by Vern Hollister - Correspondent

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Three Northern Lakes Conference teams, Crandon, Three Lakes and Elcho, participated in the Tomahawk Invitational Saturday. In the 12-team field, Elcho finished sixth, Crandon eighth, and Three Lakes ninth.

Elcho wrestler Jared Price at 189 picked up a first place medal for a win over Crandon's Jordan Marvin. Marvin's second place was the top finish of the Cardinals. Taylor Flannery, a 171-pounder, also from Elcho, placed second, as did the Hornets Kelsey Smith wrestling at 145. For Three Lakes, Denny McCluskey in the 285-pound class finished second. Brennan Price, a member of the Elcho team at 160, was the only one of the three conference schools to end up with a third place medal. A greater number of Bluejays and Cardinals finished in the fourth through sixth places to help their teams' point totals.

Marvin's class again was loaded with strong wrestlers. In addition to Price and Robert Forgette from Menominee, Michigan; Dustin Block of Rosholt, with one loss, and Jared Vroman, a fire hydrant from Barron, were also in the field. One other competitor whom Marvin met in the semi-finals was Shane Geissler, a Cadott wrestler.

According to Crandon coach Jeff Lehman, the Geissler lineage and meeting Marvin read like a movie script. "It's like one of those things you see on TV all the time," Lehman said. "His brother was the state champion and met Chad Cracraft. Cracraft lost by one point, and Geissler went on to win the state championship. Now here Jordan is meeting his younger brother. He's ranked. I don't know how high."

Marvin's struggle with Geissler was a mighty one. Tied 0-0 after one period, Marvin saw Geissler take a 2-1 lead after two periods. In the final two minutes, one a reversal, Marvin went ahead 3-2 and had his opponent's legs tied up. Marvin was awarded another point following a Geissler stall tactic when Geissler jerked and pulled himself out of the circle and off the mat. Marvin won the 4-2 match, but in the final Price took a 14-3 major decision over the spent Cardinal.

After losing one of his opening matches, Dillon Gretzinger locked up with a Marathon wrestler, Brandon Seubert at 171. "It's the hardest match I've ever had," Gretzinger said following his win, a major 13-3 decision, but he had to withstand an early rush. "The first minute, he was manhandling me," Gretzinger said. "I picked him up and slammed him down for a reversal, and from then I just controlled."

Clark Spaniol, 135, placed fourth for Crandon, the highest finish behind Marvin. In the match for third place, Spaniol was pinned by John Wormwood from Menominee. Kyle Houle, after a first round loss, took all of 55 seconds to pin his next opponent, Menominee's Brian Curtice, at 152. "I'd never wrestled him before," Houle said, "and pinned him with a front headlock."

Team Scores: Adams-Friendship, 329; Cadott, 305; Tomahawk, 285; Barron, 257; Menominee, 145; Elcho, 141.5; Marathon, 121.5; Crandon, 107; Three Lakes, 102; Rosholt, 90.5; Amherst, 84; Turtle Lake, 73.5.

Northern Lakes Finishers: Crandon: 119: Trae Blank, 6th; 125: Travis Weber, 6th; 130: Dylan McCorkle, 5th; 135: Clark Spaniol, 4th; 152: Kyle Houle, 6th; 171: Dillon Gretzinger, 5th; 189: Jordan Marvin, 2nd. Three Lakes: 119: Cory Briggs, 5th; 130: Justin Dolling, 7th; 140: Seth Senter, 5th; 145: Adam Edington, 6th; 152: Tyler Kirby, 4th; 171: Mike Paszak, 7th; 215: A.J. Zayia, 8th; 285: Denny McCluskey, 2nd. Elcho: 119: Tyler Brewer, 7th; 125: Robert Hines, 7th; 145: Kelsey Smith, 2nd; 152: Adam Guth, 7th; 160: Brennan Price, 3rd; 171: Taylor Flannery, 2nd; 189: Jared Price, 1st.

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