Sat. Dec. 7 Away Oconomowoc Invite 9:00 a.m. The Red Raiders tore up the competition once again at the Cooney Invitational.  Rapids went 5-0 against what was one of the stronger fields in recent tournament history.  Rapids started the day with a 70-6 thrashing of West Allis Hale.  Next came  seventh ranked Arrowhead.  The Red Raiders almost equalled their output from the from the first match with a 68-6 whipping of the Warhawks.  Rapids then beat the home team, Oconomowoc 58-17 and Janesville Craig 54-15 to reach the finals.  Wilmot put up a good battle in the finals but wasn't able to stay with the Red Raiders.  Rapids won the dual 41-28 to claim another Cooney Invitational title.  On the day Josh Hansen, Andy Casper, Nikk Leggett and Kelly Anderson all went undefeated.  Matt Redepenning, Kevin Tritz, Tyler Mancl, Brandon Christianson, Chris Freiman and Dane Thompson all went 4-1. Dave Moon and Clint Weiler ended the day at 3-2.  I will try to get more individual results as they become available.

Thurs. Dec. 12 Away Stevens Point 7:30p.m. The Red Raiders sent a clear and decisive message to the rest of the Valley Conference tonight as they went up to Stevens Point and took 9 of the 14 matches and breezed to a 46-16 victory. At 119 Matt Redepenning (WR) beat Brandon Raikowski 5-3. At 125 Jake Calhoun (SP) beat Nikk Leggett 8-0. At 130 Jake Coates (WR) needed 3:46 to put away Bob Horst. At 135 Kevin Tritz (WR) gave Kyle Peterson a 5-0 lead after the first period before starting a ferious come-back. Kevin used a series of takedowns and near falls to beat Peterson 9-5. At 140 Steve Bachinski (SP) hung on the defeat Clint Weiler 11-7. At 145 Jake Akkerman beat the tough John Slezak 17-6. At 152 Mitch Oksuita picked up Point's third win of the evening by downing Tyler Mancl 3-2. At 160 Adam Sandstrom (SP) beat Brandon Christianson 8-2. At 171 Grey Pope got the last SPASH win by beating Chris Freiman 7-0. At 189 Dane Thompson needed only 1:27 to pin Brady Napiwocki. At 189 Kelly Anderson pinned Landon Quick in 3:19. At 275 Mike Slattery stopped Matt Wanta in 1:32. At 103 Josh Hansen needed just 1:07 to pin Kyle Roth and Andy Casper picked up the fifth Raider pin in a row by stopping Derek Onstad in 1:23.

Thurs. Dec. 19 Home Wausau East. The Wausau East Lumberjacks brought a very under-manned team to the fieldhouse tonight. Rapids picked up 9 forfeits and won the other 5 to take a 77-0 win.. Josh Hansen, Andy Casper, Matt Redepenning, Jake Coates, Clint Weiler, Jake Akkerman, Brandon Christianson, Kelly Anderson and Mike Slattery all won by forfiet. At 125 Nikk Leggett had a tough match against Elijah Thao. In fact he was losing 5-2 with 10 seconds left when he got a big reversal and 2 point nearfall to take a 6-5 win. At 135 Kevin Tritz dominated and pinned Vattana Sayasvanh in 3:35. At 152 Tyler Mancl pinned Ryan Ullenborauck in 5:10. At 171 Chris Freiman beat Brian Falkowski 15-4 and at 189 Dane Thompson beat Travis Wetta 18-4. The Saturday the Red Raiders host the Rapids Duals. Fenwick, Ill and Totino-Grace, MN are both highly ranked in their states. Also, Wrightstown, Adams-Friendship and Abbotsford/Colby have some very talented individuals.

Sat. Dec 21 Home Rapids Duals 10:00 a.m. Totino-Grace, MN, Wrightstown, Sugar River, Fenwick, IL. The Red Raiders took on some very tough teams today and came out on top. In the first round Rapids completed their 3rd shutout of the season with a 82-0 drubbing of Abbotsford/Colby. Also in the first round Fenwick beat Wrightstown 37-25 and Totino Grace beat Adams Friendship 66-6. In the second round Rapids used a balanced attack and downed Wrightstown 54-6, Adams Friendship beat Abby/Colby 45-30 and Totino Grace beat Fenwick 34-25. In the third round Rapids split the 14 matches but came out on top of Fenwick 37-25., Totino Grace beat Abby/Colby 70-12 and Wrightstown beat Adams Friedndship 60-12. In the fourth round Rapids dismatled Adams Friedndship 70-6, Fenwick took care of Abby/Colby 81-0 and Totino Grace beat Wrightstown 37-19. Both Rapids and Totino Grace entered the final round of wrestling with perfect records and actually very similar scores against their common opponents.. It wasn't as close as the score would have dictated it though as the Red Raiders were able to handle Totino Grace and send them back to the Twin Cities with their first loss of the year 36-18. Totino Grace did lose 3 teams points as well as their coach after Kevin Tritz came from behind with a takedown and last second near fall to beat Justin Neeck 6-3. Great match! Also in the dual 103 lb Josh Hansen (WR) pinned Kyle Brown, At 112 Clark Lensing (TG) beat Andy Casper 6-2. At 119 State place winner Chance Jordan (TG) beat Matt Redepenning 7-6,. At 125 Nikk Leggett (WR) pinned state qualifier Jake Beyer. At 130 Jake Coates (WR) blanked Adam Neeck 5-0. At 140 State qualifier Jake Sweet bpinned Clint Weiler(WR). At 145 Jake Akkerman (WR) toughed out some obvious pain and gutted out a 7-3 win over Alex Schierman. At 152 Tyler Mancl took a tight 3-1 decision from Pat Grewe (TG). At 160 Brian Hara pinned Brandon Christianson (WR). At 171 Chris Freiman (WR) beat Brandon McCann 8-2. At 189 Dane Thompson steamrolled his way to a 9-2 win over Totino's Nick Engbloom. At 215 state qualifier Mike Hara (TG) beat Kelly Anderson 2-1 and at 275 Mike Slattery (WR) pinned Nick Norr. Nikk Legget, Jake Coates, Kevin Tritz, Jake Akkerman, Tyler Mancl and Mike Slattery all went 5-0 on the day.

Fri & Sat. Dec. 27-28 Away Bi-State Classic in La Crosse10:00 a.m. The Red Raiders started out very strong at the Bi-State and cruised to the division one and overall championship. Rapids dominated in the early rounds with numorous pins and then proceeded to win when they needed to. Even though The Red Hawks of Milton had two champions and Rapids has none, the Red Raiders were able to capitalize on their overall depth to to take the team title with 349 points to Milton's 336. Cuba City was 24 points behind Milton with 304 while River Valley (236.5) and Westby (226) rounded out the top five. Wisconsin Vally foe, DC Everest, had a nice showing with 209 points and sixth place overall. At 103 Josh Hansen's only loss came to last year's Bi-State champion Zack Bigboy of Bloomington Kennedy, MN 6-4 to place second. At 112 Andy Casper started out with 3 wins before losing to Jake Flett 8-6 and Travis Prohaska 7-4. Andy then beat Jim Fowler 5-2 but lost to Tyler Lorenz 1-0 to place 10th. At 119 Matt Redepenning recieved a bye in the first round, then won his next two matches before losing to Matt Staads 4-1. Matt then went on the consolation side of the bracket and beat Kyle Kellenbach 5-4 in OT before losing to Matt Sisbach 4-3. Matt then wrestled DC Everest's Scott Sigmund but came up short 5-0 to place 8th. At 125 Nikk Leggett Made it to the semi-finals with a big 7-0 win over Milton's Aaron Duoss 7-0 but had the tough task of taking on eventual champion Dane Droessler. Nikk lost that match 7-0 but then went on to beat Mauston's Tony Owens 13-9 and DC Everest's Tom Reamer 4-2 to place 3rd. At 130 Jake Coates won his first three matches before losing to Nate Gilling of DC Everest 4-3 in the quater-finals. Jake then lost his next match as well but came back with a win over Joe Suda 10-2 and a pin over Richland Center's Aaron Ewing in 2:02 to place ninth. At 135 Kevin Tritz won his first 3 matches before losing to Steve Sprechar 7-2. Kevin then went on to win his next match before losing to Justin Donar 1-0. Kevin then won his last match over the same Steve Sprechar by injury default to place fifth. At 140 Travis Hansen recieved a first round bye before losing to eventual champion Matt Goodness of Nekoosa 9-1. Travis then won his next match on the consolation side of the bracket before getting beat by Jay Schreir and did not place. At 145 Jake Akkerman recieved a first round bye and then won his next 3 matches before getting pinned by eventual champion Jake Donar in the semi-finals. Jake was then defeated by Milton's Tim Johnson 6-2 and Westby's Jay Kraabel on an injury default to place sixth. At 152 Tyler Mancl won his first 3 matches before losing to Milton's Dustin Fox in the quarer-finals 4-2. Tyler then beat DC Everest's Andy Altschwager 5-4 but lost to Zach Menne on a fall to place fourth. At 160 Brandon Christianson won his first match but lost his second to eventual runner-up brandon Bollig 7-1. Brandon then won his next 2 matches before being eliminated by Statfords Dustin Bauman 2-0. At 171 Chris Frieman made it all the way to the semi-finals before losing to Viroqua's Craig Bollig 6-2. Chris then beat Derrick Kaul 2-1 and Trent Vanderhoof 4-1 to place sixth. At 189 Dane Thompson won his first 2 matches before losing to Andrew Colburn. Dane then went on to win his next two matches before losing to John Berlin on a fall in 4:05. Dane then came back to beat Trav Ryan on a fall in 4:09 and Jesse Kauth 5-1 to place ninth. At 215 Kelly Anderson Made it all the way to the finals when he pinned previously unbeaten Harrison Hundt from Westby. In the finals Kelly was pinned by Stratford's Matt Bauman in 4:17 to place second. At 275 Mike Slattery recieved a first round bye and then went on to win his next 3 matches to reach the semi-finals. He then lost to eventual runner-up Dan Duncan 9-3. Mike then won his next match before beating Baraboo's Gilbet Chavez 4-2 in OT to place third. Nice job Rapids and congratulations on another Bi-State title.

Thurs. Jan 9 Away Merrill 7:30 The number one ranked Red Raiders traveled to Merrill tonight to take on the the fifth ranked Bluejays.  Once again, Rapids showed no mercy as they ran away with a 48-16 victory.   At 135 Kevin Tritz (WR) beat Ben Swan 7-3.  At 140 Clint Weiler  was more or less caught and pinned by Andy Nelson (M) in 1:59. At 145 Jake Akkerman (WR) only needed :48 to pin Jake Rose.  At 152 Adam Getgen (M) beat Brandon Christianson 9-2.   At 160 Tyler Mancl (WR) pinned Tanner Gerhman in 4:41. At 171 Chris Frieman (WR) avenged a 12-0 loss from last year's dual meet with a very impressive 8-2 win over Nick Hoeft.  At 189 Adam Lassa (M) defeated Dane Thompson 8-0. At 215 Chris Burger (M) scored on a last second escape to beat Kelly Anderson 5-4.  At 275 Mike Slattery (WR) only used up 1:08 to put away Ryan Burrows.  At 103 Josh Hansen (WR) got in a bit of trouble early but fought back to take a 10-7 win from Mike McConnell.  At 112 Andy Casper(WR) pinned Sean Dickman in 1:57. At 119 Matt Redepenning (WR) pinned Kyle Ames in 3:18.  At 125 Nikk Leggett (WR) pinned Ben Wallace in 1:15 and at 130 Jake Coates (WR) beat a tough freshman by the name of Dustin Perry 6-2.

Fri. & Sat. Jan 10-11 Away Cheesehead-Kaukauna   It looks like we're starting to find out just how good this year's Rapids Wrestling team is. The Cheesehead was loaded with the best teams the state had to off plus a talented team from Arizona and the Red Raiders came out on top in dominant fashion. Rapids is the first team from Wisconsin to ever win the Cheesehead, they beat the division 3 state champs, division 2 state champs and the division 1 state champs in the process and they set a new tournament record for most team points since the scoring format change a few years ago. Rapids amassed 397 points to take first. Luxemburg/Casco and Mineral Point tied for second with 369.5 points and Milton was a distant fourth with 327 points. At 103 Josh Hansen came into the tournament as the number 7 seed. He proceeded to knock off the number 2 and 3 seed before dropping a 9-3 decision to Brian Barbiaux of Luxemburg/Casco in the finals and placed 2nd. At 112 Andy Casper won his first 2 matches before losing to eventual champion Kory Sokol 6-3. Andy did make it to the seventh place match where he beat Kaukauna's Nat Coulliard 8-7. At 119 Matt Redepenning came in as the number 4 seed but had a rather tough tournament. In the placement round he beat Hartland Arrowhead's Brad Hucke 4-1 to place 11th. At 125 Nikk Leggett almost pulled off the upset of the tournament when he caught eventual champion and state champion Jordan Crass from Medford for a takedown and 3 point nearfall. Crass appeared to have used some creative tactics to break the hold a couple times and came back to pin Nikk. (Check out the photos and video). Nikk did Manage to wrestle back to ninth place when he beat Wausau West's Rick Santini 9-2. At 130 Jake Coates had a very impressive tounament as he made it all the way to the finals before losing to Mineral Points Nate Chamber on a fall in 5:41. At 135 Freshman Kevin Tritz also had a very impressive tounament as he won his bracket but lost to eventual runner-up Kyle Mueller from River Valley 12-8. Mueller was on his back as time expired. Kevin then came back to beat Seymour's John Skenandore 4-3 to place 3rd. At 140 Clint Weiler was winless until the placement matches when he beat Yuma's Steve Marinez 13-4 to place 15th. At 145 Jake Akkerman got a little, make that a lot of revenge as he pinned Milton's Tim Johnson (3:25) in the placement round to take 5th. In his pool Jake lost to national champion Craig Henning but then did what he had to place as high as he could. At 152 Tyler Mancl wrestled very too as he made it all the way to the finals where he had the tough task of wrestling and outstanding wrestler by the name of Cal Jensen from River Valley. Tyler lost on a TF to place 2nd. At 160 Ben Casper lost his first two matches but came back strong with 3 straight wins to place 9th. In his last match he won on a fall over Racine Park's Andy Knipp. At 171 Chris Freiman came out of a tough pool with 2 wins and 1 loss. He then was able to wrestle back to 7th place when he beat Ryan Smalley of Westby 3-1 in OT. At 189 Dane Thompson made it all the way to the semi-finals be before he lost his first match. That was a tough decision to Wausau West's Brent Nowack. In his match for third he lost again, this time to Milton's Nick Wendt 8-2 and place 4th. At 215 Kelly Anderson made it to the semi-finals before losing a tight 2-1 decision to eventual champion Joe Poehls. Kelly the proceeded to pin Stoughton's Shadrik Sharrington to place 3rd. At 275 Mr Pinner, Mke Slattery, also made it to the semis before getting pinned by Mineral Point's Brandon Wilson. Mike then came back to beat Luxemburg/Casco's Travis Wanish 6-5 to place 3rd. Congratulations to all the wrestlers and coaches. This was a great tournament. and a sweet win.

Sat. Jan. 18 Home Rapids Quad Noon. Glenbard North IL, Ellsworth, WI and Middleton, WI. It's days like today that will make the Red Raiders tougher as the season moves into tournament time. On the strength of six wins the Red Raiders were able to stay with Glenbard North but came up short 37-22. At 103 Josh Hansen (WR) beat Chris Weissberger 9-7 in OT, At 112 Jon Ranck (GN) beat Matt Redepenning 17-4. At 119 Nikk Leggett took an early but was later pinned by Jon Isacson (GN). At 125 Joe Gomez (GN) pinned Mith Holtz. At 130 Jake Coates (WR) pinned Mike McCabe in 4:59. At 135 Kevin Tritz (WR) beat Tony Dieppa 8-3. At 140 Jake Akkerman (WR) beat Mike Toma in a wild one 15-9. At 145 Tyler Williams (GN) pinned Travis Hansen. At 152 Matt Smith (GN) beat Tyler Mancl 10-4. At 160 Chris Noa (GN) beat Ben Casper 10-8. At 171 Ward Brady (GN) beat Chris Freiman 8-1. At 189 Kelly Anderson took an early lead and hung on for a 15-12 win over Erick Arauz. At 215 Travis Cherry pinned Dane Thompson in 4:29 and at 275 Mike Slattery beat John LaMantia 11-1. Also In the third round Ellsworth beat Middleton 44-21. In the first round Rapids knocked off Middleton 67-6 and Glenbard North beat previously undefeated Ellsworth 59-9. In the second round Rapids pummled Ellsworth 56-6 and Glenbard North beat Middleton 65-10. Next up for the Raiders is Marshfield. This dual meet between the top two teams in the Valley Conference should decide the conference dual meet title. Get there early is should be a dandy and will be very well attended by fans from both schools. Note the dual meet is on Tuesday.

Tues. Jan 21 Home Marshfield 7:30 p.m. Oh what a difference a year can make. Last year Marshfield pushed the Raiders pretty hard and almost pulled off an upset. This year however, the Red Raiders were way too strong. Raider wrestlers won most of the tough, close matches and only gave up three points when they lost. When the dust finally settled the number one ranked Red Raiders beat the number three ranked Tigers of Marshfield 38-15. At 103 for some reason Marshfield thought they could beat Josh Hansen and maybe pick up pin points by moving Dustin Follen down. Instead the tough 103 pound Raider beat Follen 7-3. At 112 Matt Redepenning (WR) received a forfeit. At 119 Nikk Leggett (WR) beat Scott Shaw with relative ease 12-2. At 125 Tim Habermeyer (M) beat Mitch Holtz 11-4. At 130 Jake Coates (WR) beat Joe Krasselt 14-5. At 135 Travis Tritz (WR) pretty much controlled Matt Bell and beat him 5-3. At 140 Ross Wingert (M) beat Adam Klonowski 2-1. At 145 Adam Carolfi (M) beat Tyler Mancl 8-4. At 152 Jared Krasselt (M) beat Brandon Christianson 3-1. At 160 Ben Casper pick up a big pin when he stuck Jordan Egger in 1:56. At 171 Chris Freiman (WR) needed OT but eventually put away Wade Stichert 7-5. At 189 Dane Thompson wrestled Marshfield's Dane Cordes tough but came up short 7-4. At 215 Kelly Anderson (WR) stopped Slade Heerma in 3:37. At 275 Mike Slattery (WR) and Chad Gerlach were tied at 1 with only 5 seconds left when Slattery got the winning takedown and beat Gerlach 3-1.

Thurs. Jan. 23 Away D.C. Everest 7:30 p.m. After facing nationally ranked Glenbard North this last Saturday, then number three ranked Marshfield two days ago, the somewhat banged up Red Raiders could have had a let down tonight as they faced the state's number nine ranked DC Everest in Schofield. In the end Rapids split the fourteen matches and won the dual 34-21. Once again the Red Raiders gave up no extra points while picking up extra points in five of their seven wins. At 103 Josh Hansen pinned Erick Gilling in 1:26. At 112 Andy Casper pinned Robbie Kahl in 3:10. At 119 Everest's Scott Sigmund beat Matt Redepenning 5-0. At 125 Tom Reamer (DCE) beat Nikk Leggett 9-8. At 130 Nate Gilling (DCE) beat Jake Coates 14-8. At 135 Red Raider Kevin Tritz beat Mike Hart 6-3. At 140 Ace Miller (DCE) beat Adam Klonowski 1-0. At 145 Travis Hansen (WR) beat Cliff Heiser 3-2. At 152 Andy Altschwager (DCE) beat Tyler Mancl 7-2. At 160 Kevin Chrapkowski (DCE) beat Ben Casper 7-6. At 171 Chris Freiman (WR) beat Steve Sigmund 23-10. At 189 Dane Thompson (WR) pinned Travis Benaszesky in 1:14. At 215 Seth Jozwiak (DCE) beat Kelly Anderson 10-4 and at 275 Mike Slattery pinned Lance Walters in 2:49. The Raiders get a well deserved one week break now as they prepare for Wausau West at home.

Thurs. Jan 30 Home Wausau West 7:30 p.m. You can add another top 10 team to list of Red Raider victims. Rapids crushed the Warriors of Wausau West tonight 37-16. At 103 Josh Hansen (WR) scored a 11-1 major decision over Kelly Marsh. At 112 West's Jeremy Lucky beat Andy Casper 6-2. At 119 Joshua Kyle (WW) beat Matt Redepenning 4-1. At 125 Nikk Leggett (WR) beat Rick Sandrini 4-1. At 130 Jake Coates (WR) beat Chris Ellenbecker 5-0. At 135 Kevin Tritz (WR) David Mosse 18-7. At 140 Mike Stieber (WW) beat Adam Klonowski 7-1. At 145 Luke Harris (WW) beat Travis Hansen 15-7. At 152 Tyler Mancl (WR) pinned Ryan Drengler in 2:53. At 160 Ben Casper (WR) thrilled the crowd when he pinned Jesse Hein in OT. At 171 Chris Freiman (WR) use several takedowns enroute to a 23-8 TF over Brandon Black. At 189 Brent Nowack (WW) beat Dane Thompson 6-1. At 215 Kelly Anderson (WR) beat Logan Borchardt 13-3 and at 275 Mike Slattery beat Jordan Hein 3-1.

Thurs. Feb. 6 Away Antigo 7:30 p.m. On February 4th, 1993 the Red Raiders lost a conference dual to Merrill. 10 years and 80 conference wins later the Raider winning streak is alive and well. Rapids trounced Antigo tonight 45-15. At 103 Josh Hansen pinned Phillip Baraniak in 3:35. At 112 Matt Redepenning received a forfeit. At 119 Nikk Leggett pinned Derek Muraski. At 125 Mitch Holtz beat Rick Parelick 7-0. At 130 Jake Coates received a forfeit. At 135 kevin Tritz beat Chase Koeppel 12-6. At 140 Nate Raab beat Adam Klonowski 6-1. At 145 Jeff Draeger pinned Travis Hansen in 1:36. At 152 Tyler Mancl beat Jess Stimac 3-2. At 160 Josh Mattek beat Ben Casper 7-3. At 171 Chris Freiman beat Josh Ison 7-3. At 189 Ryan Preglar beat Dane Thompson 3-2.. At 215 Kelly Anderson beat Kyle Lezner 10-5 and at 275 Mike Slattery pinned Corey Gelhausen in 3:44. This Saturday the Red Raiders will be competing in the toughest conference tournament in the state this year. Come on out the SPASH and help support our team,

Sat. Feb. 8 Away Conference @ Stevens Point 10:00 a.m. Year in and year out, the Wisconsin Valley Conference Tournament provides some of the best wrestling in the state. This year the Valley Conference is loaded with teams and individuals that made for a very exciting and well wrestled tournament. With 6 of the state's top 10 teams all in the Valley Conference you knew going in that it would be a dog fight all the way to the end. After the first round the Raiders only had a 7 1/2 point lead over Wausau West but had 10 wrestlers alive in the championship side of the bracket. Then things got a little rough for Rapids as they started dropping one close decision after another in the quarterfinal matches and gave teams like West and Marshfield a slight opening. After the second round The Red Raiders were haning on to a 10 1/2 point lead over Marshfield with West also knocking at the door. In the wrestle backs, third and fifth place matches things really started clicking for the Raiders as they put up one big win after another with several matches scoring extra team points. When the dust finally settled the Raiders stood on top of the heap with 192 points. Wausau West was second with 160.5 and Marshfield was third with 155 points. DC Everest took fourth with 143, Stevens Point fifth with 141.5, Antigo sixth with 128.5, Merrill seventh with 123, Rhinelander eighth with 26.5 and Wasuau East brought up the rear with 13. At 103 Josh Hansen place first by beating Dustin Follen from Marshfield 9-7 in OT. At 112 Matt Redepenning placed third by beating Marshfield's Mark Habermeyer 13-4. At 119 Nikk Leggett also place third. He pinned West's Josh Kyle for the victory. At 125 Mitch Holz beat Antigo's Rick Parilek 12-1 to place fifth. At 130 Jake Coates pinned Rhinelander's Brett Foley to place third. At 135 KevinTritz beat Merrill's Ben Swan 7-5 to place first. At 140 Clint Weiler pinned Marshfield's Joel Krasselt to place fifth. At 145 Tyler Mancl dropped a close 3-2 decision to Stevens Point's Jon Slezak 3-2 to place fourth. At 152 Brandon Christianson needed OT but pulled out a nice 5-3 decision over DC Everest's Kevin Chrapkowski to place fifth. At 160 Ben Casper was defeated by Antigo's Josh Mattek 9-6 and placed sixth. At 171 Chris Freiman picked up a technical fall over West's Brandon Black to place third. At 189 Dane Thompson made it all the way to the finals but was upended by West's Brent Nowak 2-0 and place second. At 215 Kelly Anderson pinned Rhinelander's Brandon Brigham to place third and at 275 Mike Slattery pick up the third conference championship by hammering Merrill's Adam Lassa 8-1.

Sat. Feb 15 Away Regionals @ Stevens Point. It's on to Hortonville for the Red Raiders. Rapids dominated at the Stevens Point Regional today. They advanced 12 wrestlers to sectionals with 6 advancing as champions. The Red Raiders amassed 248.5 points. Stevens Point racked up 183 points to place second while New London totaled 181 points to place third. At 103 Josh Hansen cruised to first place with a 7-2 decision over Justin Teppo from Waupaca. At 112 Matt Redepenning won his first match but was defeated by Appleton North's David Quinlan in the second round. In the wrestlebacks Matt won his first and then lost to New London's Mike Murphy to place third. At 119 Nikk Leggett beat Appleton West's Tim Schuldes 6-3 to place first. Andy Casper moved all the way up to 125 and was able to pick up some team points for the Raiders but had to settle for fifth when he pinned Jason Grutzik from Appleton West. At 130 Jake Coates handed Waupaca's Jerry Wanty only his third loss of the season with a 5-3 decision in the finals to place first. At 135 Kevin Tritz came close to beating Appleton North's Josh Suhonen but ran out of time and was defeated 4-2. Kevin had to wrestleback for second place and was victorious by way of a 11-4 decision over Point's Kyle Peterson. At 140 Jake Akkerman lost to Stevens Point's Steve Bachinski on an injury default. Jake could not compete in his wrestleback and had to settle for third. At 145 Tyler Macl lost to eventual champion Nate Cate from New London but dumped Stevens Point's Jon Slezak 13-8 in OT to place second. At 152 Brandon Christianson lost his first match, won his second match and then lost his match for fifth on a 6-4 decision to Point's Mitch Oksuito. At 160 Ben Casper had a great day. Ben came in as the sixth seed and then proceeded to knock off the third seed. He followed that up by pinning top seeded Trevor Otto from New London and then beat Waupaca's James Teppo to place first. At 171 Chris Freiman won his first match before forfeiting to Stevens Point's Grey Pope. In the wrestlebacks Chris won his first match but was then upended by New Lodon's Cody Imell 10-7 to place third. At 189 Dane Thompson pinned his first two opponents before being defeated by Hortonville's Jarod Hart 9-4 and place second. At 215 Kelly Anderson Steamrolled his way through the competition and ended up first by beating New London's Nathan Krueger 11-4. At 275 Mike Slattery had a couple first period pins and then defeated New London's Andy Sexton 3-2 to place first. As soon as I find out who the Red Raiders face this coming Tuesday I will let you know.

Tues. Feb. 18 Away Team Sectionals @ Hortonville 7:00PM It's on to Team State for the Red Raiders as they throttled Bayport 50-15.  The Pirates picked up a pin and three wins by decision while Rapids picked up four pins,  a couple major decisions,  a forfeit and one win by injury default to hand Bayport their worst defeat in a long time.  At 103 Josh Hansen pinned Tim Volak in 3:34.  At 112 Matt Redepenning  received a forfeit.  At 119 Alex Lardiniosus beat Andy Casper 5-4.  At 125 the much anticipated match between Nikk Leggett and 33-2 Adam Farr was going in Nikk's favor when Farr appeared to injure a wrist and couldn't continue.  At 130 Jake Coates beat Ben Hamersky 5-1.  At 135 Kevin Tritz pinned Ryan Woods in 2:59.  At 140 Adam Klonowski beat Joe Lewis 11-2.  At 145 Tyler Mancl beat Adam Crozier 8-5.  At 152 Adam Rudolph beat Brandon Christianson 3-1.  At 160 Nick Johnson beat Ben Casper 11-5.  At 171 Chris Freiman beat David Pick 17-8. At 189 Landon Gonnering pinned Dane Thompson in 1:32.  At 215 Kelly Anderson pinned Troy Dequaine in 3:32 and at 275 Mike Slattery pinned Andy Pamperin in 2:15.  Milton edged Stoughton in their team sectional and will meet Rapids in the first round at Team State in West Allis.  

Sat. Feb. 22 Away Individual Sectionals @ Shawano WIAA DIVISION 1 SHAWANO SECTIONAL

State qualifiers per team

Wisconsin Rapids 7, Pulaski 4, Stevens Point 3, Bay Port 2, Appleton North 2, Green Bay Preble/East 2, Hortonville 2, Waupaca 2, Green Bay West/Southwest 1, Ashwaubenon 1, Appleton West 1, Antigo 1.

State qualifiers (champion listed first at each weight)
103 - Justin Teppo, WAU, fr., 28-4; Josh Hansen, WR, soph., 38-4.
112 - David Quinlan, APN, sr., 33-1; Matt Schuldes, APW, sr., 23-7.
119 - Nikk Leggett, WR, jr., 36-7; Chase DeCleene, ASH, jr., 41-4
125 - Jacob Calhoun, SP, sr., 32-3; Ben Hamersky, BP, sr., 24-6.
130 - Jacob Coates, WR, sr., 37-5; Jerry Wanty, WAU, sr., 28-4.
135 - Kevin Tritz, WR, fr., 40-5; Josh Suhonen, APN, sr., 34-2
140 - Dave VandenAvond, GBPE, sr., 35-2; Andy Thomas, PUL, jr., 28-10.
145 - Jeff Draeger, ANT, sr., 27-3; Jon Slezak, SP, jr., 27-10.
152 - Tyler Jentz, HORT, sr., 33-0; Pete Gretzinger, PUL, sr., 30-9
160 - Brent Dempsey, GBPE, sr., 29-3; Eric Bath, jr., 27-11.
171 - Grey Pope, SP, sr., 34-2; Chris Freiman, WR, sr., 32-13
189 - Jarod Hart, HORT, jr., 26-5; Landon Gonnering, BP, jr., 32-9.
215 - Kelly Anderson, WR, sr., 34-8; Brad Vanderveren, PUL, jr., 32-8
275 - Mike Slattery, WR, sr., 38-3; Mark VandenHoogen, GBWSW, sr., 39-3.

Championship matches
103 - Justin Teppo, WAU, beat Josh Hansen, WR, 8-6;
112 - David Quinlan, APN, beat Matt Schuldes, APW, 6-0 (wrestleback: Schuldes beat Matt Redepenning, WR, 9-5);
119 - Nikk Leggett, WR, pinned Adam Farr, BP, 1:08 (wrestleback: Chase DeCleene, ASH, beat Farr injury default);
125 - Jacob Calhoun, SP, beat Ben Hamersky, BP, 7-0;
130 - Jacob Coates, WR, beat Jerry Wanty, WAU, 5-2;
135 - Kevin Tritz, WR, beat Josh Suhonen, APN, 5-4 (wrestleback: Suhonen beat Paul Gretzinger, PUL, 11-4);
140 - Dave VandenAvond, GBPE, beat Andy Thomas, PUL, 7-0;
145 - Jeff Draeger, ANT, beat Jon Slezak, SP, 8-7;
152 - Tyler Jentz, HORT, beat Jess Stimac, ANT, 7-6 (wrestleback: Pete Gretzinger, PUL, beat Stimac 3-2);
160 - Brent Dempsey, GBPE, beat Eric Bath, PUL, 3-1;
171 - Grey Pope, SP, beat Josh Ison, ANT, inj. def. (wrestleback: Chris Freiman, WR, beat Ison injury default);
189 - Jarod Hart, HORT, beat Landon Gonnering, BP, 5-3 OT;
215 - Kelly Anderson, WR, beat Troy Dequaine, BP, 8-4 (wrestleback: Brad Vanderveren, PUL, beat Dequaine 9-;
275 - Mike Slattery, WR, beat Mark VandenHoogen, GBWSW, 2-1 2OT (wrestleback: VanderHoogen pinned Cory Gelhausen, ANT, :5

Thurs. Fri. & Sat. Feb. 27, 28, and March 1 Individual State @ Kohl Center in Madison. TBA Seven Red Raider wrestlers qualified for the Individual State Tournament.  Of those 7, 2 have advanced to the semifinals with the other 5 alive and still competing in the wrestleback towards 5th.   At 103 Josh Hansen pinned Nick Jensen from Manitowoc in 2:47 and then scored a decisive decision over Marshfield's Dustin Follen 13-3.  At 119 Nikk Leggett beat Whitnall's Andy Spence 5-0 before losing to Sparta's Kody Seekamp 5-2.  At 130 Jake Coates beat Stoughton's Robert Miller 5-3 and then went on to beat Holmen's Jordan Granum 6-3.  At 135 Kevin Tritz beat Mukwanago's Dustin Andrews 4-1 but then lost on a criteria OT decision to Chippewa Falls' undefeated Tony Mosel 4-3.  At 171 Chris Freiman was defeated in the first round by Middleton's Mike Jackowski 10-0.   Jackowski did win his next match to put Chris into the wrestleback rounds.  At 215 Kelly Anderson pinned Fort Atkinson's Drew Bingner but lost to his old Valley Conference nemesis, Seth Jozwiak 7-1.  At 275 Mike Slattery beat Valley Conference rival Adam Lassa from Merrill 5-4 but was then pinned by Homero Marquez.  Consolation matches start Friday Afternoon at about 12:30.  I should have each round updated at their conclusion. The first round of wrestlebacks is in the books and the Red Raiders did very well.  Nikk Leggett beat Mukwanago's Brett Coffelt 8-1.  Kevin Tritz beat Whitnall's Jason West 4-3.  Chris Freiman beat Kaukauna's Paul Petrie 2-1. Kelly Anderson Pinned Racine Horlick's Eric Roszian and Mike Slattery pinned Steve Butcher from Sun Prairie.  More to come..... Josh Hansen and Jake Coates capped off a great day for the Red Raiders by both advancing to the finals tomorrow night. Josh Hansen beat Hartford's Craig Becker 14-4 and Jake Coates beat Racine Park's Josh O'Neil 4-1. All 7 Red Raider state qualifiers will be wrestling tomorrow.

Day three of the Individual State Tournament saw some ups and downs for the Red Raiders, but when it was all said and done they wrestled a great tournament. In fact, for those of you that like to keep score the Red Raiders won the tournament with 77 unofficial points followed by DC Everest with 73. In other words, the Wisconsin Valley Conference had a great showing in Madison. At 103 Josh Hansen is a State Champion. Josh beat Justin Teppo from Waupaca to claim his title. At 119 Nikk Leggett came close, but lost to Marshfield's Scott Shaw 3-1 and did not place. At 130 Jake Coates gave Nate Gilling from DC Everest a battle but came out on the short end of a 3-0 decision and place second. At 135 Kevin Tritz beat Plymouth's Ben Chapman 5-3 in OT but then lost to Hartford's Ryan Abbott and placed sixth. At 171 Chris Freiman lost to Arrowhead's Max Askren 7-2 and did not place. At 215 Kelly Anderson beat Oregon's Brody Wachter 4-0. Kelly then lost to Wally O"Connor from Oshkosh West to place sixth. At 275 Mike Slattery beat Tony Ranieri from Waukesha West 5-1 and then went on to beat Mark VandenHoogen from Green Bay West/SW to place fifth. Congratulations to all the Raider wrestlers and good luck next weekend.

Fri. & Sat. Mar. 7-8 Team State @ West Allis Central High School 5:00 p.m./10:00 a.m./7:00 p.m. The Red Raiders went to West Allis with one main goal in mind, and that was getting back that State Team title that they lost last year. My guess is that a sound beating of Milton had to also be somewhere in the back of their minds though and in that regard they followed through. The Red Raiders picked up 10 victories on their way to pounding Milton 37-17. This year Rapids had everything going their way including the draw weight and coin toss. Wrestling started at 135 and Rapids won the toss which meant Milton had to send their wrestler out first. They sent out Josh Wagner, their powerful former state champion, and Rapids countered with Adam Klownowski. Wagner did what he needed to do and pinned Adam in 2:40. At 140 Kevin Tritz got the Raiders going with a 7-3 win over Mike Bright. At 145 Tyler Mancl tied the match at 6 with a 4-0 decision over Tim Johnson. At 152 Milton's Dustin fox beat Brandon Christianson 12-4. At 160 Chris Freiman beat Brandon Getchel 6-3. At 171 Matt Bright gave Milton a 5 point lead with a 9-0 major decision over Ben Casper. At 189 the Red Raiders went on a run that put Milton away for good Dane Thompson got in a little payback by beating Nick Wendt 4-2. Then Kelly Anderson beat beat fourth place state winner 5-2. At 275 Mike Slattery beat Bob McNutt 9-1. At 103 Josh Hansen beat Robert Zirkel 6-3. At 112 Andy Casper beat Andy Schultz 9-3 and Nikk Leggett pinned Tyler Herdendorf in 3:23. At 125 Milton's Jake Wagner was able to win a close 3-2 decision over Jake Coates and Mitch Holtz capped off the opening round win for the Raiders with a 7-4 victory over Clayton wilson. Also in the first round Marshfield beat Port Washington 42-16. Sparta beat Oak Creek 45-12 and Kaukauna beat Milwaukee Custer 34-24.

The semi-finals of the State Team Tournament forced a rematch of an earlier Vally Conference dual meet between The Red Raiders and the Tigers of Marshfield. The score was a little different, but the outcome the same as Rapids beat Marshfield 32-19 in what many thought should have been the state final. Wrestling for this meet started at 152 with Marshfield's state qualifier Jared Krasselt picking up a narrow 4-3 decision over Brandon Christianson. At 160 Wade Stichert kept things going for the Tigers with a 9-7 win over Ben Casper. At 171 Chris Freiman put the Raiders on the board with a 26-11 technical fall over Jordan Eggar. At 189 Dane Thompson beat Slade Heersma 13-4. At 215 Marshfield's second place state winner, Dane Cordes, beat Kelly Anderson 10-1. At 275 Mike Slattery put the Raiders out in front for good with a gutsy 8-4 decision over Chad Gerlach. At 103 Josh Hansen beat Mark Habermeyer beat 10-0. At 112 Matt Redepenning jumped out to a 5-0 lead over fifth place state winner Dustin Follen and the pinned him in 4:56. At 119 Nikk Leggett upended Marshfield's sixth place state winner, Scott Shaw with a 3-2 decision. At 125 Marshfield's Tim Habermeyer beat Mitch Holtz 7-0. At 130 Jake Coates beat Justin Ecke 11-3. At 135 Kevin Tritz beat fourth place state winner Matt Bell 9-6. Marshfield then went on the win the last two matches as Ross Wingert beat Jake Akkerman 5-4 and Adam Carolfi beat Tyler Mancl 7-2 Also in the second round once beaten Kaukauna beat Sparta 34-24 to set up tonight's final.

It's official. The Red Raiders are back on top of the Wisconsin wrestling world as State Champions. Rapids won 10 of 14 matches tonight and cruised to their thirteenth State Championship. Kaukauna put up a good fight but the Red Raiders were just too strong as they beat the Galloping Ghosts 40-18. At 152 Ben Casper gave Kaukauna's Chad Schuh a tough battle but came up short 8-6. At 160 Brandon Christianson was pinned by Micah Coulliard in 3:23. This turned out to the last of the scoring that Kaukauna would do for awhile as the Red Raiders stormed through the next seven matches to build a comfortable lead. In the process Chris Freiman beat Paul Petrie 3-2. At 189 Dane Thompson bested Jessy Galloway 7-3. At 215 Kelly Anderson used up 1:44 to pin Adam Bellin. At 275 Mike Slattery needed a bit more time but was able to pin Paul Wochinski in 5:11. At 103 Josh Hansen beat Nate VanSchyndel 11-5. At 112 Matt Redepenning beat Nate Coulliard 11-5. At 119 Nikk Leggett beat Tyler VanSchyndel 13-0. At 125 Jeremy VanSchyndel pinned Mitch Holtz in 4:49 and Jeremiah Reffke beat Jake Coates 4-3. At 135 Kevin Tritz sealed the victory for Rapids with a 8-5 decision over Andy Rochon. At 140 Clint Weiler won by decision over Donovan Nickel and at 145 Tyler Mancl pinned Eric Schmitt in 1:40. Congratulations to everybody involved in this great program.