On Saturday, December 11, the Whippet Wrestling Team hosted their 8th annual Whitewater Invitational. This year proved to be one of the most competitive team-wise as a couple of new teams were added to the mix to make things much more competitive in many of the weight classes.

When all was said and done, the coaching staff was very pleased with the performance of the team as we felt they wrestled very well throughout the day. On the day the Whippets had approximately 70 matches, so there are always some you look back on and wish you could get back, but overall it was a very good day. In the end, Whitewater finished in 4th place, which surprised the coaches as we felt we had wrestled very well and would be higher, but that just demonstrated the level of competition they saw. In the end we were only 20 points out of first, so the top 4 were all close.

Individually, Whitewater had 6 wrestlers place in the top three and make podium. Once again Carter Friend worked his way through the 170-pound weight class, bringing home first place for the second week in a row.

Mason DePorter had the crowd on their feet in his championship match. It was the very last match of the tournament, so all eyes were on him, and it was against an opponent whose team was vying to overtake Whitewater in the standings. After falling behind early and having some calls that got many in the gym fired up, Mason showed lots of grit and emotion and threw his opponent to his back with less than 1:00 left and pinned him. The gym went crazy, as did Mason! This marked the first of many future Whitewater championships to be won on the newly donated mat.

Connor Friend put together a very successful day as he rolled his way into the finals, only to fall to a very tough opponent from Riverdale, 6-1. Overall, Connor looked very good as he beat a couple of opponents who on paper were seeded higher than him in the tournament.

Coming in 3rd place was Jason Villegas who wrestled well but dropped a couple of close matches.

Hector Arnodo placed 3rd as well. Hector wrestled well all day only losing once close match.

Aaron Porras came into the tournament in one of the top three weight classes in the tournament. He started off as an 8th seed but wrestled extremely well coming in 3rd place. As the day went on he felt he was not feeling well but he told the coaching staff he wanted to keep going. In the end he proved that the mindset is a powerful tool in his reaching the podium!

A big thank you goes out to the wrestling parents who once again stepped up as they do and put together a great meal for the coaches, officials, and workers. That is much appreciated by the officials who do an outstanding job in an often thankless position! Also, thank you to Sam Brown and Sterling Truesdale for staying after the Girls’ Basketball game right until the end, helping set up the four mats. It was much appreciated!

The Whippets are next in action on Tuesday night when they host the Tiders of Edgerton! We will be dedicating a new wrestling mat to the program as a pre-meet ceremony.

Article Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org
Photos Courtesy of Bob Mischka