Kegley, Dessart finish second, Trojans sixth
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
East Troy’s Tommy Larson showed his dominance in the 106-pound weight class a year ago when he ended the year with a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 state championship.
His move up to 113 this season is starting to mirror that one.
Larson, the state’s top-ranked 113 pounder according to wiwrestling.com, recorded four pinfall victories and another by technical fall in a dominant first-place effort to lead the Trojans at Saturday’s Terry Kramer Open at Fort Atkinson.
East Troy finished sixth overall in the 15-team field with 293.5 points. Slinger won the team title with 480.5 points, followed by Waterford with 393.5 and Sauk Prairie with 376.
“The kids are getting better every day,” East Troy coach Mike Howard said. “We can tell that our tougher tournaments early on are paying dividends now. The young kids are improving, along with the others. They are beginning to impose their will, which is winning them matches. We are getting back to full strength as a team.”
Individually, Larson was the story, as he pinned his first three opponents, followed by a 16-1 technical fall victory in the semifinals over Slinger’s Gavin Skinner.
That win sent Larson to the finals, where he needed just 16 seconds to dispatch Pewaukee’s Rece Czerniejewski to bring home the title. Larson now is 27-2 overall.
“Tommy continues to dominate,” Howard said. “He has really found his groove in the last two weeks. (He’s) imposing his will, which involves being extremely tough on his feet as always, but he has added a toughness on top.”
East Troy also had two second-place finishes, as Wyatt Kegley (106) and Jake Dessart (170) both reached the finals.
Kegley (23-7 overall) advanced to the semifinals with two pins and a decision and earned his spot in the finals with a hard-fought 6-5 decision over Edgerton’s Ryen Hazzard.
In the title matchup, Kegley ran into Slinger’s Carter Ziebell, the state’s fourth-ranked Division 1 wrestler, and was pinned in 2:17 to finish second.
“Wyatt had a real nice tournament,” Howard said. “In the semifinals, he caught a pretty good Edgerton kid for a five-point move and then held on to win. He did a nice job all day. His loss in the finals was against a real tough kid (who was) real physical. But I think he learned from it, certainly.”
Dessart (25-5 overall) cruised into the semifinals with a 10-1 major decision win in the first round, followed by two pins in a combined 1 minutes, 46 seconds. He earned his spot in the finals with a tough, 2-1 victory over Pewaukee’s Joe Sklenar.
In the championship round, Dessart dropped a 9-5 decision to Kewaskum’s Tanner Goeman.
“Jake had a solid day,” Howard said. “In the finals, it took him a while to get going. He let the kid dictate the match. Going forward, if he dictates and he is the aggressor, he can get that one back. Jake will see that kid probably in our sectionals, so we need to be more prepared and get after him from the (opening) whistle.”
Jacob Price (220) finished fourth for the Trojans’ other top finish. Price (22-7 overall) was 3-2overall, including three straight wins to get into the semifinal, before he lost the next two.
Also competing were A.J. Hall (126), sixth at 2-3; Max Hudson (285), sixth at 2-3; Jonah Edwards (106), seventh at 2-3; John Veselka (152), seventh at 2-3; Cole McPherson (113), eighth at 1-4; Sam Tuttle (160), ninth at 3-2; Logan Roberts (195), 10th at 2-3; Nik Moat (136), 11th at 2-3;and Mason Orgas (145), 12th at 1-4.
There was plenty to be gained for the rest of the season, Howard said.
“These types of tournaments will certainly pay off come tournament season,” he said. “Fort Atkinson had many teams there that we did not wrestle, which is a good experience for the team.
“Everyone has a different wrestling style, and the more exposure you can get before the end-of-year-tournaments, the better.”
East Troy travels to the Pewaukee Invitational on Saturday at 8 a.m.
Trojans win dual
East Troy opened its week Jan. 17 with a 39-36 non-conference victory at Waukesha Catholic Memorial.
Earning pinfall victories were Price (220), Edwards (106), Kegley (113) and Hall (132), while Orgas picked up a 4-3 win at 152 pounds. Times for each of the pins were not listed online.
