On Saturday, 1/25 the Whippet Wrestlers were up bright and early to compete in the Monroe Invitational. This was an 11 team tournament that had some extremely tough weight classes, as many tough teams from Southwest Wisconsin participated.
The day was definitely a roller coaster for the team. They started off wrestling very well, winning 9 of the first 13 matches contested, putting 9 guys into the semi-finals. The next round did not go in our favor as we ended up losing 7 of the 9 semi-final matches. Marcus DePorter and Carter Friend wrestled very well against their opponents. Marcus got a pin, and Carter picked up a 17-5 victory, to punch their tickets to the finals.
During the break the team was told those in the Consolation Bracket needed to come back and wrestle tough to put themselves into a position to get into the top 3. At this time the team was in 4th place, 40 points out of first place. Coming back from the break the team had a great round, losing only 3 of the 9 matches, thus putting 6 in the bronze medal match. This huge round pushed the Whippets into first place going into the final round of the tournament.
As stated it was a roller coaster day, and unfortunately, the Whippets dropped too many last round matches. When the dust settled, Monroe claimed first in their own tournament with 191 to Whitewater’s 173.5 and a runner up finish for the Whippets.
Coming home with medals for the Whippets were Marcus DePorter and Carter Friend each taking 2nd place, and with the bronze medal were Dylan DuClos and Gehrig Monday. Just missing out on the bronze medal and taking 4th were CJ Tomomitsu, Cooper Hammond, Brian Porcaro, Jaden Salmieri, David Cushman, Denver Isbell, and Will Leibbrand.
The Whippets are home on Tuesday night when they host the Tide of Edgerton. This is the last dual meet of the year at home for Whitewater. The seniors on the team will be recognized, and the youth wrestlers will have a short practice before the varsity competition. Wrestling will begin with JV at 6 and Varsity at 7.
Full results from Monroe:
http://www.trackwrestling.com/predefinedtournaments/VerifyPassword.jsp?tournamentId=549667132&userType=viewer&pageName=TeamResults.jsp;teamBox=1820517138:fontSizeBox=12:patternBox=1000
Article and photos submitted by Coach John Schimming.