Wauwatosa takes ninth at Sauk Prairie Invite

The Wauwatosa East/West wrestlers opened the week by dropping a 45-31 decision at Johnson Creek on Jan. 4, losing a 44-31 decision to South Milwaukee at home the next night and then closing out the week by taking ninth out of 17 teams in the Sauk Prairie Invitational on Saturday.

AJ Minucci won by pin at 119 (1:07) against Johnson Creek; Brian Condon won a major decision at 112 (13-1) and Ryan Reagan won by a decision over Kajun Roehl at 145 (5-4). Kai Castaneda at 103 and Alex Compte at 140 won by forfeit.

"Johnson Creek was a good dual for us," Tosa coach Kent Morin said. "They are ranked honorable mention all-state as a team in D3 with five guys being ranked all-state. The highlight for us was Ryan Reagan beating his previously unbeaten and state-ranked wrestler. The win helped earn Ryan honorable-mention all-state ranking."

But Morin wasn't happy with his team's performance against the Rockets.

"Several of our guys looked past them which, frankly, we aren't good enough to look past anyone," he said. "To give up five pins was ridiculous. Hopefully that will be a wake up call."

Castaneda won by a pin (1:51), Sam Hanrahan at 130 won by pin (1:57), Reagan at 140 won by a pin (5:16), Max Nelson won by decision at 145 (3-1) and Condon and Minucci won by forfeit.

But Tosa did perform better at the Sauk Prairie Invitational on Saturday, taking ninth with 85.5 points. The host school won (335.5), beating second-place Holman (252.5).

Castaneda at 103 and Reagan at 140 led the way with third-place finishes. He won a 5-4 decision in the quarterfinal, got pinned in the semifinal and then won by injury default in the third-place match.

Reagan won by technical fall (17-2), then in the quarterfinal, won by decision (9-3) before getting pinned in the semifinal. Reagan then won his final match in overtime (3-1).

"Kai Castaneda and Ryan Reagan continue to lead us as a team," Morin said. "Ryan, who earned honorable mention all-state honors this week, wrestled really well, only losing in the semifinals to the eventual champion.

"Kai also lost in the semis to the eventual champion. He just has such a tough attitude. He hates to lose and as a result will do everything in his power to make sure he doesn't. He is extremely coachable."

Riley O'Conor at 125 finished fourth, pinning his first two opponents, losing a major decision in the semifinals and then losing the third-place match by a decision (2-0).

O'Conor pulled one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, pinning the No.1 seed in the quarterfinals.

"He was losing the match, 11-3, at the time but just didn't quit," Morin said. "This tournament was the hardest I've ever seen him wrestle. Hopefully this will be a turning point for his season (for him)."

Condon at 112 and Devine Burt at 171 finished seventh, Minucci at 119, Aaron Sobieszczyk at 152 and John Brennan at 215 all finished eighth.

"This is a very tough tournament so that was a respectable finish, especially given that Kevin Kanngeiser is still out of the lineup with his shoulder injury," Morin said. "He would have been a top-three finisher and moved us up to probably seventh place."