SPARTAN RDP: Regner, Kirchoff advance to wrestling sectionals

Superior High School’s Nick Kirchoff and Ben Regner both finished second at Saturday’s WIAA regional wrestling tournament at Chippewa Falls.

Both advance to Saturday’s sectional meet at Eau Claire North. The top two in each weight class will advance to the WIAA State Tournament Feb. 23-25 in Madison.

Kirchoff was pinned by Aaron Daul in the 145-pound first-place match, but then rebounded to win by rule over Cole Bartz of Menomonie.

Kirchoff, now 30-6 on the year, started the day with a bye then pinned Bartz in the semifinals.

Regner lost a 6-4 decision to Chippewa Falls’ Grant Schindler in the 220-pound first-place match, but rebounded by winning by rule over Hudson’s Eliot Motu.

Regner, now 31-4, also pinned Ryan Leikness of Eau Claire North and won a 3-2 decision over Motu.

Also for Superior, first-year sophomore Nathan VanErt, finished fifth at 106 pounds. He lost a 6-4 decision to Erik Bell of Hudson in a wrestle-back. He finishes the season with 23 wins.

Tyler Lehikoinen (120) and Dylan Javenkoski (170) both finished in sixth place. Lehikoinen finished the year with 17 wins. Both are freshmen.

Other Spartan wrestlers that did not place were: sophomore Chandler Oja (126); sophomore Jake Jaques (132); freshman Tyler Stone (138); sophomore Billy Regner (160); and sophomore Joey McDonald (195).

The sectional tournament begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Eau Claire North High School.

WIAA Regional Wrestling Tournament

Division 1, Regional 1

At Chippewa Falls

Team Results

1. Hudson, 225; 2. Chippewa Falls, 211; 3. Menomonie, 205; 4. New Richmond, 163.5; 5. River Falls, 106.5; 6. Eau Claire Memorial, 99; 7. Superior, 51; 8. Eau Claire North, 41.

Boys hockey

The Superior High School boys hockey team wrapped up its regular season with a 6-4 loss to Duluth Marshall Saturday night at Wessman Arena.

Aaron Miller notched a three-goal hat trick and Nolan Holcombe scored once for the Spartans, who fall to 12-9-1 overall and 2-5 in the Lake Superior Conference.

Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate also dished out two assists and Dane Sislo, Daniel Litchke and Aaron Johnson had one assist each.

Kris McKinzie scored twice and Steven Long Jr., Judd Peterson, Cameron McClure and Connor Flaherty scored once for Marshall (18-6, 5-1).

Superior opens WIAA tournament against River Falls at 7 p.m. Thursday at Wessman Arena. The Wildcats advanced with a 4-2 win over Spooner Tuesday night.

Superior defeated River Falls 9-0 on Feb. 4.

SPARTAN SPIN: Seniors honored between periods Saturday night were: Aaron Johnson, Brady Uotinen, Nolan Holcombe, Caleb Dushkin, Steven, Richard and Gerald Mikel, Blake Johnson, Brett Bukowski, Luke Darwin, Jack Bergum and Scott Crawford. … Senior managers Jada Rochon and Stephanie Schimenek were also honored. … Thursday’s game may be heard locally on WNXR 107.3 FM.

Duluth Marshall 2 3 1 — 6

Superior 1 1 2 — 4

First Period: 1. SHS, Aaron Miller 6 (Dane Sislo 5, Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate 10), 0:27. 2. DM, Kris McKinzie (Judd Peterson, Cameron McClure), 5:02. 3. DM, Steve Long Jr. (Anthony Miller, Zach Isaacson), 16:27.

Second Period: 4. DM, Peterson (Jake Bushey), :33. 5. DM, McKinzie (Peterson, McClure), 9:07. 6. SHS, Nolan Holcobme 16 (Daniel Litchke 20), 10:56. 7. DM, McClure (McKinzie, Peterson), 14:31.

Third Period: 8. DM, Conner Flaherty (Miller, Michael Damberg), 4:11. 9. SHS, Miller 7, 5:19. 10. SHS, Miller 8 (Aaron Johnson, Wakefield-Zubiate), 14:42.

Saves: Caden Flaherty, DM 23. Scott Sislo, SHS 26.

(Tuesdsy’s Update Boxscore)

Superior 4 4 3 — 11

Ashland 0 1 0 — 1

First Period: 1. SHS, Daniel Mikel 3 (Trent Olson 7), 9:37. 2. SHS, Daniel Litchke 20 (Brett Bukowski 8, Caleb Dushkin 13). 3. SHS, Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate 9 (Gerald Mikel). 4. Caleb Dushkin 7 (Bukowski 9, Litchke 15), 14:18 (pp).

Second Period: 5. Dane Sislo 3 (Wakefield-Zubiate 9, Trent Olson 6), 7:12. 6 Ashland, Tanner Hicks, 5:23. 7. Nolan Holcombe 15 (Brady Uotinen 8, Litchke 16). 8. SHS, Uotinen 5 (Litchke 17, Holcombe 22), 7:45. 9. SHS, Luke Darwin 2 (Daniel Burger 1), 11:39.

Third Period: 10. SHS, Steven Mikel 9 (Bukowski 10), 2:52. 11. SHS, Dushkin 8 (Litchke 18, Holcombe 23) 4:00. 12. SHS, D. Mikel 4 (Steven Mikel 11, Aaron Johnson 7), 14:07.

Saves: Paxton Paine, SHS 11. Dylan Hudson, Ashland, 44

Girls Hockey

The Superior High School girls hockey team celebrated “Senior Night” with a 6-2 win over the Ashland Oredockers Thursday night then wrapped up their regular season with a 2-1 loss to New Richmond Saturday afternoon. Both games were played at the Superior Ice Arena.

Seniors honored Thursday were Kaitlyn Mergen, Kelsey Hansen, Jordan Buhr, Taylor Thompson and Sarah Runser.

The Spartans got two goals from Anna Lurndal and one goal apiece from Buhr, Kelsey Reder, Ari Jago and Kari Miller.

Superior also got two assists from Paige Gilbertson and one each from Buhr, Mergen, Reder and Taylor Thompson.

Runser picked up the win in goal with 13 saves.

Karin Knapp and Madelyn Spangenberg scored for Ashland.

Superior outshot New Richmond 21-14 on Saturday with Runser finishing with 12 saves.

Miller scored for Superior on Saturday when she tipped a shot by Paige Gilbertson past the Tiger goaltender. Jordan Buhr picked up the second assist.

“We came out with a new game plan for the second period so we could work on a different system and see if we could maybe use it for our upcoming playoff game at River Falls,” SHS coach Ernie Harker said. “This really got our team fired up into trying something different in the middle of a tough game.”

Superior had a potential tying goal disallowed in the second period.

“There was TV cameraman that said we scored a goal on a shot from Paige Gilbertson from the blue line,” Harker said. “The puck hit the back of the net and popped back out of the side pipe fast. Our fans went crazy at that end of the rink, but the ruling on the play was no goal. The angle I was watching from the bench I couldn’t tell if it hit the back of the net or not, I guess the official needs to make a judgement call on what he thought he saw. Either way, I have not had a chance to look at the video reply and I’m not sure I ever will.”

A missed play on a bouncing puck in the neutral zone gave New Richmond the break it needed as Paige Charland scored the goal-ahead goal.

The Tigers added an insurance goal in the third period.

Superior (4-16-1) opens WIAA tournament play at 7 p.m. Thursday at River Falls.

SPARTAN SPIN: Superior played with Jago, the team’s leading scorer, Saturday with an injury. She is expected back for Thursday’s game. … Superior lost to River Falls 3-2 in overtime earlier in the season.

Ashland 1 1 0 — 2

Superior 1 2 3 — 6

First period — 1. A, Karin Knapp, 6:37 (pp); 2. S, Kelsey Reder (Jordan Buhr), 16:41.

Second period — 3. S, Ari Jago (Kaitlyn Mergen), 0:13; 4. S, Kari Miller (Reder), 1:05; 5. A, Madelyn Spangenberg, 5:28.

Third period — 6. S, Anna Lurndal (Paige Gilbertson), 6:22; 7. S, Buhr (Gilbertson), 7:10; 8. S, A. Lurndal (Taylor Thompson), 15:22.

Saves — Lauren Tremblay, A, 34; Sarah Runser, S, 13.

New Richmond 1 1 0 — 2

Superior 1 0 0 — 1

First period — 1. NR, Bailey Erickson (Paige Charland, Ashley Dusek), 13:01; 2. S, Kari Miller (Paige Gilbertson, Jordan Buhr), 13:28.

Second period — 3. NR, Charland (Emma Lepper), 7:44.

Third period — No scoring.

Saves — Baily Lund, NR, 21; Sarah Runzer, S, 14.

Boys swimming

The Spartans finished sixth out of 11 teams at the Hudson WIAA Division 1 sectional meet on Saturday.

Eau Claire Memorial/North won the sectional title with 406 points with Chippewa Falls McDonell Central placing second with 322 points. Superior finished with 157 points.

Jake Noonan had the top SHS individual finishes with fifth-places in the 200 and 500 freestyle races. His 500 time moved him into fourth on the Spartan All-Time list.

Noonan also anchored the fourth-place 200 freestyle relay along with Andy Eisenmann, George Eisenmann and Ian Walker. Their season’s best time narrowly missed the state qualifying standard. The same four-some swam to sixth place in the 400 freestyle relay.

Wisconsin

Sectional 1

At Hudson

Team Results

Eau Claire Memorial/North 406, Chippewa Falls/McDonell Central 322, Hudson 288.5, Stevens Point 229, Wausau East 226, Superior 157, Marshfield 154.5, La Crosse Logan/Central 137, Holmen/Onalaska 127, Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln 52, D.C. Everest 51.

Individual Results

(Winners and Superior’s results)

200-yard medley relay: 1. Chippewa Falls/McDonell Central, 1:38.94; 9. Superior (Aaron Christner, Devon Patterson, Matt Sherwood, Andrew Roske), 1:56.04.

200-yard freestyle: 1. Bailey Biwer, ECM/ECN, 1:45.57; 5. Jacob Noonan, SHS, 1:53.14; 10. George Eisenmann, SHS, 1:57.36; 13. Ian Walker, SHS, 2:00.72; 18. Lukas Gall, SHS, 2:12.63.

200-yard IM: 1. Alex DeLakis, EC, 1:52.66; 12. Christner, SHS, 2:25.86; 14. Sherwood, SHS, 2:28.13.

50-yard freestyle: 1. Willie Skinner, Hudson, 22.16; 10. Andrew Eisenmann, SHS, 23.73; 20. Andrew Roske, SHS, 25.78.

100-yard butterfly: 1. Billy Brebrick, WE, 51.52; 15. Sherwood, SHS, 1:03.06; 19. Christner, SHS, 1:06.32.

100-yard freestyle: 1. Jake Folz, EC, 48.85; 7. A. Eisenmann, SHS, 51.68; 11. G. Eisenmann, SHS, 52.68.

500-yard freestyle: 1. Joel Harris, Stevens Point, 4:54; 5. Jacob Noonan, SHS, 5:11.07; 12. Walker, SHS, 5:31.18; 19. Gall, SHS, 6:14.64.

200-yard freestyle relay: 1 EC, 1:28; 4. Superior (A. Eisenmann, G. Eisenmann, Walker, Noonan), 1:34.13.

100-yard breaststroke: 1. DeLakis, EC, 57.40; 14. Patterson, SHS, 1:14.64; 16. Cameron Gray, SHS, 1:16.16.

400-yard freestyle relay: 1. EC, 3:15.42; 6. Superior (A. Eisenmann, G. Eisenmann, Walker, Noonan), 3:28.43.

Boys basketball

The Superior boys basketball team began a busy week with an 83-54 loss to Duluth East Tuesday night in the SHS gym.

Superior led 4-3 on a Spencer Urban jumper early in the first quarter. East went on to outscore Superior 19-9 for a 22-13 lead after one quarter.

Bryan Sanders did his best to keep the Spartans close with two free throws and a fast-break layup in the minute of the opening quarter.

Erick Tunell made a 3-pointer to start the second quarter, but after that it was all East as the Greyhounds took a 43-26 halftime lead.

East expanded its lead to 66-40 after three quarters.

Things don’t get much easier for the Spartans (11-7), who host Grand Rapids at 7:15 p.m. Thursday and Chippewa Falls at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Girls basketball

The Superior girls lost to Duluth East 50-48 Tuesday night in the DEHS gym.

The Spartans host Chippewa Falls at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Cardinals are 17-1 on the season and ranked No. 3 in the state among Division 1 teams.

Superior (13-4) is honorable mention in the same poll.

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