By Bob Skubal
Retired coach, historian, author of ‘History of Tomahawk Sports’
TOMAHAWK – Well, Mother Nature had her way with the athletic schedules this year. Some snow but mainly freezing rain caused several contests to be rescheduled or cancelled all together.
Before we take a look back at the winter co-curricular events, I would like to congratulate Meghan Scholz for being named to the 2nd Team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and wish her well as she continues her volleyball career at DePaul University.
I would also like to congratulate Kate Reilly on becoming a member of the UW-Madison’s rowing team. She is the second THS grad to make the UW-Madison rowing team. The first was William Russell, a 2018 THS grad.
And last but not least, congratulations to Rachael Reilly being awarded the individual Academic All-State Award for the 2022 cross-country season. She earned the award by participating in the WIAA State Cross Country Meet and maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above. This is the third time she has earned this accolade.
Boys’ swimming
Let’s start our winter summary by looking back at boys’ swimming, coached by Theresa L’Esperance and assisted by Lauren Hansmann.
Team members were Jack Amelse, Zach Germano, Zach Hanse, Trey Morrison, Bruce Peetz and Sam Zastrow.
Tomahawk would finish second in both the conference duals and conference tournament behind Rhinelander. This was their best conference finish since the 2019-20 season, when they were also second.
Season dual meet results were 85-51 and 85-57 (Tomahawk placed first in all but one event) victories over Medford, 61-41 and 63-32 over Lakeland, 62-39 and 76-53 over Shawano and 71-43, 85-48 and 75-64 over Antigo, while losing to Rhinelander 108-40 and 117-31.
Final conference dual met standings were Rhinelander 5-0, Tomahawk 4-1, Antigo 3-2, Medford 2-3, Shawano 1-4 and Lakeland 0-5.
At the GNC Meet in Antigo, Rhinelander was first with 422, with Tomahawk scoring 177, Antigo 147, Medford 135, Shawano 134 and Lakeland 111. All-Conference honors went to Zach Hanse-1st Team (100m breaststroke in 1:08.96 for a NSR). The 200m freestyle relay team of Sam Zastrow, Jack Amelse, Bruce Peetz and Zach Hanse was 2nd Team. All-Conference honorable mention went to the 400m freestyle relay team of Sam Zastrow, Trey Morrison, Jack Amelse and Zach Germano; the 200m medley relay team of Trey Morrison, Zach Germano, Zach Hanse and Jack Amelse; and Zach Hanse in the 100m freestyle.
Sectionals at Ashwabenon saw Tomahawk place fifth of 11 teams with 182 pts. Rhinelander was first with 419 pts. Sectional competition would see Zach Hanse qualify for State in two events. He was first in the 100 yd. breaststroke with a time of 1:00.48 for a NSR and second in the 200 yd. IM. The 200 yd. medley relay team of Trey Morrison, Zach Hanse, Zach Germano and Sam Zastrow placed third and just missed out of qualifying for State.
Team results for State saw Tomahawk place 20th of 32 teams with 23 team points. Rhinelander would win the Division 2 State title with 256 points.
With his third trip to State, Zach Hanse ended his career at State by placing 7th in the 200 yd. IM and 8th in the 100 yd. breaststroke.
Wrestling
Next is wrestling, which was coached by Bob Garrou and assisted by John Repinski, Ted Towle, Dane Borchardt and Matt Turkiewicz.
Team members were Zach Larson, Braden Ristau, Walter Horabik, Presley Gutbrod, Jack Derleth, Keegan Schoone, Addison Peissig, Nick Arndt, Ryan Larson, Mason Towle, Andrew Tollefson, Hudson Mattke, Kaiden Kapellisch, Mason Evans, Ethan Trayes, Blake Younker and Nathan Norman.
Tomahawk had a 13-9 dual meet record and placed third in both conference duals and the conference tournament.
2022-23 dual meet victories were 60-18 over Adams-Friendship, 48-30 over Amherst, 54-30 over Edgar, 53-30 over Mosinee, 48-24 over Chequamegon, 78-6 over Flambeau, 43-42 and 37-36 over Antigo (both contests ended in a tie and Tomahawk won based on having fewer forfeits), 66-12 over Durand-Arkansaw, 45-36 over Minneapolis North, 77-0 over McDonnell Central Catholic and 54-24 and 48-30 over Rhinelander. Dual meet losses were 63-18 and 60-16 to Medford, 44-36 and 42-30 to Lakeland, 51-21 to St. Croix Central, 71-12 to Glenwood City, 54-30 to Tomah, 36-33 to Mosinee and 37-33 to Osceola.
In tournaments, THS was ninth of 18 teams at the Wabeno Invite, 13th of 25 teams at the Merrill Invite and fourth of nine teams at the Markesan Nine-Team Invite. Season quick pins (under a minute) went to Jack Derleth in 35 sec., Addison Peissig in 31 sec. and 54 sec., Ryan Larson in 44 sec., 49 sec. and 52 sec., Hudson Mattke in 27 sec. and 43 sec., Presley Gutbrod in 30 sec., 40 sec., 43 sec., and 57 sec., Andrew Tollefson in 28 sec. and 43 sec. and Mason Evans in 23 sec. and 40 sec. Evans ended his wrestling career with an 82-19 record and a .812 winning percentage, putting him in the 700 Club.
Conference dual meet standings were Medford 5-0, Lakeland 4-1, Tomahawk 3-2, Mosinee 2-3, Antigo 1-4 and Rhinelander 0-5.
Conference tournament standings were Medford 486, Lakeland 344, Tomahawk 258, Mosinee 219, Antigo 213 and Rhinelander 208.
At Super Regionals, Tomahawk placed ninth of 13 teams. Presley Gutbrod placed third, while Jack Derleth and Blake Younker placed fourth and qualified for Sectionals.
At Sectionals, Tomahawk placed 14 of 24 teams with 13 pts. Amery placed first with 92 pts. The three qualifiers wrestled well, Presley Gutbrod qualified for State with a second-place finish. He was Tomahawk’s 82nd state qualifier in wrestling.
At state, Gutbrod wrestled hard, but lost a 9-7 first round match.
Boys’ basketball
Our third male sport is boys’ basketball, coached by Jacob Jarvensivu and assisted by Jeremy Zimmerman, Levi Spaeth, Jared Jarvensivu and Jack Jarvensivu.
Team members were Ethan Breitenfeld, Tyler Jablonski, Gavyn Palmer, Jacob Towle, Joey Reiter, Jaxson Werner, Ethan Ihn, Kyle Norman, Drew Albert, Easton Sleaper, Brody Rigney, Tyler Sundquist, Reiley Massa and Malachi Scheffler.
The basketball team produced a 5-20 record. All five victories were over non-conference opponents of Marion 41-22, Montello 72-37, White Lake 72-42 (with Palmer scoring 21), Elcho 58-49 and Crandon 70-52.
Losses were to Three Lakes 58-42, Eagle River 58-30 and 81-24, Prentice 88-48, Mosinee 76-24 and 77-26, Medford 88-33 and 93-30, Fall River 66-45, Antigo 65-48 (with Palmer scoring 21) and 51-41, Rhinelander 65-34 and 52-42, Tigerton 55-53 in overtime (with Jablonski scoring 21), Rib Lake 59-50, Lakeland 77-39 and 71-30, Bonduel 79-46, Phillips 77-54 and to Winneconne in the playoffs 77-53.
All-Conference Honorable Mention honors went to Gavyn Palmer.
Final conference standings were Medford 12-0, Eagle River 10-2, Mosinee 7-4, Rhinelander 6-6, Lakeland 4-7, Antigo 2-10 and Tomahawk 0-12.
Hockey
Our final boys’ sport was hockey, coached by Chris Bembinster and assisted by Andy Flynn, Derek Dotter, Kole Woodall and Ryan Flynn.
Team members were Trevor Seliskar, Caleb Dickens, Zach Friske, Austin Lamer, Rex Reilly, Trevor Schumann, Jonah Dickens, Mitch Jimenez, Carson Childers, Caiden Reichelt, Scout Stromberg, Logan Seymour, Landyn Seymour, Sawyer Hanna, Patrick Samundsen, Beau Stromberg, Alex Clifford, Rec Peritz, Michael Samundsen, Ty Anthes and Andrew Samundsen.
Tomahawk would end the season with an 18-6 record for the most wins in school history. Victories were over Shawano 9-1 and 7-3, St. Point Pacelli 6-2 (Tomahawk had 69 shots on net) and 5-3, Medford 12-2 (Friske and Seymour had hat tricks), Merrill/East 11-1 (Dickens had the hat trick), DePere 3-2, Eagle River 7-1 (Dickens had the hat trick), 8-4 and 6-3, Lakeland 4-3, Antigo 7- 1 (Dickens had the hat trick), Oshkosh 7-4 (Dickens had the hat trick), Waupaca 7-4 and 4-2, Barron 13-1 (Friske and Reilly had hat tricks) West Salem 7-1 (Dickens had the hat trick) and the Blizzard 12-1.
Losses were to Rhinelander 8-4, Marshfield 5-3, Mosinee 8-2, Ashland 4-1, Antigo 5-2 in the conference quarterfinals and 4-3 to Eagle River in the playoffs.
Overall conference Season Standings were Mosinee 39, Lakeland 36, Rhinelander 30, Tomahawk 24, Antigo 19, Eagle River 13, Waupaca 6 and Medford 3.
Second Team All-Conference honors went to Zach Friske, while Logan Seymour and Austin Lamer were both honorable mention.
A well-deserved award also went to Chris Bembinster for Coach of the Year.
Austin Lamer and Zach Friske were voted All-State honorable mention.
Girls’ basketball
Our final winter sport is girls’ basketball, coached by Jon Long and assisted by Jeremy Baalke, Tim Albert and Matt Theiler.
Team members were Khianna Vacho, Claire Albert, Bryn Baalke, Caylie Swan, Kaylynn Sandry, Sienna Calkins, Lydia Ziert, Freya Alberg and Gracie Long.
Conference standings were Lakeland 12-0, Mosinee 10-2, Antigo 7-5, Rhinelander 7-5, Medford 4-8, Eagle River 2-10 and Tomahawk 0-12.
Tomahawk ended with a 7-18 overall record, the most victories since the 2004-05 season. Victories were over Elcho 45-28 (Albert scored six 3’s and 20 total points), Chequamegon 55-43 (Albert had 12 blocked shots for a new school record), Marion 41-22 (Vacho scored 29 points and Albert scored 21), Northland Lutheran 64-51, Tri-County 58-24, Rib Lake 29-25 and Bowler 55-50 (Albert scored 25 points).
Losses were to Butternut 43-30 (Vacho scored 20 points), Rhinelander 68-41 and 60-16, Eagle River 39-31, 51-30 and Florence 66-36, Mosinee 65-20 and 54-25, Prentice 43-32, Medford 57-16 and 55-37, Almond-Bancroft 42-22, Antigo 69-29 (Albert scored 21 points) and 64-31, Abbotsford 53-26, and Lakeland 77-27 and 84-31.
For the first time in four years, Tomahawk had All-Conference athletes, when Claire Albert and Freya Alberg were voted All-Conference honorable mention.
Alumni who have passed
I would also like to pay our respects to the following THS alumni who passed away this winter: Mike Gillette, Class of ‘55; Brian Copiskey, Class of ‘76; Jeff Strassman, Class of ‘79; Brian Ahrens, Class of ‘82; Allison Flynn, Class of ‘03; and Krista Hinsa, Class of 2009. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.