By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
Jake Stritesky finished fifth at 120 pounds at the WIAA state individual wrestling tournament last week. Assistant coach Hank Peters said Stritesky’s goal was to medal, which he did, but Peters thought Stritesky had a chance to win his weight division.
“Jake ended his season achieving his goal,” Peters said. “Winning his last match of the year was also a good note to end on, so it was great to see Jake end on a positive note.”
Stritesky, who came into the tournament 43-3, won his first match by technical fall over Shane Westerhausen of Marshfield. He then lost by 4-2 decision to Bryce Janikowski of Cedarburg in the quarterfinals. Peters said Stritesky made one minor mistake that Peters said turned on a controversial call he personally didn’t agree with that cost him and sent him to the consolation bracket.
In the consolation bracket, Stritesky pinned Joey Rozanski of Waukesha South and Joseph Mendoza of Racine Park on Friday, putting him in the medal round on Saturday. Stritesky lost to Mitchell Mesenbrink of Arrowhead by 13-2 major decision but defeated Demario Ford of Manitowoc Lincoln by 5-0 decision to secure fifth place.
Stritesky said he was not satisfied with his fifth-place finish even though it met his goal because he felt he could have finished third or even made it to the finals if things broke a little differently.
“I barely fell short of placing a little higher and that makes me want to work harder to jump up to that finals match or third-place match,” Stritesky said.
Stritesky said he worked hard to get to the state tournament.
“This year I practiced on Sundays and even had two practices a day during the week,” he said.
While that dedication helped Stritesky medal this year, he said he will work even harder to put himself in the right position next year.
See more Badger High School sports coverage in the Feb. 28 Lake Geneva Times.
