WRESTLING Meade earns Most Valuable; several others also honored

There were plenty of honors passed out at the March 7 end-of-the season Wauwatosa East/West wrestling banquet.

Topping the award winners was Michael Meade, who earned the Most Valuable Wrestler Award.

The Most Improved wrestlers were John Brennan and AJ Minucci and the Coaches' Dedication Award was shared by Kai Castaneda and Max Nelson.

Meade was also the recipient of the all-conference Scholar-Athlete honor and the Tosa Wrestling Club Academic Scholarship and Eric Ehlett was the Gordon Nieskes Memorial Scholarship recipient.

Tosa will lose six seniors Meade, Brennan, Ehlert, Larry Bryant, Akeem Harris and Michael Vogt.

Coach Kent Morin also pointed out that over 50 percent of the team was on the honor roll, with 12 of them achieving high honors. The GPA was 3.23.

"Over the years, I have had some kids decide not to wrestle because they wanted to concentrate on their grades," Morin said. "I would argue that they have a better chance of getting good grades while wrestling. Getting good grades requires discipline, which is the number one trait that wrestling teaches."

This year's team went 6-1 in conference duals good for second place and they were 21-5 in overall dual meets, which is the most victories in the history of Tosa wrestling

They also finished runner-up in the conference tournament, won the regional tournament, which was something that hadn't been done in Tosa since 1980.

The wrestlers were team sectional runners-up (highest finish ever since they have gone to the team tournament format) and qualified for the team tournament, where they lost to Arrowhead.

"We feel like we had a very nice season, but it wasn't an accident," Morin said. "This team worked harder in the off-season that any team that I have ever had. We had over 50 team lifting sessions in the summer and fall. We had over 25 wrestling sessions.

"They participated in a team camp at Waunakee High School along with participating in the East Troy Duals last summer. We also had five wrestlers (Meade, Minucci, Castaneda, Ehlert and Nelson) who were member of the Wisconsin National Team that trained in River Falls and then competed in Fargo, N.D. last summer.

"This team was such a pleasure to coach. They really supported each other knowing that we would only be as good as our weakest link. I know I speak for the entire coaching staff when I say that this was an enjoyable season that we will remember for a long time.

"(They're) great kids, who I think will have good memories from this season that will stay with them for a lifetime," he said.