The Whippet Wrestling Team had the opportunity to host and participate in the Mid-States Wrestling Classic held at UWW on December 28 and 29. This is a long standing tournament that has been going on for over 40 years and has some of the top talent from WI and Norther Illinois participating. This year the athletes came from 37 teams partaking in the very talented pool.
This year the Whippets all wrestled will with 5 of the 11 competitors reaching day 2 of competition. Reaching day two included Jaden Salmieri, David Cushman, Carter Friend, Gehrig Monday, and Zach Porter.
Jaden wrestled through some illness and finished the tournament at 11th place in a strong pool of wrestlers at 132 pounds. Zach Porter coming back out for the sport to close out his senior year did very well at heavyweight for the Whippets. He had the number four seed on the ropes in the quarter finals before falling. He then came back on day two and lost a couple close matches, one in ride out overtime to take 12th place.
The Mid-States Classic honors the top 8 wrestlers in their weight class on the podium at the end of the night. This year Whitewater claimed 3 top six finishers. David Cushman wrestled a very good tournament going 5-2 on the weekend to claim 5th place. Carter Friend followed a close quarterfinal match and came back to close out the night in 5th place with a great overtime win. Gehrig Monday also battled some illness the morning of the second day but wrestled his heart out, winning two really tough matches to get onto the podium. He then dropped his last match to place 6th for the tournament.
Overall the coaching staff was happy with how the entire team wrestled, as this is a very competitive tournament; if you are not up for it, it can be a short lived competition.
Article and Photos Submitted by Coach John Schimming
