Last Updated: Friday, January 25, 2008 10:18 AM CST
Rhinelander wrestlers pick up Valley victory
by Daily News Sports
Walker scores big pin in Hodags' 48-27 win
The Rhinelander wrestling team finally had a breakthrough and scored their first Wisconsin Valley Conference victory of the season, 48-27 at Antigo Thursday night.
The Hodags matched up fairly well with the Red Robins and Hodags head coach Jim Kreitlow knew that coming into the meet.
“We're closely matched,” Kreitlow said. “Their program is similar to where our program is right now.
“There were some matches that could have gone either way and we got falls in places that I didn't think we were gonna get, but they came through.”
Both Jacob Randall (103) and Brenton Dotter (130) won by forfeit to give the Hodags points on the board.
Both teams took a double forfeit at 125 and the Hodags were again forced to forfeit matches in both 140- and 171-pound weight classes.
At 119, Jenny Walker -- who was bumped up because of a season-ending injury to Mike Cinfio -- shook off her scoring slump with a pin to help pad Rhinelander's lead.
“That was a great match for her,” said Kreitlow. “She was down 11-1 and came back and scored the pin for us.”
Kreitlow pointed out that Walker has improved by just never giving up.
“She still has to get physically stronger, [but] she just keeps working harder and she has the attitude that she won't quit and it paid off for her,” said Kreitlow.
Dylan Spiegelhoff won by a technical fall in his match at 135.
Kreitlow talked about how Spiegelhoff -- a JV wrestler -- stepped up nicely to fill the vacant spots in the varsity lineup.
“He came through and got a fall for us,” Kreitlow said. “He wrestled to his abilities and got the pin and that was big for us.”
Nick Danielczak lost by 5-2 decision at 145 and Will Fath also lost by a fall at 152.
The upper weight classes came through again for the Hodags with Sam Schneider (160) winning with a first-period pin. Randy Platek also scored a victory with a pin over Tyler Adams at 189.
“I was expecting Platek to have a great match, but Schneider wrestled a fairly decent kid, so it was nice to see him come through,” said Kreitlow.
At 215, Jon Palutke won in his match with Alex Lundgren as he got a pin in the second period and Jake Mahoney quickly pinned Mike Brown in the first period for another win at 285.
Kreitlow was happy with the overall performance of his wrestlers and especially with getting a win in the Valley conference in what was the team's best opportunity to do so.
“I'm glad the kids were fired up to perform, but I gotta really hang my hat on Walker getting the fall and coming from behind,” Kreitlow said.
With the win, Rhinelander moves to 1-6 in the Valley and will host Stevens Point next Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
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