By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School wrestling team finished second to a strong Milton team at the Wisconsin Interscholstic Athletic Association regional at Wilmot on Saturday. Badger finished with 174.5 points. Milton won the regional and will advance to the team sectional with 295.5 points.
Despite losing a chance to advance as a team, the Badgers qualified 10 wrestlers for the individual sectional Feb. 21 in Sun Prairie. The Badgers had no individual champions at the regional, but anyone who finished in the top four qualified for the sectional.
Seven Badgers finished 3-1 and took second, including Stevie Kraus (35-9) at 113 pounds who earned 18 team points. Robby Mutimer (39-4) finished second at 120 pounds and earned 19 points. Michael Peter (25-6) took second at 138 pounds and earned 18 points. Tony Howard (28-8) finished second at 160 pounds and earned 18 points. Trevor Steiner (12-13) took second at 182 points and earned 18 points. Nick Halpin (32-11) finished second at 195 pounds and earned 18 points. Cole Mikrut (27-7) earned 20 points for finishing second at 285 pounds.
Chase Craig (19-13) took third at 145 pounds and earned 13 points. Nate Otero (7-7) finished fourth at 126 pounds and earned 10 points. Douglas Reuss (11-11) took fourth at 132 pounds and earned nine points.
Coach Shane Koehl said injuries again hampered the Badger’s chances as nearly half of his starting lineup was out with injuries. Ruben Garcia joined the injured with a knee injury before the regional. Tim Coyne, George Somerville, Zach Leonard, and Reggie Kelly were already on the injured list. Koehl said that gives the younger wrestlers a chance to step up and contribute.
“It will definitely help us in the future getting these kids valuable tournament experience,” Koehl said.
Koehl said the 10 wrestlers who advanced to the sectional need to win the big matches. Badger went 3-11 in place matches and 0-7 in finals on Saturday.
“We had a good semifinal round but did not carry over that intensity to the finals,” Koehl said. “If we do that at the sectional, we will be done.”
Koehl said more confidence that comes with more experience could help that in the future.
“You have to fully expect to win the big matches,” Koehl said.
Third in conference
The Badgers finished third at the Southern Lakes Conference meet Feb. 7 at Wilmot with 165.5 points. Burlington took first with 255 and Elkhorn finished second with 253.
“Overall, I thought we wrestled fairly well,” Koehl said.
“We had four in the finals, I thought we should have had six, but we lost a couple of close matches in the semi-finals,” Koehl said.
Koehl highlighted two Badgers who performed well at the SLC meet.
“Robbie (Mutimer) wrestled real solid all day in winning at 120 (pounds),” Koehl said. Mutimer won two matches, won the championship match by 9-1 decision, and earned 24 team points. “He made no mistakes and kept the intensity up on his opponents.”
Koehl said Howard wrestled one of the best matches he has seen this year but came up just short at 160 pounds in the finals against undefeated and third-ranked Jared Krattinger of Waterford. Howard won two previous matches and earned 20 team points after losing to Krattinger by 9-8 decision.
“Tony, I feel, can beat anyone in the state and has been a very determined wrestler the past month,” Koehl said.
Second-place finishers for Badger included Kraus at 113 pounds (2-1, 19 team points) and Mikrut at 285 pounds (2-1, 18 team points). Peter finished third at 138 pounds and earned 17.5 points. Garcia also finished third at 220 pounds and earned 14 points.
“Going forward, the kids need to stay focused, work on their weaknesses this week and mentally prepare themselves,” Koehl said about preparing for the regional.
“The other thing is intensity,” he said. “We have the potential to send multiple wrestlers to state, however, nothing is going to be handed to them. They need to put together six to eight great matches in the next two weeks to punch their tickets to state.”
So far, 10 Badgers are still in the running for an appearance at the individual state tournament Feb. 26 to 28 in Madison.
