The Whippet Wrestling Team had the opportunity to host and participate in the Mid-States Wrestling Classic held at UWW on December 27 and 28. This is a long-standing tournament that has been going on for over 40 years and has some of the top talent from Wisconsin and Illinois participating. This year this talent consisted of 38 teams partaking in the very talented pool. 

This year the Whippets all wrestled well with 5 of the 12 competitors, CJ Tomomitsu, Connor Friend, Marcus DePorter, Carter Friend, and Mason DePorter, reaching day two of competition.

CJ Tomomitsu wrestled very well throughout the tournament. We have continued to see progress from him, and it was exciting to see him have success against tough competition as he finished in 10th place.

Connor Friend had some good matches and would show some areas of his youth and dropped some matches, although he wrestled well. In the end Connor finished in 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 eight finishers.

Marcus DePorter wrestled a very good tournament, going 5-3 on the weekend to claim 8th place.

Carter Friend was in a very competitive 170 lb weight class and was able to reach the semi-finals, dropping his match to a tough student from McHenry, Illinois. He was able to close out the tournament with a well wrestled match to finish in 5th place. Over the course of the tournament Carter achieved his 100th win, which is a great milestone for wrestlers! 

Mason DePorter wrestled very well throughout the day. He lost a very close quarterfinal match, 8-7, that came right down to the end. Mason came back strong and won 2 of 3 on day two to finish the tournament in 7th place, after going 5-2.

Overall the coaching staff was happy with how the entire team wrestled as this is a very competitive tournament and if you are not up for it, it can be a short-lived competition. We felt the team was ready to wrestle and just missed out having a few more advance to day two. This tournament also exposes areas we need to work on as we move onto the second half of the season.

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

The Whitewater Boys’ Basketball Team used an aggressive defense and some efficient shooting to defeat Jefferson 57-40, last Friday, December 17.

The Whippets took control of a back and forth game late in the first half to build a 32-20 halftime lead. Jefferson closed the gap early in the second half, but Whitewater quickly pushed the lead back to double digits in their most consistent effort of the season.

Whitewater was led in scoring by Jon Aron with 21 pts and Jake Hintz with 13 pts. Wyatt Nickels’ double-double of 12 pts and 10 rebounds and Sam Brown’s 10 assists contributed to the all-around team effort.

The Whippets next play at home Tuesday, December 28 (JV at 1 pm and Varsity following) and Thursday, December 30 (JV at 4:30 and Varsity at 6).

Article Submitted by Dwayne Lange
Photo Courtesy of Bob Mischka

On Saturday morning, December 18, the Whippet Varsity Wrestling Team was up bright and early to travel to Mount Horeb to participate in their annual invitational. This is a very nice tournament for the team as it is a mix of teams that they see, but also some new looks. When the day came to an end, just before sundown, Whitewater was awarded the Team Championship, finishing just ahead of a very good Verona team.

Individually, the team wrestled very well. Although we always have some we’d like back, everyone battled back and finished strong, not thinking about the result if it did not go their way, but rather looking forward at doing the best that they could to finish as high as they could individually in the tournament.

Leading the way for Whitewater were the Friend brothers. Neither of them were a friend to their opponents as they both won their respective weight classes in dominate fashion. Connor finished the day 3-0 with 3 pins, and Carter finished the day with a record of 4-0 with a bye, 2 pins, and a dominating 14-5 victory in the finals. Along the way Carter had an eight-second pin!

Coming up just shy in the finals were Marcus DePorter and Sebastian Cuellar, each coming in runner-up respectively. Both of these student-athletes were lower seeds in the tournament on paper but as we talk about we don’t worry about seeds, we just worry about wrestling the match, and that is exactly what both of them did on their way to a 3-1 record on the day.

Bringing home the bronze for the Whippets included Jarvis Porcaro, Aaron Porras, and Scott Krebs. Nice job to these young men. Jarvis was wrestling a weight class over where he will be and it showed against a couple guys. Both Aaron and Scott wrestled above their on-paper seeds, wrestling very well. 

The coaching staff is very excited about where the team is heading as they continue to work hard and make gains each day. As we enter the winter break, the Varsity is looking forward to the famous Mid-States tournament held on the UWW campus and hosted by WHS. This is a great opportunity to see where we sit among the best competition in our weight classes leading into the second half of the season after break.

113- Jarvis Porcaro took 3rd
120- CJ Tomomitsu took 5th
126- Conner Friend took 1st
132- Victor Hernandez took 5th
138- Cooper Hammond took 4th
145- Marcus DePorter took 2nd
152- Aaron Porras took 4th
160- Sebastian Cuellar took 2nd
170- Carter Friend took 1st
195- Payton Lyon took 4th
220- Mason DePorter took 6th
285- Scottie Krebs (non scorer) took 3rd
285- Leo Ortiz took 7th

Article and Photo Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org