Waunakee’s wrestlers just keep on rolling.
This week, they secured another conference victory on Friday to stay undefeated in Badger North duals, and then performed well in Saturday’s Rick Lawinger Invitational.
Waunakee 53, Beaver Dam 9
“Any dual meet in conference is important,” said Waunakee’s Head Coach Mark Natzke. “We went up there and wrestled aggressively.”
The Warriors quickly took care of business on the road against the Golden Beavers. Three wrestlers – Zach Marek at 182, Sam Lorenz at 126, and Ty Miller at 145 – earned pins against their opponents.
Three more wrestlers – Reed Ryan at 220, Berhett Statz at 132, and Kyle Wilcox at 138 – dominated their opponent throughout the match to earn technical falls.
“Kyle Wilcox wrestled varsity for the first time all year,” Natzke added. “He started out with a nice tech fall.”
Adding wins by major decision were Cade Reddington at 120, Kael Johnson at 152, and Daniel Ford at 195. The rest of Waunakee’s team took care of business, getting wins from Kolby Heinz at 106, Robert Lofredo at 120, and Colton Grindle at 170.
Waunakee kept up their high level of performance heading into Saturday, when they travelled to River Valley for the Rick Lawinger Invitational.
Rick Lawinger Invitational
It quickly became a two-team race in River Valley between Waunakee and Scott West of Minnesota.
The Warriors had six wrestlers take first place at the invite: Heinz at 106, Nick Schweitzer at 113, Johnson at 152, Grindle at 170, Marek at 195, and Ryan at 220.
“Kael Johnson had maybe the most exciting matches,” said Natzke. “In his first round match, he put the kid on his back the final 10 seconds to get a [three-point] near fall and win 3-2. In his semifinal match, it was tied, he put the kid on his back, gets the pin with three seconds left in the match.”
Two more wrestlers – Lorenz at 120 and Statz at 126 – made it to the championship match, but each settled for second place. Lorenz lost to Arrowhead’s Mitchell Mesenbrink, currently the fourth-ranked wrestler in Division 1 at 120 lbs, while Statz dropped his match against Scott West’s Justin Stauffacher, who finished fifth at State in Minnesota a year ago.
After dropping his first match, Brian Gittens wrestled his way back into the third-place match, where he scored a third-period pin to end the day on a high note and claim third place in the 132-pound bracket.
In all, the Warriors racked up 222 points, which was good for second place in the eight-team tournament behind Scott West’s 250. Waunakee outpaced third-place Arrowhead by 75 points.
Waunakee now has a busy week with three varsity contests. They wrestled Portage on Tuesday, the results of which were unavailable for this week’s edition. They travel to DeForest on Friday to wrap up their conference dual schedule before heading to Whitnall on Saturday for another invitational. With a pair of victories in their final two conference duals, the Warriors would enter the February 2 Conference Tournament undefeated and as favorites to claim the Badger North title.