Wauwatosa's Castaneda, Miller, Morrow heading for state wrestling meet

And then there were three.

Wauwatosa qualified three wrestlers for state at the Oconomowoc Sectional on Saturday - Kai Castaneda at 113 (41-2), Zach Miller at 120 (39-5) and Marcus Morrow at 145 (36-7), each finishing in second place.

"To have three qualifiers is a nice accomplishment," Wauwatosa's Kent Morin said. "In Tosa history, we have only had three qualifiers in a year two other times (2007/2008)."

Zach Miller

Miller scored 13 team points, winning by a pin (3:32) over Cedarburg's Josh Hickey (26-17) and beating Arrowhead's Rudy Otters (21-16) with a 12-7 decision. Then he lost to Menomonee Falls' Bill Holz (43-4) by getting pinned in 3:27 in the title match.

"Zach had a thrilling first match … ," Morin said. "In the third period with the score 11-11, Zach got a reversal and pinned Hickey."

Morin said Miller had a very solid match in the semifinals.

"To get to the State Tournament as a freshman is incredible," he said.

Marcus Morrow

Morrow placed second and scored 12 team points, winning a 15-4 major decision over Germantown's Brandon Goesch (24-18) and beating Menomonee Falls' Sam Schwabenlander (29-17) by an 11-6 decision. Arrowhead's Mitch Berenz (31-6) then pinned Morrow in 3:59.

Morrow then beat Milwaukee King's Linzy Hudson (25-13) in an 8-2 decision in the second-place match.

"Marcus continued his great wrestling of the past month, dominating his first two opponents on his feet," Morin said.

In the finals, he came up against Arrowhead's Mitch Berenz, who Morin said could end up being the state champ next week.

"Marcus had to turn around and secure his trip to the state tournament with a wrestleback," Morin said.

Kai Castaneda

Castaneda scored 11 team points, beating Cedarburg's Dylan Lesar (29-12) by a 6-2 decision and Hamilton's Brett Neverman (31-14) by a 7-3 decision. Menomonee Falls' Jerott Holz (31-7) then shut him out (5-0) to win the title.

"Kai had the most pressure on him given he entered the tournament with a 39-1 record," Morin said. "He was tentative with his takedowns during his first two matches but was really never in danger of losing."

The rest of the team

Three wrestlers just missed qualifying for state - Devine Burt, AJ Minucci and Max Nelson.

Burt at 182 (27-9) placed third and scored nine team points. He beat Arrowhead's Daniel Sorenson, 8-1, lost to Oconomowoc's Richard Kuehl by a pin (1:34) and pinned (1:54) Germantown's Hunter Valenta.

Minucci at 132 (35-9) placed third and scored nine team points, winning by a pin (4:39), losing by an injury default to Cedarburg's Joey Pelkey and winning by a 5-1 decision over Milwaukee King's Cherif Sowinski.

Nelson at 138 (29-2) placed third and scored eight team points, winning by decisions over Menomonee Falls' Austin Meyers, 3-0, and Arrowhead's Austin Yde, 9-6. He then lost to Cedarburg's Jason Ipsarides by a 15-6 major decision and to Oconomowoc's Eric Lease by an 11-4 decision.

Ben Reagan at 126 (33-5) placed fourth and scored six team points. He pinned (3:43) Germantown's Tyler Colegrove, lost to Arrowhead's Cory Cinelli, 7-3, and Menomonee Falls's Casey Crangle, 2-0.

The following six wrestlers did not score any points - Sean McDuffie at 106 (16-16), Alex Comte at 152 (24-19), Sam Bertz at 160 (30-12), Elliott Rogahn at 195 (19-13), Matt Miller at 220 (8-9) and Lorry Venturi at 285 (11-27).