Article by John J. Schimming; Photos by Bob Mischka

On Saturday the Whitewater Wrestling team traveled to East Troy to participate in the WIAA Regional Wrestling Tournament. The tournament had seven teams present with the top team advancing to the team sectional and the top two individuals in each weight class advancing to individual sectionals.

When all was said and done the Whippet team found themselves in second place. The team finished behind East Troy who was able to win more of the head to head competition, which in the end was the difference. Whitewater did have a very good last round of wrestling going 12-2 in the placement round. The Whippets had two individuals place 5th, six finish 3rd, three 2nd and three Champions.

Coming home as Regional Champions included: Jaden Salmieri, Tommy Cushman, and Jimmy DuVal. All three of these individuals wrestled very well in all of their matches to bring home the championship. Jaden and Jimmy defended their titles from a year ago. Tommy pinned all three of his opponents on his way to his first ever championship in a high school tournament.

Coming in second place were Tyler Gamble, Trenten Zahn, and Aldo Soto. Gamble and Zahn reached the finals only to fall in the championship match. Soto lost a tough semi-final match, however, came back to pin his opponent for third. Soto then had the opportunity to wrestle back for true second since he had not wrestled the athlete that lost in the finals. In this match, Soto was matched up against the number one seed who coming into the tournament was 21-2. Soto wrestled a great match defeating his opponent 8-5, earning his second trip to the sectional tournament.

Unfortunately, the team competition is over based on their second-place finish as a team. This closed out a nice season for the Whippet team. The team will focus on our individuals who will be competing next weekend at Cedar Grove-Belgium in the sectional.