On Saturday morning, January 20, the varsity wrestlers traveled to Monroe to participate in the Monroe Invitational. This year the event featured 15 teams as some teams joined after having their tournament canceled from last weekend’s snow storm. The added teams were some very strong teams, one featuring 3 returning state champions and another that is going to be in a battle for a regional title in a strong regional in southwest Wisconsin. This was an outstanding test for the Whippet Wrestlers to help analyze where they are as we are three weeks from the tournament series.
The tournament was a tale of contrasting rounds for the team. They started out extremely strong losing only one match, followed by round two where the team only won two of its matches as they ran into some extremely tough opponents in the quarter finals. After a tough round, the coaching staff was concerned on how the team would respond, but they did great, winning all but two of the matches again. One of those wins put Sebastian Cuellar (165) into the finals after a big pin in the semi-finals. Unfortunately, based on the format of the brackets, the only way a wrestler can place in the top 4 is by making the semi-finals. Besides Cuellar, those that won in the 3rd round all put themselves into the 5th place match.
The final round was another tough round for the Whippets. Cuellar lost a tough match to a young man from Belleville who is having a very strong year, putting Cuellar as runner up at 165 pounds. Junior (Vicente) Soto at heavyweight wrestled extremely well all day finishing with the bronze medal. On the 5th place mat, the Whippets saw Jasen Porras (113), Jarvis Porcaro (120), and Traysen Thomason (144) all secure victories and reach the podium. Cuellar, Soto, Porras, Porcaro, and Thomason all finished the day an impressive 4-1. Finishing the day 3-2 and in 6th place were Connor Friend (132), Odair Porras (150), JJ Gonzalez (157), Jesus Barajas (175), and Payton Lyon (190).
The team race was very close with the top two teams; Janesville Parker edged Belleville by one point! Whitewater finished in 6th place with 143 points. The two teams immediately ahead of Whitewater had 144 points. Looking back on the day, had the Whippets picked up just one more win they would have finished in 4th place. Of course, as a coach it hurts to be so close to the top four as a team. However, based on the quality of competition of the tournament, the coaching staff is happy with the performance of the team.
The Whippets are next in action on Thursday, January 25th, when they travel to compete against a strong Oregon team.
File photo courtesy of Bob Mischka.