On Saturday, December 16, the Whitewater Wrestling team traveled to Mount Horeb to participate in the 16 team Mount Horeb Invitational. The team wrestled very well during the day and in the end found themselves in 2nd place behind Merrill, Wisconsin.

The coaches stressed the importance of being ready and starting the day strong as in a tournament with the bracket as it was if you have an early round hiccup it will be hard to be in a team race. The Whippets wrestled extremely well in the opening rounds and found five individuals in the championship match. Rylan Oldenburg, Jarvis Porcaro, Connor Friend, Sebastian Cuellar, and Payton Lyon all found themselves in the championship match. Unfortunately, they came up short and brought home the silver. All the finalists wrestled very well throughout the day. Highlights included Sebastian Cuellar defeating a state qualifier from Johnson Creek to reach the finals. Payton Lyon had a great semi-final match, pinning a young man whom he had lost to in last year’s semi-finals.

Also reaching the podium and taking 3rd place was Traysen Thomason. His sole loss on the day was in the semi-finals which was a good match with him ending up on the wrong end of a scramble situation. 

Great job to the team with their Runner-Up finish. The team is next in action on Wednesday night when they travel to East Troy to open with an RVC Dual meet with East Troy and then will compete against New Berlin in a second dual on the evening. Wrestling begins at 5:00 with the first dual and approximately 6:30 for the second dual.

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