Elks take first at Bauer Brawl
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Elkhorn Area High School wrestling team learned just how much greater 14 is than 10 Jan. 9 at the Bauer Brawl at West Allis Nathan Hale High School.
The Elks wrestled with a full lineup for one of the few times this season and won the 11-team invite with a team total of 244.5 points.
Elkhorn wrestles tonight in a Southern Lakes Conference dual meet against the Broncos at Union Grove High School. The Elks beat Waterford 45-23 Jan. 7 at Waterford in their previous SLC dual meet.
Elkhorn is going for its third title in a row Saturday at the Norski Invite at DeForest High School.
The Elks competed in only 10 of 14 weight classes in the Mid-States Wrestling Classic Dec. 29 and 30 at UW-Whitewater. Elkhorn finished seventh in the 35-team field.
“The team knew I was upset,” Elks coach Ken Reynolds said. “They knew I expected more out of them and was disappointed. What’s really nice is they responded.”
The Elks wrestled for titles in nine weight classes and won five at the Bauer Brawl. Daniel Stilling (120 pounds), Benji Peak (126), Konnor Mohr (170), Jordan Barr (220) and Richie Heidemann (285) won their weight class.
Myles Schumaker (182), Bryce Jacobson (160), Riley Remington (152) and Grant Truesdale (106) finished second.
Stilling (19-3) beat Whitefish Bay’s Cooper Fergus 6-4 in the title match at 120. Reynolds said Stilling’s wrestling at the Bauer was impressive.
“He’s really wrestling complete matches, in all phases – top, bottom, on his feet – he’s really wrestling well,” Reynolds said.
Peak (16-1) decided to wrestle up a few weight classes and fill the Elks’ void at 126 pounds. Peak previously competed at 113 pounds.
“It’s really big of him to do this, wrestling guys clearly bigger and stronger than him,” Reynolds said. “Let’s figure out how to win those.”
Peak defeated Hale’s Marshall Rushton 10-9 in the title match at 126.
Reynolds said he talked to Mohr at the beginning of the day and told him he doesn’t expect the senior to win – he expects him to dominate.
Mohr pinned Oshkosh West’s Reed Yoder in the title match at 170 at the Bauer and improved to 8-2 overall.
Barr (9-1) pinned Racine Case’s Luther Egerson in 1:59 in the title match at 220. He pinned Muskego’s Brian Schroeder in 1:21 in the semifinal match.
Heidemann pinned Muskego’s Jorin McGuire in 3:26 in the final at 285. He pinned Case’s Tyler Barz in 33 seconds in the semifinals.
McGuire is ranked sixth in the state in the latest WI Wrestling Division 1 state rankings. Heidemann (7-1) is third in the same poll.
“I think they realized how good they can really be when they’re in the lineup,” Reynolds said. “We dominated the tournament. We had the tournament won before the finals even started.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction. We’re not where we want to be, but I think they really came together as a team. They really gelled.”
The Elks won the first five matches against Waterford and led 3-0 before the Wolverines won a match. Heidemann, Grant Truesdale (106), Teddy Woyak (113), Stilling (120), Peak (126), Jacobson (160), Schumaker (182) and Barr all won against Waterford.
