Sports

Wauwatosa wrestling team sweeps dual meet, tournament titles

Five individual championships paved way for first-place finish

By Tom “Sky” Skibosh

Feb. 5, 2013

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For the first time since 2005 the Wauwatosa West/East co-op wrestling team under coach Kent Morin swept the Woodland Conference championships - winning the regular-season dual meet title and then topping it off with Saturday's conference tournament championship.

Tosa was outstanding, putting eight wrestlers in the finals and coming away with five championships.

"I thought the guys wrestled very well throughout the entire day," Morin said. "To put eight guys in the finals and have five champs was amazing. I was really happy with our final round.

"We went 9-4 in the final round. That is the round where in theory you are matched up against guys who are of like talent. We were focused in that round and really took care of business."

The locals had five championships, four runners-up, two thirds, a fourth and two fifth-place performances.

Champions

Zach Miller at 120 pounds, 11-0 during the conference season, scored the most team points (25) to lead the way.

He won the quarterfinal by pin in 3 minutes, 22 seconds and then earned a 12-0 major decision in the semifinal. He then pinned Pewaukee's Joe Porter (6-1) in 2:45 to win the title.

"Zach just dominated this meet," Morin said. "Zach is only a freshman but wrestles with the poise of a senior."

Ben Reagan at 126 (9-0) was next with 24.50 team points. After receiving a bye in the quarterfinal, he won a 14-1 major decision in the semifinal and then won by a 17-1 technical fall over South Milwaukee's McCoy Swanson (7-4).

"Ben had been wrestling kind of tentative the past couple weeks but on Saturday he really opened it up," Morin said. "It was great to see his offense in high gear."

Max Nelson at 138 (7-0) scored 23.50 team points. He received a bye in the quarterfinal and then won by a 20-5 technical fall in the semifinal. In the title match he edged Pewaukee's Trevor Greene (6-3) in a 3-1 decision.

"Max just cut loose with his offense and was so impressive," Morin said. "Then in the finals, I think he wanted to be a conference champ so bad that he was afraid to make a mistake. He won a great scramble in overtime to get the 3-1 victory."

Marcus Morrow at 145 (10-1) scored 23 team points and he also opened with a bye in the quarterfinal. He then won by a 13-4 major decision in the semifinal and won the championship with an 11-8 decision over Greendale's Sam Walton (8-2).

"Marcus had a good tournament as he continued his strong wrestling of the past weeks," Morin said. "He was tied in his finals match after two periods and then just scored two impressive takedowns to seal up the victory."

Finally, Kai Castaneda at 113 (11-0) rounded out the first-place performers with 21.50 team points.

He opened with a 20-5 technical fall in the quarterfinal and then went out and earned two decisions to win his title. He edged South Milwaukee's Shane Paul (4-5) by a 4-2 score and then won his first-place match, 8-7, over Greendale's Thomas Welch (8-3).

"Kai always has a bull's-eye on his back because of his outstanding record," Morin said. "He is best when he opens up his offense and just goes without looking back.

"We will need to get him in that mind-set for the next couple weeks."

Runners-up

Greg Lewis at 220 (7-1) placed second and scored 20 team points, getting two pins (5:20, 5:48) in his first two matches and then losing the title match to Pewaukee's Jake Roseland (9-1) in a 10-7 decision.

AJ Minucci at 132 (10-1) was next with 19 team points.

He won by a pin (4:35) and a 12-3 major decision before losing a 14-7 decision to Pius XI's Quinn Burzynski (11-0) in the title match.

Elliott Rogahn at 182 (6-2) scored 18 team points, starting off with a quarterfinal bye. He then won an 8-7 decision in the semifinal before losing a 9-1 major decision in the finals to South Milwaukee's Tom Mitchell (11-0).

Third Place

Devine Burt at 195 (11-1) placed third and scored 14 team points.

He won by a pin in the quarterfinal in 2:42 but then lost a 12-7 decision in the semifinal.

He moved on to the consolation semifinal and won a 10-4 decision and then won the third-place match with a 7-0 decision over Whitnall's Mike Langenohl (8-4).

Sam Bertz at 160 (9-2) also placed third and scored 12 team points.

He opened with a 3-1 decision in the quarterfinal, then lost a 2-0 decision in the semifinal.

He then won a 5-2 decision in the consolation semifinal and beat Whitnall's Zach Price (6-7) with a 7-2 decision to win his third-place match.

Fourth Place

Alex Comte at 152 (6-5) placed fourth and scored 10 team points. He lost a 15-6 major decision in the quarterfinal, won a 15-3 major decision in the consolation first round and won a 4-2 decision in the consolation semifinal. But he lost the third-place match by a 7-5 decision to Whitnall's Ryan Olson (9-3).