By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Perfection is right now the standard for any member of the Elkhorn Area High School wrestling team.
The Elks defeated Westosha Central Nov. 29 in a Southern Lakes Conference dual at Paddock Lake and finished 6-0 Saturday in the Stoughton Invitational – a dual meet tournament at which they won the championship.
Elks coach Ken Reynolds praised his team’s work ethic.
“It’s our work ethic,” Reynolds said. “The work ethic has been terrific. The kids are working extremely hard. We were clearly in a lot better shape than the other teams this weekend, and it showed, and I’m proud of that.”
The Elks defeated Westosha by a score of 61-13. Their closest meet at Stoughton was against the host school, which they defeated 45-24.
“Stoughton is one of the more well-respected programs in the state,” Reynolds said. “And we go out and win 45-24. That doesn’t happen unless some of your kids step-up. That was a fantastic dual meet for a lot of reasons.”
In the Elks’ other matches at Stoughton, they defeated Evansville/Albany 54-19 and Richland Center 55-12. The Elks beat Riverdale 59-15 and downed Whitewater 60-12.
Jake Stilling (182), Dakota Johnson (220), Dylan Linhart (195), Kyle Mountford (170), Ryan Nelson (126) and Devin Kinney (160) are all 6-0 to start the season.
“Dylan Linhart is a real nice surprise at 6-0,” Reynolds said. “Maybe not so much of a surprise, but it shows the value of our upper weights. I’m really happy with his start.”
In what might be one of the more light-hearted moments of the Stoughton match, in which each wrestler typically wrestled six matches, Bryce Fitzgerald (113) decided he was done wrestling and decided to pin his final opponent, which he did in 26 second. Fitzgerald is 5-1 this season.
“He just took him down and manhandled him,” Reynolds said. “He (Fitzgerald) decided he didn’t want to wrestle another six minutes. It’s hard to have that mental strength all day long.”
Up next for the Elks is Waterford in a SLC dual meet tonight at home.
“They’re no slouch,” Reynolds said of the Wolverines. “They have (some) solid kids and a very good program. It will be a very good meet for us and we’ve got to be prepared.”
This weekend the Elks will wrestle in the Bay Port Invitational at Bay Port High School in Green Bay in a tournament Reynolds said “is a very tough tournament, one of the toughest in the state.”
