Omro wrestling routs WLA

Omro wrestling is young.

You couldn't tell on Thursday night.

The Foxes showcased their talented lineup in a dominating 62-12 road Flyway dual win against Winnebago Lutheran.

Omro got five forfeits, but coach Shawn Achterberg said based on the listed rosters, he told his wrestlers that they couldn't rest on the free points.

"Looking at the rosters and stuff, I thought [WLA would] have a lot more guys in the lineup, so I told our guys not to overlook anybody and wrestle tough," Achterberg said. "I thought that we went out and we wrestled our matches.

"We've got a lot of talented kids that have been at kids state through the years, and I thought they just went out and did their job and wrestled tough and won all the positions they needed to."

Omro (8-8 overall, 4-2 in Flyway) has no seniors on its roster, putting its juniors into leadership roles. Five of those juniors scored maximum points.

Juniors Mason Boerner and Cade Sowls each wrestled up and both secured pins. Boerner, who is ranked in D3 at 126, pinned Wesley Wellman in 1:55 at 132.

Sowls is ranked in D3 at 132 but went up to 138 and pinned WLA freshman Ayden Brockway in 2:52. He said the season has been an opportunity to showcase that Omro is headed in the right direction.

"It's been really tough in the wrestling room," Sowls said. "Just staying focused every day, just working hard to know that we can compete with the top teams. We've got some good wrestlers on our team.

"I think a lot of people think of us as a lower team, really underrated, but these last couple years we've been really coming back."

Logan Carly also secured a pin at 150, taking down Aiden Hodgden in 1:49. Nick Steffen needed 5:22 to pin Andre Oberg.

Achterberg said those juniors have turned themselves into leaders over the course of their careers.

"Ever since their freshman year, they've just been the cream of the crop for our team," Achterberg said. "They're part of the reason why we're as good as we are. They push everybody else in the room, they just keep doing the best they can and lead by example."

Omro lost just two weight classes, including a forfeit at 106. The Vikings (3-7, 1-4) won the first match of the dual at 175 when senior Moses Metzger earned a first period pin against Jacob Lee. It was WLA's only win in a match that was contested.

The dominant win was another marker that indicates progress for Omro's program under Achterberg, who is in his third season in charge.

"The team [performance] goes back to day one," Sowls said. "We've been really working hard in the room, knowing that this year could be something special for us, we've always had that at the top of our minds."

Boerner said when he thinks back to his freshman year, he didn't think this kind of program was possible in such a short period of time.

"When I was a freshman, we were a smaller team and we had a lot of holes in our roster," Boerner said. "Seeing that we're getting bigger and a lot of improvement, helped by [Achterberg]. It's a lot of new focus in the wrestling room which really helps."

Achterberg said the culture of the wrestling room is starting to shift and the work that the team has put in the wrestling room is starting to show up on the mat.

"I think we're doing a great job of being in shape," Achterberg said. "The kids are getting better match to match. They're learning stuff in the room every day, we're working on lots of technique, adding stuff to what we've been doing, and I think it's just making its way out onto the mat for the guys."

PHOTO GALLERY: Omro at Winnebago Lutheran wrestling - 1/23/2025