By David Paulsen
Correspondent
With three runner-up finishers, the Whitewater High School wrestling team managed a fifth-place finish at the Rock Valley Conference Tournament held at Beloit Turner Saturday.
Three Whippets made it to the finals, with all three coming up just short of a conference title.
Irving Sedano took second at 106 pounds, James Ehlen second at 152, and Zach Miles second at 170. All three had first-round byes.
Sedano had byes the first two rounds, and then scored a first-period pin in the semifinals. In the finals, he lost a tight 3-2 decision to Seth Wisowaty of Clinton. Earlier in the season Wisowaty had pinned Sedano.
In this match, Sedano actually led going into the third period, but during a scramble got reversed, which decided the match.
“Irving had a very good match (in the finals),” head coach John Schimming said. “He wrestled quite well.”
Sedano is 24-9 this season.
Ehlen won his quarterfinal match by pin, and his semifinal match by a 6-3 decision. That put him into the finals against Brendan Neal of Orfordville Parkview where Neal emerged with a 6-2 win. That was significant since Neal had pinned Ehlen two weeks earlier in a match.
Ehlen trailed just 4-2 until the final 30 seconds of the match when Neal got a takedown.
Ehlen is now 22-12 on the season.
Miles, 26-7 overall, won his quarterfinal and semifinal matches by decision, and then fell 8-2 to Hunter Colden of Brodhead/Juda in the finals. Colden is undefeated this season and ranked No. 2 in Division 2.
“Zach wrestled him tough,” Schimming said.
A year ago, Colden pinned Miles, and earlier this year won 14-0.
Mason Markiewicz took fourth at 160, winning three out of five matches.
“Mason had a good day, coming away with a couple of really nice wins in the wrestlebacks,” Schimming said.
Alberto Rodriguez (113) and Josh Patrick (285) both placed fifth, also going 3-2 on the day.
Schedule
WIAA Division 2 regional action begins Saturday, Feb. 9, at East Troy.
The top two finishers in each weight division advance to individual sectional competition to be held Saturday, Feb. 16, at Waupun.
