By Mark Massoglia Stevens Point — Paced by two-time conference champion Devin Peterson and
seven other champs, the Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln wrestling team captured the
Wisconsin Valley Conference tournament at the SPASH Fieldhouse. Top-ranked Rapids scored 270.5 points and the eight individual champions
tied a school record. The team title was the Raiders 34th WVC title and the
15th in the last 16 years. Wausau West finished second with 210.5 points and Marshfield had 182 points. Peterson won all three of his matches by pin, including a fall in 2 minutes, 22 seconds over Mat Rieckhoff of D.C. Everest in the finals. “It feels pretty good to win the Valley title because it’s the toughest conference in the state,” Peterson said. “We came here to get as many champions as we could and win the team title.” Rapids advanced 11 wrestlers to the finals with Keegan Einerson (119), Ben
Westover (125), Kasey Einerson (130), Jake Raflik (135), Rylan Lubeck (140),
Zak Benitz (145) and Vaughn Grube (215) winning titles. “All-in-all it was a good day for us,” Rapids coach Scott Benitz said. “We
wanted to get all 14 in the finals and we got 11. The eight that won wrestled really well.” Kasey Einerson was leading Torin Boernke of Marshfield, 7-3, when he pinned
Boernke, last year’s 112-pound state champion, in 5:40. “I knew I had to go out and be focused facing a wrestler who won state last
year,” Einerson said. “I knew what I had to do to stay in the match and when
the opportunity was there (to go for the pin) I knew I could get it.” Marshfield crowned three champions with Brad Dolezal winning his second WVC
title Dolezal posted an 11-0 major decision over Wausau West’s Seth Trulen to win
the 152-pound title. “It feels good to win the Valley, especially with the number of tough guys
in this conference,” Dolezal said. “We’ve been working hard in practice on the
little things and it’s starting to show in our matches now.” SPASH’s Alex Wachowiak placed second at 285-pounds, losing by a pin to West’s
Evan Knutson in the finals. In the semifinals Wachowiak avenged a loss to Rapids Curt Fuller earlier this year by winning, 2-1, in double overtime. Trenton Larson (160) and Jordan Koranda (189) were the Marshfield’s other
champions. Larson beat West’s James Matczynski 16-7 to win his first league title. “One of my goals since the beginning of the season was to win the conference
tournament,” Larson said. “I watched him (Matczynski) earlier in the day, so I knew what I had to do. It feels good to win a Valley championship.” 
Summary Team scores: 1. Wisconsin Rapids 270.5; 2. Wausau West 210.5; 3. Marshfield
182; 4. D.C. Everest 107.5; 5. Wausau East 106.5; 6. SPASH 86; 7.
Rhinelander 82. Championship matches: 103: Joe Umlauf (WW) def. Jason Munoz (WR), 7-4. 112: Nate Hettinga (WW) def. Jake Jaborek (WR), 6-5. 119: Keegan Einerson (WR) def.
Rickie Pody (WW), 6-2. 125: Ben Westover (WR) def. Daniel Barton (M) 11-6.
130: Kasey Einerson (WR) p. Torin Boernke (M), 5:40. 135: Jake Raflik (WR)
def. Connor Whitehead (WE), 21-8. 140: Rylan Lubeck (WR) tf. Logan Keding
(DCE), 19-4. 145: Zak Benitz (WR) def. Conner Monk (WW), 4-1. 152: Brad
Dolezal (M) def. Seth Trulen (WW), 11-0. 160: Trenton Larson (M) def. James
Matczynski (WW), 16-7. 171: Devin Peterson (WR) p. Mat Rieckhoff (DCE),
2:22. 189: Jordan Koranda (M) def. Dusty Foth (WR), 8-3. 215: Vaughn Grube
(WR) def. Travis Teske (WW) 7-3. 285: Evan Knutson (WW) p. Alex Wachowiak
(SP), 1:34. Go Back to the Home Page Read More Articles by Joe../../../Archive.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1