Wrestlers set their sights on state meet
By Adam Knoll
Correspondent
The Whitewater High School wrestling team is sending five wrestlers to the sectional tournament after fairing pretty well as a team at the regional competition.
Traveling to East Troy, the Whippets finished second in the team standings at Saturday’s Division 2 regional meet. It was the seventh time in eight seasons the Whippets have finished second in the regional.
The top two wrestlers in each weight class earned berths in the sectional meet Saturday at Milwaukee Lutheran.
Jameson Hutchins (113 pounds), Irving Sedano (120), John Saylor (145) and James Ehlen (160) all made it to the finals of their weight classes, only to fall just short in the final match. It was a disappointing end, to an otherwise great afternoon as all of them will be moving on.
Max Reid, however, took a very odd approach to earning his trip forward at 152 pounds. Reid came in as the fourth seed, and lost his semifinal match 6-5. He then went on to win his third-place match. The athlete that beat him earlier, ended up winning the regional, which meant Reid would get a chance to wrestle for second place. He ended up winning the match with a takedown as time expired, 5-3. He will be moving on as well.
Jimmy Cushman (132) and Daniel Soto (285) both had a chance to do what Reid did, but fell short in their second-place matches. Cushman recorded two pins on the day, and finished third, while Soto had the misfortune of participating in the toughest weight class. Soto won his first match in a 59-second pin. Then he faced a wrestler with a 43-0 record on the season and lost.
From there, Soto pinned another wrestler, this time in 57 seconds, setting up a match against the No. 6 wrestler in the state from Catholic Memorial. In what was de-scribed as a classy and well-fought match, Soto fell 7-4.
