By David Paulsen
Correspondent
With three dual wins and two losses, the East Troy High School wrestling team finished third at the Verona Duals Saturday.
The Trojans defeated Verona 52-21 in the opening round, and Portage 37-29 in Round 2, but fell to tournament champion Lake Geneva Badger 36-22 in the third round.
East Troy then lost to Monroe, the second-place finisher, 40-19 in the fourth round.
In the final round, East Troy and Slinger battled to a 33-33 tie, but the Trojans got the win based on criteria.
“We won more actual matches,” head coach Mike Howard noted.
In the nine matches wrestled, East Troy won five.
Overall, Howard said his team wrestled well.
Senior Joey Dedick led the team with five wins and no losses.
“Joey had two ranked kids, which was good,” Howard said.
The two ranked wrestlers Dedick defeated were Taylor Hildebrandt of Badger, and Sean Campbell of Slinger. Hildebrandt is ranked No. 8 and Campbell No. 11 in Division 1 at 195 pounds. Dedick is the top ranked wrestler at 195 in Division 2.
Dedick pinned both Hildebrandt and Campbell. He won another match by technical fall, a fourth match by major decision, and a fifth by forfeit.
Cody Vogel, at 113, was also 5-0, but four of his wins came by forfeit.
“That wasn’t good,” Howard said. “He did get a good match, the one he had.”
That match was a 7-1 decision over Badger’s Michael Peter.
Ryan Engel (126), Andy Strey (132) and Zach Lamb (138) all went 4-1, although two of Strey’s victories were by forfeit.
Gary Zoellner (152) and Oscar Donegan (182) were 3-2 overall. One of Zoellner’s wins came by forfeit.
Although he was only 2-3 on the day, Howard also mentioned freshman Jeremy Dedick.
After losing his first three matches, “he won his last two, so I think he’s starting to come around,” Howard said.
With Seth Braam (285) competing in his first tournament this season, Howard said he was able to move Kyle Storandt down to 220.
“We’re starting to shape up as a team,” Howard noted.
Schedule
The Trojan grapplers hosted Edgerton in a Rock Valley Conference dual on Tuesday, Jan. 8.
The team will have 11 days off before competing in the Fort Atkinson Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 19.
