After going through last year without being able to participate in regular season tournaments, the Whitewater Wrestling Team was back in action on Saturday to mark the official start of the 2021-2022 campaign.
The DePorter Brothers 
The Friend Brothers
The varsity team traveled to Watertown on Saturday to compete in the Watertown Tom McGarvie Invitational. This is a very competitive tournament, with 17 teams from all three divisions. Winning the team trophy was Winneconne, the returning Division 2 State Champion, and coming in Runner-up was Mineral Point, the returning Division 3 State Champion from a year ago. Whitewater wrestled well during the course of the day and finished in 7th place. This was a nice finish considering the level of competition at every weight class.
Leading the way for the Whippets was Carter Friend at 170 pounds. He finished the day 5-0 with some very strong matches along the way to his championship. This is the 2nd time Carter has won this tournament, winning it in 2019, the last time we competed in it.
Following Friend was Mason DePorter who wrestled very well on the day, finishing 4-1 and in 5th place. Mason had some very good matches and he showed his increase in strength and mobility in winning those matches.
Brother Marcus DePorter also finished 4-1 on the day. Marcus dropped his first match but then battled back with some very competitive matches. He showed grit in his victories throughout the day.
Next up were CJ Tomomitsu, Connor Friend, and Sebastian Cuellar Meza, who all went 3-2 on the day. CJ and Sebastian finished in 6th place, while Connor finished as consolation champion. These young men wrestled well, with Sebastian and Connor seeing their first ever varsity tournament and handling it very well. CJ came out each time with a fire in his eyes that he is going to be a force to reckon with. Even in his two losses he was very strong.
Also wrestling well but missing out on a medal were Cooper Hammond, Jesus Barajas, Mason Nobs, Hector Arnodo, Payton Lyon, Armando Villarreal, Leo Ortiz, and Scott Krebs.
The coaching staff was very pleased with the efforts of the team; however, there are always areas for improvement as we progress into the next week of practice. We were proud of the students as this is a very large tournament, and the coaching staff is quite busy, so the team did a great job helping each other out with mat assignments and support throughout the day!
The Whippets are next in action on Thursday night when they travel to Clinton for a dual meet and then again on Saturday, December 11th, when they host the 8th annual Whitewater Invitational. Wrestling will begin at approximately 9:15 a.m. at Whitewater High School.
Article and Photos Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org
