 first or second period pin falls and then once again met Milton's Nick Conklin in the finals. Once again Travis was able to defeat Conklin. This time it was an 8-5 decision. Kent Anderson was equally dominant as he scored a :32, :26, 1:09, :52 and 3:57 pin fall to get to the finals. He met then Mauston's Rady Gyllin and defeated him 2-0. The much anticipated match between Anderson and Milton's Katon Bethay never took place because the number 2 seeded Bethay was soundly beaten by Gyllin 9-4 in the semi's. Matt Redepenning was the other Raider finalist but was unable to beat Bloomington Kennedy's Zak Bigboy. Matt did however have a very good tournament and along the way knocked off a couple highly respected wrestlers before dropping the 4-0 decision and placing 2nd. At 112 Nikk Leggett worked his way through the wrestlebacks and ultimately beat Sparta's Cody Seekamp 3-1 for 11th place. At 119 Jake Coates won a couple matches via pin before getting pinned by Arcadia's Josh Miller. The two met again in the 3rd place match and Miller was able to defeat Jake again, but this time by way of a 2-0 decision. At 130 Kody Ashbeck won his first 4 matches before losing to Baraboo's Traener Spencer 12-0 in the semi finals. Kody then came back in the wrestleback round and defeated River Valley's Kyle Mueller 4-3 for 3rd place. At 135 Lance Kopelke got a first round bye and then won his second match before losing to the second seed. He then worked his way through the wrestlebacks and eventually lost to Baraboo's Matt Rindfleisch 5-3 to place 12th. At 140 Jake Akkerman alson got a 1st round bye, won his first match and then lost in the third round. Jake went on to face Westby's Jay Kraabel for 7th place but lost 13-1 to place 8th. At 145 Tyler Mancl won his first 3 matches before losing to Arrowhead's Adam Dion 13-4. Tyler then faced Holmen's Peter Steffen for 5th but lost the match 8-7 to place 6th. At 152 Brandon Christianson made it to the 2nd round but lost his next two matches and did not place. At 160 Chris Frieman got a first round bye, won his next match but then lost to top seeded Ben Askren from Arrowhead. Chris then worked his way through the wrestlebacks and eventually defeated Ellworth's Jesse Stelzer 7-2 for 7th place. At 171Preston Smith received a first round bye, won his next match and was beaten by North Crawford's Brad Diestelmann. Preston then won his first match in the wrestlebacks but came up 1 match short of placing when he lost to Lancaster's Jon Schmitz. At 189 Kelly Anderson got a first round bye, won his next two matches but was pinned by eventual champion Matt Bauman from Stratford. Kelly place 8th after losing to Loyal Greenwood's Justin Delo 15-0. New to this year's Bi-State was a 215 pound class. Team points were not scored. Rapids entered Mike Slattery. Mike came in as the number 2 seed and had a very respectable tournament. He received a first roung bye, won his next two matches by pin, but lost to Westby's Eric Marr 5-2 in the quarterfinals. Mike then worked his all the way through the wrestlebacks and pinned North Crawford's Mike Ronnfeldt in 1:40 to place 3rd. To all the Rapids wrestlers and coaches, Great Job and congratulations on another big Bi-State win.

Sat. Jan. 12 Home Rapids Quad Noon. Glenbard North IL, Ellsworth, WI and Joliet IL will be competing. For the second time in as many months the Red Raiders took on another Illinois powerhouse with similar results. Glenbard North outscored Rapids 43-13 and handed the Raiders their second loss of the season. All three duals started at 130. At 103 Jon Ranck beat Matt Redepenning 13-1. At 112 Jon Isacson beat Nikk Leggett 9-4. At 119 Jake Coates beat Tony Dieppa 4-1. At 125, in what was without a doubt the feature match of the entire tournament, Joe Gomez defeated Travis Tritz 10-7. Gomez is the returning Illinois state champion. Gomez took an early lead with a couple take downs. Tritz was able to come back and started taking control but it was too little and too late. At 130 Kody Ashbeck beat Mike Toma 12-2. At 135 state champion Chad Isacson scored a TF over Neil Fulton. At 140 Tyler Williams scored a TF over Ben Casper and and 145 Chris Piha also scored a TF with a win over Jake Akkerman. At 152 Ward Brady pinned Tyler Mancl. At 160 Sean Welch beat Chris Frieman 5-2. At 171 Zach Adams beat Andy Grimm 10-4. At 189 Travis Cherry pinned Kelly Anderson and at 275 Kelly Anderson pinned Matt Balling. In the first round Rapids beat Ellsworth 37-17 and Glenbard North beat Joliet 51-9. Results of the Ellsworth/Rapids dual were as follows; 103 Matt Redepinning dec over Jake Flett 1-0. 112 Nikk Leggett maj dec over Carson Huppert 9-0. At 119 Jake Coates pinned Eric Kees. At 125 Travis Tritz pinned Tim Matzek. At 130 Kody Ashbeck dec over Tyler Danielson 7-3. At 135 Neil Fulton dec. over Nick Nelson 4-1. At 140 Jared Erlandson maj dec over Matt Grimm 10-0. At 145 Tyler Mancl dec. over Clark Hemker 6-2. At 152 Russell Johnson pinned Brandon Christianson. At 160 Jesse Stelzer dec over Chris Frieman 7-4. At 171 Bill Furlong maj dec over Andy Grimm 12-2. At 189 Kelly Anderson dec. over Jon Hart 9-3 and at 275 Kent Anderson pinned Lance Jakes. In the second round Rapids beat Joliet 57-6 and Glenbard North beat Ellsworth 53-9. Results of the Rapids/Joliet dual are as follows: at 103 Matt Redepenning dec Brodrick Evans 3-1. At 112 Nikk Leggett pinned Justin Ledesma. At 119 Jake Coates pinned William Martin. At 125 Travis Tritz pinned Alex Vopat. At 130 Mike White dec over Kody Ashbeck 5-4. At 135 Ben Casper dec over Ray Richardson 3-1. At 140 Jake Akkerman pinned Jason Hiblan. At 145 Danny Brumond dec over Tyler Mancl 6-4. At 152 Brandon Christianson dec over Chris Ziesmer 6-2. At 160 Chris Frieman received a forfeit. At 171` Scott Getzloff received a forfeit. At 189 Kelly Anderosn pinned Steve Manak and at 275 Kent Anderson pinned Matt Peterson. On the day Jake Coates and Kent Anderson went undefeated with Anderson scoring 1st period pin falls in all three matches. Next up the Raiders travel to Marshfield for what could very well decide the conference championship. Marshfield is undefeated so far and is fresh off of a nice win at the Northern Badger.

Tues. Jan. 15 Away Marshfield 7:30 p.m. A very large and electrified crowd watched what will no doubt be the most exciting conference dual of the season for either team last night as the states two best teams battled it out for conference supremacy. Once again the Red Raiders were able to tame the Tigers of Marshfield with a 30-24 win. The meet started with the 125 class as Marshfield's Matt Bell picked up the win over Paul Poeschl 6-3. At 130 Kody Ashbeck picked up a major dec with a 10-1 victory over Ross Wingert and at 135 Travis Tritz dominated Adam Carolfi as he scored a 26-11 TF. At this point I think the Red Raiders were hoping to be up by about 14 points rather than 8. This meant they needed something big to happen as they were heading into the meat of Marshfield's line up. At 140 Marshfield's Steve Tollers went up against sophomore Jake Akkerman. Last year the very tough Tollers placed 3rd at state and already has has several big wins to his credit this year. The first period saw Tollers throwing everything he had at Jake, but the equally tough sophomore was able to hold him off and go to the 2nd period tied at 0. About a minute into the period there was a bit of a flurry that ended with Tollers looking at the lights. Akkerman tightened it up and the ref slapped the mat for a huge Rapids pin and a 15-3 lead. At 145 and 152 Ross Needham and Jared Krasselt were able to tie the score at 15 with a pins over Brandon Christianson and Tyler Mancl. At 160 Chris Frieman put the Raiders back in the lead with a hard fought 3-0 dec over Damon Stichert. At 171 Wade Stichert beat Preston Smith 8-2 and and 189 Dane Cordes put the Tigers on top with a 5-0 win over Kelly Anderson. At 275 Marshfield's Chad Gerlach came close to losing by DQ due to stalling. When things got going though Kent Anderson didn't take much time in pinning him and giving the Raiders a 24-21 lead. At 103 Matt Redepenning put a little distance between the two teams with a 10-4 dec over Marshfield's Dustin Follen. At 112 Marshfield's Tim Habermeyer got the Tigers within 3 again with a 3-1 win over Nikk Leggett. At 119 with the dual meet on the line Jake Coates came through big for the Raiders with a 9-4 decision over Scott Shaw. It was a great and exciting meet that I wish all of you could have seen. Something tells me the Raiders may be facing Marshfield head to head again before the end of the season.

Thurs. Jan. 17 Home D.C. Everest 7:30 p.m. I think DC Everest came to town hoping that the Raiders would have some kind of let down after the big win Rapids had against Marshfield only two days ago. Unfortunately for the Evergreens it didn't happen and Rapids rolled over them with a 46-11 win. 135 was the starting draw weight tonight and saw Kody Ashbeck pin Tyler Meinel in 2:48. At 140 Jake Akkerman beat Ace Miller 11-7. Everest got on the board at 145 when Andy Altschwager scored a TF over Lance Kopelke. At 152 Brandon Christianson started a nice Raider winning streak with a 7-2 win over Steve Sigmund. At 160 Chris Frieman beat Dusty Merriam 11-3. At 171 Preston Smith pinned Matt Patterson in 3:17. At 189 Kelly Anderson got a last second take down and near fall to beat Travis Benaszeski 7-4. At 275 Kent Anderson pinnned Seth Joziak in 3:47. At 103, in a Bi-State rematch, Everest's Scott Sigmund revenged a pin by pinning Matt Redepenning in 5:17. At 112 Nikk Leggett beat Tom Reamer 7-4. At 119 Jake Coates beat Nate Gilling 3-2. At 125 Paul Poeshl defeated Mike Hart 9-5 and Travis Tritz closed out the dual by pinning Sean Ryback in 3:37. Thanks to Terry Stake and WFHR Radio for the broadcast. So, what was that move Travis used and the end of his match anyway?

Thurs. Jan 24 Away Wausau West 7:30 p.m. Wausau West was able to keep the dual meet a little closer than I thought tonight, but when it was all said and done the Red Raiders left with a 35-18 win. The meet started at 145 as Tyler Mancl hammered his way to a 15-4 major decision over West's Andy Bielke. Wausau West then went on a 4 match win streak as Luke Harris beat Brandon Christianson 7-4. Jesse Hein beat Chris Frieman 6-2. Matt Suckow beat Andy Grimm 3-0 and Brent Nowack beat Kelly anderson 7-3. At 275 Kent Anderson got the Raiders back in the meet by pinning Jordan Hein. At 103 West's Jeremy Luckey beat Matt Redepenning 4-2. At 112 Nikk Leggett made quick work of Kelly Marsh and pinned him in :48. At 119 Aaron Kania beat Jake Coates 4-2. At this point Rapids was down 18-16 but things were about to change in a big hurry. At 125 Travis Tritz pinned Chris Ellenbecker in 3:34. At 130 Kody Ashbeck pinned Mike Stieber in 1:52. At 135 Neil Fulton sealed the win for Rapids with a nice 14-5 decision over Dave Mosse and at 140 Lance Kopelke beat DJ McMurtie 6-4. Saturday night is Alumni night at the Field house in Wisconsin Rapids. All alumni are welcome to meet at 7:15 to be introduced before the meet. The meet is varsity only. Also, we will be having a late dinner after the meet to which all alumni are also invited.

Sat. Jan. 26 Home Verona 7:30 p.m. Verona brought a nice bunch of fans up to the field house tonight but the Red Raiders sent them home on the losing of a 50-10 dual meet. At 125 Garrett Heinrich (WR) received a forfeit. At 130 Travis Tritz pinned Verona's Dustin Pailing. At 135 Kody Ashbeck beat Sam Masino 8-5. At 140 Lance Kopelke (WR) beat Matt Krippner 14-8. At 145 Tyler Mancl beat Verona's Scott Nilles. At 152 Verona got things going when Craig Bollig beat Travis Hansen. At 160 Dave Billig beat Chris Frieman 3-1 and Nate Maier beat Dane Thompson 3-0. That was all the scoring Verona would do tonight. At 189 Kelly Anderson beat Tyler Duerst 13-5. Kent Anderson pinned Brandon Benish in 1:29. At 103 Matt Redepenning pinned Ben Cichon in 1:36. At 112 Nikk Leggett received a forfeit and at 119 Jake Coates topped things off by pinning Jake Salzman in 3:00.

Thurs. Jan. 31 Home Antigo 7:30 p.m. A fired up Red Raider team completely dominated the Antigo Red Robins tonight. If you remember back to last year, the Raiders came away with a fairly narrow 35-27 win. This year things went a little more in Rapids' favor as they won 54-3. At 160 Preston Smith got things going for the Raiders by pinning Corey Mattek. At 171 Andy Grimm toughed out a 2-1 victory over Ryan Pregler. At 189 Kelly Anderson beat Kyle Lenzner 7-0. At 275 Kent Anderson scored the quickest pin I've seen this season when he stuck Cory Gelhausen in :14. At 103 Matt Redepenning received a forfeit. At 112 Nikk Leggett pinned Rick Parilek in 3:38. At 119 Jake Coates pinned Derrick Piper in 4:56. At 125 Travis Tritz pinned Ryan Piper in 3:30. At 130 Kody Ashbeck beat Nate Raab 10-5. At 135 Lance Kopelke needed double OT but was finally able to beat Chase Keoppel 2-1. At 140 Neil Fulton racked up a very impressive win over Jess Stimac 9-4. At 145 Antigo finally got on the board as Jeff Drager beat Tyler Mancl 6-3. At 152 Chris Freiman beat Josh Mattek 4-2. This Saturday is the conference tournament in Rhinelander. Although Rhinelander is a bit of a drive, you really should go and support the Red Raiders. This promises to be one of the best, if not the best conference tournament in the state. Rapids in currently ranked number 1, Marshfield in number 2 and SPASH in ranked 5th.

Sat. Feb. 2 Away Conference @ Rhinelander 10:00 a.m. The Red Raiders turned in another in a long string of dominating performances at the Conference Tournament today. Rapids tallied 206 points to easily out distance second place Marshfield. The Tigers scored 175.5. Stevens Points finished third with 137.5, Antigo fourth with 115, Merrill fifth with 111, Wausau West sixth with 108.5, DC Everest seventh with 93.5, Rhinelander eighth with 37 and Wausau East brought up the rear with 11 points. The Raiders had 5 champions today. At 112 Nikk Leggett was the first Raider champ. Nikk avenged an earlier dual meet loss by easily beating Marshfield's Tim Habermeyer 6-1. At 119 Jake Coates beat Marshfield's Matt Bell to earn his first conference championship. At 125 Travis Tritz became only the 6th four time conference champion in WVC history. Travis joins a very elite group, all of which are from Wisconsin Rapids. Travis scored a TF over Point's Steve Bachinski. At 130 Kody Ashbeck earned his first conference title by beating Antigo's Nate Raab 9-3. At 275 Kent Anderson also won his first conference championship. Kent flat out dominated the competition as he pinned all three of his opponents. In the finales Kent faced Rhinelander's Steve Stein and pinned him in 3:00. At 103 Matt Redepenning lost to eventual champion Scott Sigmund from D.C. Everest but came back strong to take 3rd by beating Wausau West's Jeremy Luckey. This matched avenged a recent dual meet loss. At 135 Neil Fulton impressed a lot of people including me as he was able to get to the finals in relatively dominating style. Neil had the tough task of facing Marshfield's Steve Tollers. If you remember back a few weeks Tollers was pinned by Jake Akkerman. I think he may have been looking for some revenge as he made quick work of Neil in pinning him in 1:16. At 140 Lance Kopelke also turned a lot of heads as he was able to beat Antigo's Jess Stimac 4-3 in double OT to get into the finals. In the finals he was pinned by Marshfield's Ross Needham in 5:47 to place second. At 145 Tyler Mancl beat Rhinelander's Jeremy Huhnstock on a fall to place fifth. At 152 Antigo's Josh Mattek was able to avenge a dual meet loss by beating Chris Freiman 6-4. Freiman finished sixth. At 160 Preston Smith did not place. At 171 Andy Grimm made it to the semifinals before getting beat by Grey Pope. Andy then was defeated by Merrill's Chad Gray and placed fourth. At 189 Kelly Anderson had to inj. def. his match in the semi's. Kelly then came back in the third place match and hit a text book lateral drop and pinned Stevens Point's Adam Sandstom in OT. Great Job Rapids and congratulations to all.

Sat. Feb. 9 Away Regionals @ Waupaca 10:00 a.m. The Red Raiders have won the Regional at Waupaca and will be in the Team Sectional against a yet to be announced opponent. 12 Raider wrestlers will be advancing to Sectionals at Pulaski next Saturday. 103 Matt Redepenning, 125 Travis Tritz, 140 Tyler Mancl, and 275 Kent Anderson all came away as Regional Champions. 112 Nikk Leggett, 119 Jake Coates, 130 Kody Ashbeck, and 189 Kelly Anderson were all 2nd place finishers. 145 Brandon Christianson, 160 Preston Smith and 171 Dane Thompson all took 3rd. 152 Chris Frieman placed 4th and 135 Jake Akkerman took 5th. The Red Raiders will face Bayport on Tuesday in New London. Pulaski qualified 12 for sectionals to Bayport's 11 but Bayport was still able to grab the team title at regionals on the strength of six individual champions, as Adam Farr, Adam Rudolph, Adam Crozier, Brett Walczak, Nick Johnson and Adam Trofka all placed first. Pulaski had three firsts from Steve Adamski, Adam Boss and Nate Harvey.

Tues. Feb. 12 Away Team Sectionals @ New London 7:00PM vs Bay Port The Red Raiders looked like a team on a mission last night. They scored big points in 6 of their 8 wins while Bay Port was only able to score get 3 point decisions in all 5 of their wins. Most of which were very close matches. Wrestling started at 152. Right in the meat of Bay Port's line up. Brett Walczak moved up to take on Rapids' Chris Freiman and came away with a narrow 11-9 win. At 160 Bay Port's Nick Johnson beat Preston Smith 6-1 and at 171 Bay Port's Tyler Tenpas beat Dane Thompson 9-4. That gave Bay Port a 9-0 lead but the Anderson brothers were coming up. At 189 Kelly Anderson put the Raiders on the board by pinning Adam Trofka in 2:43 and at 275 Kent Anderson gave the Raiders the lead by pinning Troy Dequaine in :17. At 103 Red Raider Matt Redepenning needed almost the entire 6 minutes to put away Dan Dominiczak but was finally able to pin him at the 5:52 mark. At 112 Nikk Leggett and Bay Port's Adam Farr battled to a 2-2 tie after the first OT. Farr was able to get away with 6 seconds left to secure victory for the Pirates. At 119 Jake Coates scored a 2nd period pin over Bay Port's Andy Rudolph. At 125 Paul Poeschl beat Bay Ports Ben Hamersky 12-9. At 130 Red Raider Kody Ashbeck scored a TF over Vince Peters. Coach Benitz moved Travis Tritz all the way up to 135 in hopes of knocking off Bay Port's Adam Rudolph. Bay Port's Coach Ungold countered by inserting Eric Meyer into the line up. Travis Promptly pinned him and then Tyler Mancl did the job instead as he beat Adam Rudolph 7-6. Bay Port did pick up one more victory as Adam Crozier was able to escape with a narrow 2-1 win over Brandon Christianson at 145. Rapids 41, Bay Port 15.

Sat. Feb. 16 Home Individual Sectionals @ Pulaski The Red Raiders are sending 7 wrestlers to the individual state tournament. At 103 Matt Redepenning defeated New London's Mike Murphy 3-2 in the finals to qualify as a sectional champion. At 112 Nikk Leggett lost his wrestle back with David Quinlan 8-4 and had to settle for 3rd. At 119 Jake Coates Lost to Stevens Point's Jake Calhoun 6-1 but was able to beat Bay Port's Ben Hamersky 11-0 to earn a trip to state as a runner-up. At 125 Travis Tritz had little trouble with anyone and qualified for state as a sectional champion by pinning Antigo's Nate Raab in the finals. At 130 Kody Ashbeck Defeated Jerry Wanty 8-0 to also qualify as a sectional champion. At 140 Tyler Mancl beat Stevens Point's Nate Kurszewski 2-0 in the finals to qualify as a sectional champion. 145 Brandon Christianson, 152 Chris Freiman, 160 Preston Smith and 171 Dane Thompson all lost their opening matches and did not qualify. At 189 Kelly Anderson lost in the finals to Ryan Foster 5-4 but by virtue of his win over Bay Port's Adam Trofka in the semifinals qualified for state as a sectional runner-up. At 275 Kent Anderson put on another dominating display as he scored 3 first period falls to earn a trip to Madison as a sectional champion.

Thurs. Fri. & Sat. Feb. 21,22,234 Away Individual State @ Kohl Center in Madison Two Red Raiders are heading for the semi finals tomorrow night. Travis Tritz destroyed Steve Sprecher from Baraboo 18-8 and then went on the tech Racine Horlick's Alberto Rodriguez in 4:53. Kent Anderson pinned Mukwanago's Jordan Kroll in 2:36 and then pinned John Katelhut from River Falls in 3:54. At 103 Matt Redepenning beat Manitowoc's Nic Jensen 3-0 and then in the second round Matt lost to Dave Luckey from Wausau West 6-3. At 119 Jake Coates opened up with a 4-0 win over Witnall's Andre Kasten but was beaten in the second round by Milton's Josh Wagner on a TF. At 130 Kody Ashbeck beat Kenosha Bradford's Dustin Soto 5-1 but he then lost to Baraboo's Traener Spencer 7-4. At 140 Tyler Mancl was beaten by Tony Mosel from Chippewa Falls14-5. Mosel did win his next match so Tyler will get a wrestleback tomorrow. At 189 Kelly Anderson was defeated by kenosha Tremper's Dan Whipple 9-1. Whipple lost his next match so Kelly will not get a wrestleback.

Day two saw the Red Raiders have a very good day. In fact, you might say everything went their way today. Both Kent Anderson and Travis Tritz are on their way to the finals tomorrow night. Kent beat Mike Hayes from Beaver Dam 7-1 and Travis beat Milton's Nick Conklin 8-6 to advance. In the wrestleback round today Matt Redepenning beat Casey Shmitz from Sauk Prairie 8-6, Jake Coates beat Baraboo's Brandon Stearns 2-1, Kody Ashbeck beat Brendon Bolling from West Bend West 5-4 and Tyler Mancl pinned Mark Servais from La Crosse Central in 4:41. Matt, Jake, Kody and Tyler need one more win to guarantee a medal.

Travis Tritz and Kent Anderson are State Champions. Travis beat previously unbeaten Joey Potter from Slinger 13-6 and Kent beat Milton's Katon Bethay 5-0. Matt Redepenning defeated Racine Parks Mike Farnsworth 6-0 to place 5th. Kody Ashbeck was defeated by Manitowoc's Ryan Klackner 6-4 in OT and placed 6th. Jake Coates and Tyler Mancl lost in their wrestleback matches and did not place. Congratulations to all the Rapids wrestlers and coaches.

Fri. & Sat. Mar. 1-2 Away Team State @ West Allis Central High School They say all good things eventually come to an end. The Red Raiders battled hard this weekend but weren't quite able to stop the Red Hawks of Milton from claiming their spot atop the Wisconsin wrestling world. Milton took a big lead, kept on building and then hung on for a 25-21 win. At 130 Kody Ashbeck and Nick Conklin battled to a 3-3 tie before Conklin was able to win in double OT. At 135-Kraig Squires (M) dec. over Neil Fulton (WR), 11-5. At 135-Kraig Squires (M) dec. over Neil Fulton (WR), 11-5. At 140-Tim Johnson (M) dec. over Jake Akkerman (WR), 5-3. At 145-Brandon Getchel (M) dec. over Tyler Mancl (WR), 4-2. At 152-Dustin Fox (M) major dec. over Chris Freiman (WR), 14-2. At 160-Brett Barless (M) dec. over Preston Smith (WR), 3-0. At 171-Matt Bright (M) dec. over Andrew Grimm (WR), 6-0. At 189-Nick Wendt (M) dec. over Kelly Anderson (WR), 5-0. 275 was a rematch of last weeks state final in which Kent Anderson defeated Milton's Katon Bethay. Kent for the most part handled Bethay until the closing seconds when he gave up a 5 point reversal and near fall. The match went to OT where Kent resumed his domination and scored a quick take down for the win. At 103-Matt Redepenning (WR) major dec. over Robert Zirkel (M), 14-5. At 112-Nikk Leggett (WR) dec. over Aaron Duoss (M), 12-10. At 119 Jake Coates received a forfeit. At 125 the crowd was treated to what will go down in history as one of the most memorable matches we've ever seen. Undefeated state champion Josh Wagner moved up to take on our own state champion Travis Tritz. Travis proceeded to put on his own wrestling clinic with take downs and near falls coming at full force. When the dust finally settled Travis ended his high school wrestling career with 19-4 technical fall over Wagner. Although the loss hurt, somehow that incredible performance took a lot of the sting out of it. At least from my perspective. Congratultions to all the wrestlers and coaches. You make us fans very proud.

Here are the results of the two previous dual meets.

Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln 46, Monroe 15
130-Kody Ashbeck (WR) fall over Brian Simmons (M), 3:32
135-Neil Fulton (WR) dec. over Nick Konopacki (M), 2-0
140-Tyler Mancl (WR) dec. over Cas Moelling (M), 5-0
145-Tim Kainz (M) dec. over Lance Kopelke (WR), 7-1
152-Chris Freiman (WR) major dec. over Ben Wyss (M), 17-7
160-Preston Smith (WR) fall over David Pink (M), 1:57
171-Colin Burns (M) fall over Dane Thompson (WR), 3:26
189-Kelly Anderson (WR) fall over Ben Zimmerman (M), 6:55 (OT)
275-Kent Anderson (WR) fall over Justin Blackburn (M), 2:13
103-Matt Redepenning (WR) dec. over Dan Holmes (M), 6-4
112-Corey Binger (M) fall over Josh Hansen (WR), 4:58
119-Paul Poeschl (WR) dec. over Jameson Smith (M), 5-0
125-Travis Tritz (WR) fall over Tyler Goff (M), 2:30

Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln 37, La Crosse Central 13
119-Jake Coates (WR) dec. over Ned Bagniewski (LC), 6-0
125-Travis Tritz (WR) fall over Billy Pedretti (LC), 2:51
130-Kody Ashbeck (WR) fall over Dustin Frost (LC), 3:05
135-Jake Akkerman (WR) dec. over Steven Downs (LC), 9-3
140-Mark Servais (LC) dec. over Tyler Mancl (WR), 9-3
145-Mike Mueller (LC) dec. over Brandon Christianson (WR), 7-0
152-Chris Freiman (WR) dec. over Rob Heller (LC), 3-1
160-Nick Meinertz (LC) dec. over Preston Smith (WR), 5-1
171-Andrew Grimm (WR) dec. over Mike Stanley (LC), 5-1
189-Andy Colborn (LC) major dec. over Kelly Anderson (WR), 10-2
275-Kent Anderson (WR) fall over Cory Scanlan (LC), :50
103-Matt Redepenning (WR) dec. over Kyle Kallenbach (LC), 3-0
112-Nikk Leggett (WR) major dec over Reece Rykal (LC), 11-1