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WAUNAKEE WRESTLING

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20

Dec, 2019

Warrior wrestling gets back on track with pair of wins

The Warrior wrestlers are back on track.

After stumbling in their season opener, the Waunakee wrestling team has won back-to-back invites – including at their own invitational this past Saturday – along with earning a blowout conference win over Portage on Friday.

Waunakee 51,

 

Portage 21

Starting the weekend off with a bang was Jackson Reischel, who earned a quick pin in Waunakee’s first match of the night against Portage at 220.

“Jackson Reischel got a big pin…” said Waunakee’s Head Coach Mark Natzke. “He got us started there; he got the team fired up.”

From there, the Warriors were forced to forfeit at 285, and dropped a pair of matches before Kolby Heinz stepped in – with Waunakee trailing 6-15 – to halt Portage’s momentum. Heinz earned another quick pin at 120 – ending his match after just 50 seconds – to put Waunakee back on track. Waunakee won the next three matches – Gabe Guralski at 126, Nick Schweitzer at 132 and Sam Lorenz at 138 – to take a 27-15 lead.

After Portage won a pair of tight matches, the score stood at 27-21 with four matches to go. Waunakee finished strong, getting pins from Kaden Hooker at 160, Dan Ford at 170, Kael Johnson at 182 and Jack Schweitzer at 195 to secure the win.

“Momentum is so underestimated in wrestling. A team starts to get it, and kids feed off each other…” said Natzke. “You tend to not think it, but it’s hard for some kids to go out and wrestle after watching three or four kids get beat in a row. We do a great job of feeding off of each other.”

The win gave Waunakee plenty of momentum heading into Saturday’s tournament, which the Warriors hosted at the Waunakee High School Fieldhouse.

Waunakee Invitational

Four Warrior wrestlers – Nick Schweitzer at 132, Lorenz at 138, Ford at 170 and Johnson at 182 – went undefeated on Saturday en route to winning their weight classes. Nick Schweitzer put on one of the most dominant performances of the day, winning all five of his matches via pin.

“A lot of it with Nick is his confidence and being more aggressive…” Natzke said. “He’s a senior; this is his last chance. He’s just wrestling and not holding anything back.”

Three more wrestlers – Braysen Ellis at 145, Berhett Statz at 152 and Jack Schweitzer at 195 – wrestled in first-place matches but ultimately fell to the champions in their weight class, giving Waunakee a total of seven wrestlers in the finals out of 14 weight classes.

An additional three wrestlers came in third place in their weight class: Jayden Freie at 106, Heinz at 120 and Hooker at 160. Guralski also finished the day with a winning record, going 3-2 with a pair of pins to place fifth at 126.

Waunakee hopes to keep things rolling come Friday, when they travel to Sauk Prairie for a Badger North dual, followed by a trip to the Alliant Energy Center on Saturday for the Badger State Invitational. Start time at Sauk Prairie is scheduled for 7 p.m., while the Badger State Invitational is slated to begin at 10 a.m.

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