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

On Wednesday night, February 24, student-athletes and parents gathered in the Whitewater gymnasium to present the end of season awards in a different way; just like the entire season we had to do things differently.

Although the team saw many adjustments made to their season, from how practices were run, the number of competitions that they could have, protocols for competing and protocols as for who could be in the stands, the wrestlers proved that it was still wrestling and they went out and had a very successful season for themselves as a team and individuals. 

As a team the group saw great growth in each individual and had great practices throughout, even though some days adjustments were made on the fly. The team was only able to compete in seven dual meets this year and finished 5-2 in those duals. In a typical year, the team competes in seven tournaments over the course of the season; none of these were contested this year, and their first tournament action was at the Regional Tournament on January 30. Here the team took second place overall, which was a nice showing for them. In the Sectional Tournament, the team finished in 7th out of 25 teams, so that was a nice finish for them as well.

As individuals, it was difficult for the Junior Varsity teams to get as many matches as normal, but when they did, they showed growth all year. Sebastian Cuellar finished the year 7-0 and brought home the Most Valuable JV Wrestler Award. Payton Lyon, another freshman who finished the year 6-2 on JV, brought home the Outstanding Freshman Award.

For the Varsity team, voted as Team Leaders were Trenten Zahn, Brian Porcaro, and David Cushman. The Most Valuable Wrestler was shared with Carter Friend and David Cushman, both being integral parts of the program wrestling together for the last three seasons. 

The seniors were also presented with their Accomplishment Board, which is made by Dena Schimming, as well as their senior poster that was presented to them officially on Parents’ Night. 

The coaching staff would like to thank the parents for their trust in the program during these difficult times and are fortunate to have had the opportunity to compete this season. The staff would also like to thank the WUSD administration for also trusting the program to keep the student-athletes safe during these unprecedented times. 

The Whippets’ winter sports season officially ended last week. Our Whippets had a very successful season with regional champions, sectional qualifiers, and state qualifiers. We want to congratulate all our Whippet athletes on a great winter!

We’d also like to recognize our all-conference Whippets. Each sport had at least one all-conference member. In girls’ basketball, Kacie Carollo was voted Rock Valley Conference Player of the Year!

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The Whippets will now move into the delayed fall sports season. Volleyball started practice this Monday and has their first games this coming week. Football, Cross Country, Boys’ Soccer, and Girls’ Tennis will be starting soon.